At least a dozen states have introduced legislation in 2016 related to out-of-state, or remote, sales taxes, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking database. Most of the bills have been aimed at expanding the definition of a state...
Congress has passed and President Trump is expected to sign an $867 billion farm bill that, among other things, will expand subsidies for farmers, provide permanent funding for local farmers markets and legalize hemp. The bill had bipartisan support in...
It’s going to be considerably harder to qualify initiatives and referendums for California’s ballot next year, thanks to the high voter turnout in the state for the Nov. 6 election. Signature requirements for ballot measures in California...
The stakes are high. The South Carolina primary will either boost or blow a Republican candidate’s shot at the presidential nomination. Historically, South Carolina has been a fierce battleground state for the Republican Party. The winner of...
Kentucky Approves SB 17 The KENTUCKY Senate approves SB 17 , which would codify the right for students to express religious viewpoints in school, including in their homework and clothing. It moves to the House (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER). Virginia...
And speaking of common sense...maybe someone in the Alabama House ought to give it a try sometime. As the Birmingham News reports , the House just passed a bill that would cut off state funds to colleges or universities that adopt so-called “sanctuary”...
There is a difference between brand identity and corporate identity but finding the latter may prove to be more difficult than reading the name on a label. While the average consumer in a retail store may not know—or indeed have a desire to know—who...
Education In Kentucky The KENTUCKY High School Athletic Association adopts rules making the Bluegrass State the first to require all high school softball pitcher and first and third basemen to wear protective masks when in the field. The rule goes...
VMT Tax Still Possibility in MA Despite MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) veto in August of a provision in a road funding bill passed by state lawmakers providing for a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax pilot program, the state hasn’t...
Oklahoma Sen. J.J. Dossett (D) has filed a bill ( SB 9 ) that would do away with straight-party voting in the state. “I think it is unnecessary to have the straight-party option,” he said. “I think it is something that might have...
Late last year, after Republican Gov. Pat McCrory (R) became the only incumbent governor ever to lose a reelection bid in North Carolina, the state’s GOP-led General Assembly passed legislation restricting appointment powers of Democratic Gov.-elect...
HIGH TURNOVER AMONG TX GOVT WORKERS IN 2018 Well over 28,000 TEXAS state employees, 19.3 percent of the total state government workforce, left their jobs last year, the highest turnover in five years, according to a report from the state auditor’s...
Business In CA The CALIFORNIA Supreme Court rules that online travel companies are exempt from paying hotel occupancy taxes. The ruling rejects claims by the city of San Diego that companies like Expedia and Priceline are liable for paying the hotel...
As of mid-February, 21 states had passed laws streamlining regulations for the deployment of 5G or small-cell technology. In 12 of those states, Republicans controlled both chambers of the legislature and the governor’s office when the laws were...
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson this month saying the state had discovered an unsuccessful effort to breach computer systems housing its voter registration database by an...
Sixty-nine percent of graduating college seniors nationwide in 2014 had some amount of student loan debt, averaging about $28,950, according to the Institute for College Access & Success. But some states had more 4-year college graduates in more debt...
BAKER URGES NEW STEPS FOR REPORTING MA HATE CRIMES Taking a cue from the recommendations of a state task force, MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said the Bay State will create a new website to track hate crimes and urged police chiefs to designate...
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) unveiled a $675 million proposal to dramatically reshape how patients in the Evergreen State’s mental health system are cared for. Inslee’s plan calls for hundreds of new community mental-health beds and...
With wildfires having wreaked so much devastation in the last few years, more rural California towns are looking at warding off such blazes by clearing the brush and other fuels that feed them. One option gaining popularity is as old as time, and purely...
During the 2013-14 legislative year, 14 states enacted bills related to Mental Health First Aid - CPR-like training to help emergency personnel, teachers and others recognize and respond to mental health disorders - according to the National Council for...
States enacted budgets for fiscal 2016 that will increase general fund spending by an average of 4.1 percent, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The biggest spending bump, New York’s 14.7 percent increase, is largely...
Barely a week into his governorship, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is already dealing with two major crises: the bankruptcy of the nation’s largest public utility and a teacher strike in Los Angeles, the country’s second largest school...
The temptation to use Halloween and the entire month of October as a tie-in to new product launches is great for brands, as the season's themes are wide-ranging, fun and unabashedly commercial. That said, PR firms and departments need to be careful...
Supreme Court Returns Virgina Case The Supreme Court of the United States returns to a lower court the case of a transgender VIRGINIA boy who was refused the right to use the boys’ restroom at his high school. The SCOTUS returned the case to...
As of April 9, at least 10 states had introduced bans on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and other vaping devices. Most of the proposals would exempt establishments that prohibit minors. Some would apply only to e-liquids...