The CALIFORNIA Assembly gives final approval to AB 888, which would ban the sale of personal care products like shampoos and cleaners that contain plastic microbeads. The measure, which would take effect in 2020, moves to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for consideration...
CALIFORNIA lawmakers give final approval to AB 15b, a measure that would allow doctors to prescribe terminally ill patients medications that person can use to end their own life. The measure moves to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for consideration (LEXISNEXIS...
The CALIFORNIA Senate approves SB 539, which would prohibit the naming of schools, roads and other public properties after Confederate officials or military leaders. It moves to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for consideration (SACRAMENTO BEE). Still in CALIFORNIA...
More than a few folks think lawmakers ought to apologize for some of the things they do. But now it is happening. As the Palm Beach Post reports, several Florida lawmakers dropped into their districts recently to offer constituents a mea culpa for, in...
California’s loopy proposition process – a.k.a. “direct democracy” - was created to give ordinary citizens a way to have more say in their government. Sadly, that say was long ago co-opted by huge money special interests and, of...
The problem with Republicans in Montana is apparently the Republicans in Montana. Or at least that’s what Senate Majority Leader Matthew Rosendale and House Majority Leader Keith Regier, both Republicans, think. As the Billings Gazette reports,...
With the football season kicking off, let's take a moment to reminisce about the 2015 Super Bowl. In the eight months since the game, Tom Brady’s name continues to dominate media coverage, both positive and negative. Will he stay in the spotlight...
Stephen M. Shapiro, a former federal worker from Bethesda, Maryland, filed a lawsuit in 2013 challenging the state’s congressional district map. No one paid much attention to the suit at the time, because the map, drawn after the 2010 census, had...
Virginia’s congressional district map is now in the hands of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District. Last year, the court declared the map drawn by the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly unconstitutional, saying it reduced...
Activists Pull Pot Measure Backers of a proposed ballot initiative to allow marijuana use in bars and other businesses in Denver said this month they were going to pull the measure and instead work with city and business leaders on a measure that could...
Battling a multi-million dollar campaign from oil companies and strong resistance from a large number of fellow Democrats, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) dropped an effort to pass legislation aimed at cutting automotive petroleum use in the Golden State...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) renewed his longstanding call for a national gun policy after an aide was shot and seriously injured in a crossfire between two rival gangs on a Brooklyn street last week. The aide, Carey Gabay, had been named by Cuomo as...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) announced execution dates for eight condemned inmates, setting in motion what will be the first executions in the Razorback State since 2005. Legal challenges and difficulty in obtaining the drugs used in the lethal injection...
KY Marriage Licenses Legal KENTUCKY Gov. Steve Beshear (D) said marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in Rowan County are legal in spite of not being signed by the clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue them to those couples. Beshear reiterated...
Natural and man-made disasters occur all too frequently. Last year alone, the world was rocked by a total of 336 catastrophic events , including 189 natural and 147 man-made disasters. In the past week, we’ve seen headlines following landslides...
In the sixth annual Supply Chain Resilience Survey conducted by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) in 2014, more than three-quarters of the respondents reported experiencing supplier disruption at least once during the previous twelve months. Some...
From deals and merchandising to packaging and logistics, retailers are putting their final touches on their 2015 holiday preparations. Shopping days abound when it comes to November and December, all kicking off with the ultimate pre-holiday shopping...
While media attention focuses on the presidential campaign, courts are making changes in voting laws in ways that could impact election outcomes in 2016 and beyond. Under the banner of combating voter fraud, Republican-run legislatures have in the...
Between 2000 and 2013 GDP growth outpaced median household income growth in every state in the nation, according to analysis by Stateline . In North Dakota the gap between general economic growth and middle-class income growth over that period was nearly...
Last month the National Conference of State Legislatures unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the organization to lobby Congress to provide funding for catastrophic fires the same way it does for hurricanes or floods: through emergency spending...
Budget Deal in NH NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) and legislative leaders have reached a deal ending the state’s budget stalemate. Under the terms of the agreement, business tax cuts - the major sticking point of budget negotiations - would...
All of Louisiana’s House and Senate seats are up for election this year. But the names of nearly half of the state’s sitting lawmakers won’t appear on the ballot on Oct. 24. That’s because 20 of the state’s 39 senators and...
A nonprofit group pushing for nonpartisan redistricting in Virginia has filed a lawsuit in Richmond Circuit Court alleging that in the last round of redistricting, in 2011, the state’s GOP-controlled General Assembly drew 11 districts to protect...
NM SOS pleads not guilty NEW MEXICO Secretary of State Dianna Duran (R) entered a plea of not guilty last week to charges of fraud, embezzlement and other crimes for allegedly using campaign funds to cover personal expenses, including gambling debt...
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said last week that the ongoing impacts of climate change could soon spark in the Americas the same kind of human mass migration currently underway in Europe, where hordes of refugees are fleeing to escape the civil war...