ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs legislation that will create a task force to develop rules for the use and regulation of drone aircraft. The task force is required to submit recommendations to the governor by July 1, 2016 (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected former ILLINOIS Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) request to rehear the appeal of his corruption convictions. A three-judge panel of the court had previously overturned five of his 18 convictions, allowing the remaining 13 to stand. The court did not offer a reason for rejecting his appeal. Blagojevich’s attorney said he will now appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court (CHICAGOCBSLOCAL.COM).
UTAH Gov. Gary Herbert (R) ordered state agencies to stop dispersing federal funds to the Planned Parenthood Association. The Beehive State is the fifth to block such funds in the wake of the release of secretly recorded videos by an anti-abortion group showing Planned Parenthood officials in TEXAS describing how they provide fetal tissue from abortions for medical research. ALABAMA, ARKANSAS LOUISIANA and NEW HAMPSHIRE have also stopped funneling federal dollars to Planned Parenthood (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
But now we have the gubernatorial seal of approval! Yes, as the State House News Service reports, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker took the ongoing Ice Bucket Challenge – a charity thing in which people raise money for ALS research by getting a bucket of ice cold water dumped on their head – while wearing a “Free Tom Brady” t-shirt. For readers who have otherwise been locked in a cave for the last seven months, Tom Brady is the quarterback for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots who got busted for his role in the “Deflategate” scandal in which footballs used by the Pats in last year’s AFC Championship Game were slightly deflated in order to let Brady and his teammates have a better grip on them. The team was eventually fined a million bucks and hit with other sanctions, including losing a first round draft pick. Brady, meanwhile, was suspended without pay for the first four games of the upcoming season. Brady has been fighting the penalty, first in the court of public opinion – doing everything but throwing himself down and kicking his arms and legs and screaming like a little child – and now in an actual federal court of law. And you thought the last few minutes of a football game took forever to complete.
NORTH CAROLINA Gov. Pat McCrory signs HB 607, which requires a credit card reporting agency to place a security freeze on a protected consumer’s credit report upon request of the protected consumer’s authorized representative (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
DELAWARE Gov. Jack Markell (D) signs HB 109, which bars employers from asking or requiring employees or job applicants from surrendering access to their private social media accounts. The measure also bars employers from requiring workers to disable their social media privacy settings or to “friend” or to connect to them on those sites (GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY).
In a radio interview last Tuesday, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said he will consider using the National Guard to battle a recent uptick in the use of heroin and other opiates that has led to a rash of drug overdoses in the Pine Tree State.
“I am going to use the executive branch, and if need be, as commander in chief, I have access to the National Guard,” he told Bangor radio station WVOM. “If the Legislature refuses to give us the resources we need, and if we can’t develop a comprehensive plan with existing resources, I will use the National Guard.”
Gov. LePage made similar comments the previous week to the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. He did not elaborate in either case how he would use the Guard, and he has also declined requests by journalists to offer more details.
As the Portland Press Herald reports, the number of people seeking help for heroin and other opiate addictions in Maine has more than doubled in recent years, going from 1,115 in 2010 to 3,463 last year. Overdose deaths have also increased exponentially, rising from seven in 2011 to 57 in 2014.
LePage has been critical of lawmakers for not including what he feels is enough money in the budget for hiring more drug enforcement agents. The legislature this year provided funding to hire six additional Maine Drug Enforcement Agency agents, two new state prosecutors and two additional judges. But LePage said that was not enough, calling the allocation “chump change.” He also criticized efforts by Democrats to spend more money on drug treatment programs, saying, “If I didn’t know better, if I was a real cynic, I’d think that the Democrats like drug dealers.” But the governor also attempted to veto two bills this year that beef up penalties against drug traffickers: one that bars the designer drug acetyl fentanyl and its derivatives, which can increase the potency of heroin by up to 50 times its original strength, and another that increases the fine for possession of fentanyl from a misdemeanor to a felony. Both became law last week when the state Supreme Court rejected his attempt to veto 65 bills after the 10-day period to act on them had passed. (PORTLAND PRESS HERALD, BANGOR DAILY NEWS)
Which is advice Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser might do well to heed. As the Detroit Free Press reports, Courser recently announced he is on a mission to root out “political shenanigans” by the establishment statehouse “mafia” in Lansing. But why, you ask? Well, that would be because he himself recently got caught in an extramarital affair with fellow Rep. Cindy Gamrat, and to try and cover it up Courser concocted - and widely distributed to other lawmakers - a tawdry email accusing him of paying for gay sex outside of a Lansing nightclub, apparently figuring that such news would make any word of his actual affair with Gamrat seem nondescript. But of course the truth came out and both are now being pressured to resign, which Courser is refusing to do. He also now says he only sent the email because he was being blackmailed and thought it would flush out his tormentor, who is of course part of the shadowy “establishment” out to get him. Okay, now.
Although their constitutionality has been upheld by federal courts, Maryland’s congressional districts - drawn in 2011 by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and the Democrats who control the state’s General Assembly - are considered by some to be among the most gerrymandered in the country.
“Maryland’s current districts defy...common sense,” said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. “They sprawl across the state, slicing and dicing communities and neighborhoods, discouraging civic engagement in our democracy.”
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) wants to change that. He created a commission this month tasked with recommending how to reform the state’s congressional redistricting process, in the hope of bringing a constitutional amendment before voters next year.
The governor pledged that the new commission would work in a bipartisan way, and he appointed a Democrat and a Republican - retired U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams and Cato Institute senior fellow Walter Olson, respectively - as co-chairs of the 11-member panel. He also invited Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael E. Busch, both Democrats, as well as the General Assembly’s two minority leaders to appoint one member each.
Advocates for election reform appeared to be sold on the idea.
“This commission is the first step toward a more open, transparent, and impartial process,” said Common Cause’s Bevan-Dangel.
But getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot would require a three-fifths majority in both legislative chambers, and Senate President Miller said that’s “not going to happen.”
Hogan may ultimately get his way, though. If he is reelected in 2018, he gets to propose both General Assembly and congressional district maps after the 2020 Census. Lawmakers would be free to substitute their own legislative map, but to replace the congressional map, they would have to pass their own bill and possibly muster a supermajority vote to override the governor’s veto. (BALTIMORE SUN)
Despite facing a budget shortfall this year, Maryland doubled its income tax exemption for military retirement pay to $10,000. And a budget hole forced Connecticut to raise taxes on its most prosperous corporations, but it still managed to do away with its income tax on military pensions.
The two states aren’t the only ones that have granted tax breaks for military retirees. Of the 41 states with an income tax, 14 exempt military pensions completely, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty others provide partial exemptions.
For Minnesota state Rep. Bob Dettmer (R), who backed an unsuccessful effort to exempt military pensions in his state this year, the issue is “a no-brainer.”
“Most of them [retired military vets] are in their 40s. They are going to buy homes, they are going to buy vehicles and buy groceries. They bring economic value to your state. The skills they have learned through 20-plus years in the military can be transferred into civilian jobs.”
David Brunori, deputy publisher of Tax Analysts, disagrees.
“Exempting military pensions from tax is good politics — everyone loves veterans,” he said. “But it is not targeted [to low-income people]. Some veterans go on to make a lot of money in the private sector and end up pretty well off. There is no reason in the world to exempt their income from tax.”
Rhode Island also considered exempting military pensions this year, but opted to provide an exemption for Social Security payments instead. According to House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D) the decision was dictated largely by the fact that neighboring states Maine and Massachusetts don’t tax Social Security benefits. (STATELINE.ORG)
As of June, at least 32 states had introduced or were considering security breach notification bills this session, many of which were aimed at toughening existing security breach laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fourteen states had enacted such measures. And only three states still hadn’t passed a law requiring consumer notification of security breaches.
Source: National Conference of State Legislatures, LexisNexis State Net
Legend:
Enacted security breach notification legislation: Connecticut, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
No security breach notification law: Alabama, New Mexico, South Dakota
Nearly every state in the country has passed a law requiring private or government entities to notify individuals about security breaches involving their personal information. And states have been toughening those laws in recent years. But cybersecurity legislation pending in Congress would preempt the state laws and impose regulations that are less restrictive than many of them.
California passed the nation’s first security breach law over a decade ago. SB 1386 (Chapter 915), enacted in 2002, requires agencies, individuals and businesses in the state that work with computerized data that includes personal information to disclose security breaches of that data to anyone whose personal information is believed to have been compromised. The bill noted: “The privacy and financial security of individuals is increasingly at risk due to the ever more widespread collection of personal information by both the private and public sector.”
That analysis proved to be accurate. As Stateline reported in June, since 2005 there have been over 5,000 breaches involving personal information in the United States, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). And this year there have already been 348 breaches affecting over 100 million records.
California hasn’t been alone in acknowledging the threat. Since the enactment of SB 1386, 46 other states have passed their own security breach laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The laws typically include provisions specifying what sort of “personal data” the law applies to, such as account numbers, driver’s license numbers and social security numbers; how, when and to whom notification of a breach must be given; and exemptions to the law, such as for information that has been encrypted.
States have also been strengthening their breach notification laws by broadening the definition of “personal data” and requiring more timely notification of breaches, among other things. In May Illinois lawmakers passed SB 1833, revising the state’s 2005 Personal Information Protection Act to encompass consumers’ online browsing and purchase histories and also to require companies and other organizations to report breaches to the state attorney general’s office.
Supporters say the new reporting requirement will ensure that consumers are informed about data breaches and those breaches are properly investigated.
“Identity theft is an enormous problem,” said Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D), according to Stateline. “It’s sometimes very difficult to identify, very difficult to clean up, and it can have an enormous impact on somebody’s ability to function in our world.”
As of last week, Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) still hadn’t signed SB 1833, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking database. But Stateline reported that 21 other states already require companies to report breaches to the AG’s office or other state agencies, and similar reporting requirements will go into effect in three more - Montana, North Dakota and Washington - by the end of the year.
Legislation pending in Congress, however, would preempt the various state laws and replace them with regulations that aren’t as strict in many cases. For example, information compiled by the Electronic Transaction Association indicates that the federal measures, such as SB 117, SB 961 and HR 1770, generally define “personal information” to include only such things as consumers’ names and addresses, drivers’ license numbers, account numbers and passwords, and non-truncated social security numbers. None of them address online browsing and purchase histories like Illinois SB 1833, although US HR 1770, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015, would apply to telephone call histories.
The federal measures would also require breaches to be reported to the Federal Trade Commission or other federal agencies instead of state AGs. And some question whether the federal government could handle that job as well as the states.
“State attorneys general bring a lot more enforcement resources to bear,” said David Thaw, an assistant professor of law and information sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, as Stateline reported. “In this case you have 47 different entities, any of which for a large scale breach, can enforce. That’s a pretty big threat to make sure you report a breach.”
Stateline reported that in Connecticut, where companies have had to report breaches to the attorney general since 2012, the AG’s office receives about 400 breach notifications a year, according to AG George Jepsen (D).
“If Connecticut has 400 breaches, I guarantee you there’s no way the feds are going to be looking at all 400,” Jepsen said. “There continues to be an important role for states’ attorneys general. We’ve got the boots on the ground to do the work.”
States are not without their share of challenges, however. A cybersecurity survey conducted last year by Deloitte & Touche and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) found that despite an improving economy and states’ increasing commitment to the issue, “budgets are still not sufficient to fully implement effective cybersecurity programs.” Over 75 percent of the responding chief information security officers (CISOs) said lack of sufficient funding was the No. 1 barrier to effective cybersecurity, even ahead of the increasing sophistication of cyberthreats. State CISOs are also struggling to recruit skilled cybersecurity professionals due to competition from the private sector, where opportunities and salaries tend to be more lucrative.
Some of those subject to the state laws, meanwhile, object to the cost and difficulty of complying with all of them, as one of Stateline’s sources indicated.
“Letting consumers know what to expect with one law we think is preferable, is more efficient and works better for all parties involved in the current system,” said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Electronic Transaction Association, which represents financial institutions and other companies that process or facilitate electronic payments.
According to Stateline, the University of Pittsburgh’s Thaw said what is really needed is broad federal legislation requiring companies to improve their cybersecurity to better protect consumers’ personal information from cyberattacks. He said the federal Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2015 is only a reporting law, and the current patchwork of state laws actually provides better protection for consumers and isn’t as difficult to comply with as some say.
“I am 100 percent certain I could write a computer program, which would take all of the inputs from a given data breach and spit out all the notification letters,” he said. “It’s not hard. There are very good attorneys out there who can put out all the notifications for all the jurisdictions and get it right and get it done.”
The CONNECTICUT Supreme Court declares capital punishment to be unconstitutional, effectively barring the death penalty in that state (WASHINGTON POST).
The MARYLAND Court of Appeals rules that once a DNA sample is obtained legally, it can be used to investigate unrelated or unsolved crimes at any point in the future without triggering Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure (BALTIMORE SUN).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs SB 212, which substantially increases criminal penalties against people convicted of making methamphetamine or hash oil in a residential neighborhood (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). Also in CALIFORNIA, Gov. Brown signs SB 411, which clarifies that it is legal for Californians to record on video the actions of public safety officers performing their duties (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). Staying in CALIFORNIA, Gov. Brown signs SB 227, which makes the Golden State the first in the nation to ban the use of grand juries to decide whether police officers should face criminal charges when they kill people in the line of duty. The law puts the onus on whether to bring charges against police in those killings on district attorneys. It goes into effect next year (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs HB 3533, which increases to five years the amount of time a repeat DUI offender has to be on a restricted driving permit and have their vehicle equipped with a breath ignition interlock before they can apply to have their full driving privileges restored (NORTHWEST HERALD [CRYSTAL LAKE]). Also in ILLINOIS, Gov. Rauner signs SB 1304, which makes the Prairie State the first in the nation to adopt a comprehensive policy for the use of body cameras for police officers. The law doesn’t require cameras be worn, but it does issue rules for how they should be worn, when they have to be turned on and how long recorded videos should be kept. The law also bars police from using chokeholds on suspects and strengthens reporting guidelines for officers making pedestrian stops and arrests (ABCNEWS.COM).
NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs SB 736, which makes it a crime to keep or use a place for dog fighting, to own or train dogs for fighting, to permit fighting, to witness or encourage fighting or to gamble on the outcome of a fight. Violators face up to five years in prison (NORTHJERSEY.COM). Also in NEW JERSEY, Gov. Christie signs SB 2559, which requires those charged with domestic violence to enter a guilty plea before being considered for pretrial programs that can cut down on prison sentences (NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
Florida lawmakers returned to Tallahassee last week for a 12-day special session to draw new congressional districts in accordance with a state Supreme Court ruling that found previous maps drawn by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature violated voter-approved standards prohibiting the drawing of districts to benefit incumbents or political parties.
The court gave lawmakers only 100 days to draw up a new map. But a map that was just proposed may not require major changes to meet the court’s order.
“There is a very good possibility that what we see is what we get,” said House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford.
Drawn by legislative staffers and lawyers without the input of lawmakers, the proposed map would impact most of the state’s 27 congressional districts and could ultimately shift the partisan balance of the state’s congressional delegation, which currently leans 17-10 in favor of Republicans despite the fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republican ones in the state.
But Sen. Bill Galvano (R), who chairs the Senate committee tasked with drawing the new map, insisted there would be ample opportunity for lawmakers to propose changes that can be justified legally, and the map would receive a full public vetting.
The redistricting session is scheduled to wrap up on Aug. 21 (ASSOCIATED PRESS, WTSP 10 NEWS [TAMPA BAY])
The Alabama Legislature passed a handful of bills during a special session on the budget that ended last week, but none of those measures is likely to have much of an impact on the state’s deficit, projected to be at least $200 million. The House and Senate were unable to find common ground on how to address the shortfall, with each chamber killing the other’s spending plan.
Gov. Robert Bentley (R) called the session “a failure.”
“They have known about this issue, about this problem, for a number of months,” he said. “The first failure occurred in the regular session. We called them back in in the special session, and they failed to pass a budget.”
House Ways and Means chairman Steve Clouse (R) who proposed an amendment to cut $156 million from Medicaid, was a bit more upbeat.
“We’re back to square one,” he said. “But I think square one is a lot clearer now.... I put up the amendment to isolate what I call the big elephant in the room, Medicaid, to try to generate some interest there, which it certainly did.”
The governor said he would call another special session, which is expected to convene before the start of the 2016 fiscal year, on Oct. 1. (MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
Amidst reports that student achievement is being harmed by a lack of sleep, NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs SB 2484, which directs education officials to review the impact of delaying school starting times to 8:30 a.m. or later, and to report findings to the governor and Legislature (NORTHJERSEY.COM). Also in NEW JERSEY, Gov. Christie signs SB 2377, which requires that by 2018 public colleges and universities in which at least 25 percent of the undergraduate population lives on campus establish substance abuse recovery housing (NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). Staying in NEW JERSEY, Gov. Christie conditionally vetoes SB 1857, which would expand programs that test student athletes for performance enhancing drugs use and implement other efforts to deter their use. Christie said the funding for the program was not included in standard budget negotiations (NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs HB 3599, which allows Prairie State college students to authorize their school to share the students’ mental health information with their parents or a designated adult (JOURNAL STAR [PEORIA]).
In the wake of a string of recent prison deaths and suicides, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) has ordered a review of inmate safety policies at Last Frontier State prisons. Walker named Dean Williams, who serves as a special assistant to the governor, and a former FBI special agent to head the investigation.
“I have been looking for ways to improve Department of Corrections’ operations since my first day in office, and this review is the critical next step to appropriately address these matters,” Walker said in a statement.
Alaska Department of Corrections officials contend the rate of inmate deaths is actually low when compared to other states. But a number of high-profile deaths of both male and female inmates in the last three years has brought the agency under intense scrutiny. (KTUU [ANCHORAGE], ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS [ANCHORAGE], ALASKA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE)
Every state in the nation provides some sort of public website that provides information about government spending. The “checkbook” sites allow taxpayers to see who the hundreds of billions of dollars states spend every year on government contracts, subsidies and tax credits are going to and for what.
State officials say the websites can help save taxpayers’ money. For instance, Massachusetts’s site enabled the state to eliminate $3 million in paperwork, printing and postage costs related to public information requests and interaction with vendors. Texas’ site facilitated a renegotiation of the state’s copier machine lease, saving the state $33 million over three years. And a reporter used South Dakota’s site to conduct an investigation of subsidies that uncovered $19 million in redundancies there.
“I think these websites are very important,” said Kinney Poynter, executive director of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers. “More transparency provides better information for all of those involved, whether they be citizens, contractors or legislative bodies.”
Some sites are better than others, however. Eighteen received grades of between C and F in this year’s annual evaluation of the sites by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). The sites run by Alaska, California and Idaho were the lowest performers, earning a grade of F for the second year in a row.
“These three are not user-friendly,” said Phineas Baxandall, a senior analyst for U.S. PIRG. “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”
At the opposite end of the spectrum is Ohio’s new site, OhioCheckbook.com, which was launched in December of last year and earned the only A-plus grade in a national review by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) Education Fund and Frontier Group. The site employs a Google-style search engine and interactive charts that allow users to search, compare and share spending data from the past eight fiscal years.
“This site is not built with the MIT computer science major in mind,” said Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel (R). “It’s built with the most basic computer user in mind.”
But it may be encouraging for the states with checkbook sites that didn’t fare well in the ratings to know that Ohio’s former site scored a D-minus last year. (STATELINE.ORG, MASSPIRG.ORG)
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs SB 165, a bill that imposes civil fines up to $40,000 against marijuana farms that damage the environment by dumping wastewater and chemicals, removing trees and killing wild animals (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) spent five days at the University of Maryland hospital last week receiving 24-hour chemotherapy for treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Hogan is now halfway through his treatment regimen. He left the hospital in good spirits, saying via his Facebook page that he had some “good news and some great news.” The good news, he said, was his release from the confines of the hospital, while “The great news is I’m officially half-way through my treatment, having finished round three of six!” The governor said he spent much of the week visiting with other cancer patients, saying “their perseverance, positivity, and faith inspires me beyond words.” (BALTIMORE SUN, WBALTV.COM)
Moody’s Investors Service has given $1 billion in pension obligation bonds proposed by KANSAS an Aa3 rating, a notch below the state’s current overall rating. The Wall Street rating company said the bonds would do little to solve the financial problems with the state’s public employee retirement system and could create additional problems in the future (LAWRENCE JOURNAL WORLD).
NORTH CAROLINA lawmakers approved a continuing resolution to keep state government running through Aug 31. The state has been operating without a new budget since the fiscal year began on July 1 (NEWS & OBSERVER [RALEIGH]).
Preliminary numbers indicate that NEW MEXICO took in over $100 million more in revenue than forecast in the 2015 fiscal year that ended in June. But some lawmakers remain cautious because lagging oil and natural gas prices have forced revenue estimates to be revised downward multiple times (ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL NEWS).
UTAH business leaders said last week that they have formed a public issues committee to campaign for an increase in the state sales tax for transportation. The news came just days after the Salt Lake County Council decided to place such a tax on the Nov. 3 ballot, which other counties are also expected to do (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) signed legislation (HB 3659) authorizing a sales tax holiday for the weekend of Aug. 15 and 16 (BOSTON GLOBE, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs HB 1335, so-called “right-to-try” legislation that allows terminally ill patients to try drugs that have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Prairie State becomes the 23rd to adopt such a law in the last two years (10TH AMENDMENT CENTER).
NORTH CAROLINA Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signs HB 814, which compels the state’s medical examiners to identify deaths attributable to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (GREENSBORO NEWS & RECORD).
The median age of MINNESOTA House members has increased by seven years - from 47 to 55 - since 1995. For senators the increase is eight years, from 47 to 55 (TWIN CITIES PIONEER PRESS).
KANSAS Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) said his office will start prosecuting cases of voter fraud next month. The primary focus will be cases of double voting from the 2010 election (WICHITA EAGLE).
OHIO Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) said last week that the private investor group ResponsibleOhio has submitted enough signatures to qualify a marijuana legalization constitutional amendment for the state’s Nov. 3 ballot (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs SB 432, which will remove the term “alien” from the Golden State labor code as a way to describe foreign-born workers. The law goes into effect next year (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) declined a request to declare a statewide health emergency over the state’s burgeoning heroin epidemic. The request came from Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas. Hassan said she agrees that the ongoing spike in heroin use is a dire emergency, but using the declaration would not allow the state to use existing federal funds on intervention or to sustain a new drug court to deal with drug abusers (UNION LEADER [MANCHESTER]).
GEORGIA Gov. Nathan Deal (R) has removed two significant confederate holidays – Confederate Memorial Day and Robert E. Lee’s birthday – from the official Peach State calendar for 2016. Both dates have been reclassified only as a “state holiday” without any further designation (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION).
Former VIRGINIA Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) said he will appeal his 2014 conviction on multiple counts of corruption to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, the full 15-member 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his plea to reconsider a three-judge panel’s upholding of his conviction (VIRGINIAN-PILOT [HAMPTON ROADS]).
The OHIO Supreme Court's Board for Professional Conduct rules that judges who perform civil marriages may not refuse to conduct a ceremony for a gay couple, nor may they refuse to do all marriages based on personal beliefs opposing gay marriage. The Board said refusing to perform a ceremony on those grounds amounts to a violation of a judge’s oath of office (CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER).
NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoes SB 1195, which would have allowed transgender people to change their birth certificate to their lived gender as long as they have certification from a doctor that they have undergone clinically appropriate transition treatment, which would not be limited to surgery (NORTHJERSEY.COM).
An OKLAHOMA court rules that a 2014 law barring medication-induced abortions is unconstitutional. District Judge Patricia Parrish ruled that since the law applied only to abortion-inducing drugs, it amounted to a “special law” prohibited in the Sooner State constitution. Officials said the state would appeal the ruling (OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY]).
Competitive intelligence can be extremely valuable for informing strategic business decisions about your products, messaging, business expansions, customers and more. But when does competitive research slip into the more morally ambiguous areas of corporate espionage?
Corporate espionage isn’t new. From dumpster diving to hiring investigators to pose as journalists or volunteers, corporate espionage has been practiced for many years. More recently, electronic espionage including hacking and electronic surveillance have been added to the toolbox of the corporate spy.
How far would you go to gain valuable intelligence about your competitors? While most of us would likely draw the line at digging through competitors’ trash bins, there can be gray areas that require a careful study of corporate codes of conduct and weighing those codes against whether certain activities violate your company’s, and your own, ethics and integrity.
So what is ethical competitive intelligence? Let’s define by talking about what it’s not: