VOTING SYSTEM OVERHAUL BILL ADVANCING IN GA: GEORGIA’s Senate has passed a bill ( SB 403 ) requiring the state to overhaul its voting system before the 2020 presidential election. Georgia is one of only five states that use electronic voting...
Deep-blue California’s primary system and a glut of Democratic candidates for the state’s June 5 primary election could end up hurting that party’s chances of retaking control of the U.S. House. The state has a top-two primary, in which...
Democrat Conor Lamb appears to have eked out a razor-thin victory - with a roughly 600-vote margin out of more than 230,000 votes cast, at the time of this writing - over Republican Rick Saccone in a special election in Pennsylvnia’s 18th Congressional...
POT LEGALIZATION HAS POSITIVE IMPACT ON CO COUNTY: A study by researchers at COLORADO State University-Pueblo found that the marijuana industry had a net positive impact of over $35 million on Pueblo County in 2016, despite increasing costs for law...
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has ordered state lawmakers back to Richmond on April 11 for a special session on the state budget. The governor’s call came days after the General Assembly adjourned its regular session on March 10 without sending...
Legislation is under consideration in at least nine states providing for the collection of sales taxes on remote purchases, according to the National Association of State Legislatures. The bills include Oklahoma SB 337 , passed by that state’s...
BAKER OUTLINES $300 MILLION CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN : On the heels of several massive winter storms, MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) outlined a plan to borrow $300 million to put toward efforts to combat climate change in communities all along the...
In a post-session tour around the state, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) lauded wide-ranging gun control measures he signed weeks after the mass shooting at a Parkland high school and shrugged off an NRA effort to block the legislation he signed on March...
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) signed 41 bills last week, including at least five that deal with blockchain cryptocurrency technologies. Those measures include HB 19 , which codified a definition of a cryptocurrency and makes them exempt from Equality...
Commissions, rather than legislatures, have primary responsibility for drawing state legislative and/or congressional districts in 13 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In another 12 states, commissions either assist legislators...
In democracies, voters are supposed to choose their legislative representatives. Increasingly, however, U.S. courts have found that representatives choose their voters through partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts. With...
Meet Rich Gause, Government Information Librarian for the University Libraries at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Rich has been a member of the LexisNexis Academic Content Advisory Committee since 1998 and has seen the product go through many...
Rising concern about opaque and suspect third-party corporate ownership structures is a notable finding in the Kroll / Ethisphere 2018 Anti-Bribery and Corruption Benchmarking Report. When senior executives working in ethics, compliance or anti-corruption...
CA City Council Adopts Ordinance The city of LOS ALAMOS, CALIFORNIA adopts an ordinance exempting itself from the Golden State’s so-called “sanctuary state” law that restricts local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal...
MS Federal Court Blocks HS 1510 A federal court temporarily blocks HB 1510 , a bill signed into law by MISSISSIPPPI Gov. Phil Bryant (R) that would bar Magnolia State doctors from performing abortions after a woman’s 15 th week of pregnancy....
IA Senate Approves SF 2349 The IOWA Senate gives final approval to SF 2349 , which would allow insurance carriers to resume selling small-employer policies that don’t meet Affordable Care Act rules, such as those requiring coverage for maternity...
CO Governor Signs SB 9 COLORADO Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signs SB 9 , which allows Centennial State residents to store energy gleaned from renewable sources like solar power without discrimination in rates or excessive barriers in connecting to the...
WA Governor Signs SB 5064 WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signs SB 5064 , which bars school administrators from censoring the work of student journalists. The measure goes into effect in June (SEATTLE TIMES). IDAHO Gov. Butch Otter (R) signs HB...
SD Governor Signs SB 62 SOUTH DAKOTA Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) signs SB 62 , which among several things requires businesses and other data holders to notify consumers of a breach within 45 days of being informed of the breach occurring. The law leaves...
AZ BANS LOCAL SODA TAXES: ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed HB 2484 , prohibiting local governments in the state from imposing extra taxes on sodas or other sugary beverages, as some left-leaning cities in other states, including San Francisco and...
Last month, President Trump proposed several policies to fight the opioid crisis, including making drug dealers subject to the death penalty . A few states are advocating going after the drug makers instead and imposing a somewhat milder sentence: a tax...
STATES CHALLENGE CENSUS CITIZENSHIP QUESTION: At least a dozen states have filed suit to block the Trump administration from adding a question to the 2020 Census asking about citizenship status. The Trump administration says the question is necessary...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) called for a special election on June 12 to fill vacancies in the state Legislature created when two GOP lawmakers joined his administration in December. That action only came after three separate court rulings in a single...
INSLEE SIGNS QUARTET OF WA #METOO BILLS : Saying “We must do better to make sure employers understand there is no place for these behaviors in the workplace,” WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed four bills last month that address sexual...
In the wake of the deadly school shootings around the nation, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a $100 million school safety package last week that will allow Badger State school districts to apply for grants to pay for safety upgrades. Walker...