In a rare show of bipartisan action, California lawmakers approved legislation last week to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program, which requires companies to pay for releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The bills’ passage –...
Rhode Island Signs HB 5277 RHODE ISLAND Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) signs HB 5277 , which makes the Ocean State the 10 th to ban so-called “conversion therapy,” a therapy aimed at changing the sexual orientation, gender identity or gender behavior...
Immigration In The US The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a call by President Donald Trump to include grandparents and other relatives in his travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries. The ruling means that grandparents, grandchildren, aunts...
Missouri Signs SB 501 MISSOURI Gov. Eric Greitens (R) signs SB 501 , which allows state health officials to issue an order making the anti-overdose medication naloxone available statewide. The bill also allows patients in drug and veterans courts the...
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...
New Hampshire Signs HB 640 NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signs HB 640 , legislation that eliminates criminal penalties for possession of three quarters of an ounce or less of marijuana (NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER [MANCHESTER]).
Business In Massachusetts The MASSACHUSETTS House and Senate agree on a bill that would impose significant changes in the voter-approved law legalizing recreational marijuana sales in the Bay State. Under the legislation, the maximum tax on retail...
If you have always wanted to live in the governor’s mansion, here’s your chance. Just one caveat: you don’t actually get to be the governor. Actually, there are more caveats than that. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports , North...
Patience – and lots of it - is a necessary trait for anyone married to a politico. Late nights, working weekends, a thousand rubber chicken fundraising dinners and birthdays and anniversaries lost to policy demands are all part of the game. As Maine...
Nothing is forever in politics. But knowing that doesn’t always make it easier it manage when the end comes. Case in point this week comes from Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, who bid farewell to chief of staff Steve Kadish, who stepped down in...
The National Governors Association recently welcomed Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval as its new president. As with all incoming NGA leaders, Sandoval has his own pet initiative: convincing his fellow govs – some of who appear to be technophobic at best...
The World Bank has been busy. In a press release issued at the end of the World Bank’s fiscal year on June 30, the organization announced that it had debarred 16 companies for sanctions violations and entered into eight Negotiated Resolution Agreements...
Last month, a news alert came through that the European Union slapped Google with a $2.7 billion fine for breaking antitrust law. The EU judged that Google had “abused its dominate position by systematically favoring” its own shopping comparison...
From the beginning, student opinion has been a big factor in the development of the new Nexis Uni ™ student research platform. As the product continues to grow and evolve, researchers at Nexis Uni have been hard at work talking to students around...
After going through more resurrections than Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, the GOP’s Congressional efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act finally seem to be dead. If so, the question becomes what happens now? While definitive answers are in...
With a GOP plan to fully or partly repeal the Affordable Care Act now dead, Congressional attention has turned to how or if to bolster the individual insurance marketplace. In many states such marketplaces are struggling with both rising premiums and...
NEW JERSEY EMPLOYEES TO GET BACK PAY State workers in NEW JERSEY will get back pay for time off they had to take during the state’s government shutdown last month. Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed legislation this week authorizing retroactive pay...
Major changes to the state employee pay and benefit package squeaked through the Connecticut Senate this week, with Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman (D) breaking an 18-18 tie vote to advance the measure, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) has lauded as vital to reducing...
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s (R) veto of the state’s school funding package has some districts worried about having enough cash to open classroom doors in the fall, and a major ratings agency warning about some school districts’ credit...
CONGRESSWOMAN JOINS CROWD SEEKING TN GOVERNORSHIP U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), announced this week she will run for governor of TENNESSEE . Black has served as chairwoman of the House Budget Committee, where she has been a strong advocate for cutting...
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has been quietly working on a campaign to end the way legislative districts are drawn, but is now stepping up his advocacy into a more public campaign intended to try to get the partisanship out of the...
HOGAN PROPOSES NEW TIMETABLE FOR MD EMISSIONS TESTS MARYLAND Gov. Larry Hogan (R) proposed giving Old Line State drivers an extra year before their vehicles would have to undergo an initial emissions inspection. Current law requires the inspection...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) proposed legislation last week that would allow Bay State authorities to detain certain unauthorized immigrants at the behest of federal officials. The legislation came in the wake of a recent state Supreme Judicial...
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D)signed comprehensive energy legislation ( HB 589 ) last week intended to boost the Tar Heel State’s growing solar power industry. But Cooper also immediately issued an executive order ( EO No. 11 ) that mitigates...
Saying he wants to help his fellow governors manage what some are calling the “fourth industrial revolution,” Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) has announced a new initiative aimed at helping state leaders “better prepare for the ongoing...