WA LEG SUES INSLEE The WASHINGTON Legislature filed suit against Gov. Jay Inslee (D), arguing the governor had violated the Evergreen State Constitution when he issued several partial vetoes of the 2019-21 transportation budget. Inslee acknowledged...
California Senate Appropriations Committee Kills AB 161 The CALIFORNIA Senate Appropriations Committee kills AB 161 , a bill that would have banned most paper receipts at large retailers unless customers requested one (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). ...
California Senate Appropriations Committee Holds AB 376 The CALIFORNIA Senate Appropriations Committee holds AB 376 , a bill that would have established a student loan borrower’s bill of rights, hired a state borrower advocate to respond to consumer...
California Senate Appropriations Committee Declines to Endorse AB 572 The CALIFORNIA Senate Appropriations Committee declines to endorse AB 572 , a bill that would have barred the state from doing business with companies whose products contributed...
California Senate Gives Final Approval to SB 276 The CALIFORNIA Senate gives final approval to SB 276 , which would allow the state Department of Public Health to review and potentially reject medical vaccine exemptions written by doctors who have...
California Governor Signs SB 245 CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs SB 245 , which allows military veterans to have adoption fees waived for dogs and cats available at animal shelters (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). California Governor Signs SB 192...
Seattle City Council Approves Bike Lane Ordinance The SEATTLE City Council unanimously approves an ordinance requiring the city Department of Transportation to build protected bike lanes any time those lanes are included in the city’s long-term...
The biggest question awaiting an answer in the annual rush to the end of the California legislative year doesn’t actually involve legislation. As the Capitol Morning Report notes, the race between Sen. Scott Wilk and Assemblymember Tom Lackey to...
A former North Dakota gubernatorial candidate has had it with the secrecy of his fellow lawmakers. Had, had, had it! Now, Rep. Marvin Nelson is going to do something about it. as the Bismarck Tribune reports , Nelson said he will livestream legislative...
There isn’t anything in this universe that someone somewhere won’t try to package and sell. Case in point comes from California, where a company is leveraging the DMV’s notorious appointment backlog by offering expedited appointments...
It’s a good time to be a CEO in America. Various studies show that CEOs of major corporations made hundreds of times what their workers earned in average pay last year. According to data compiled by the Associated Press , average CEO compensation...
Lawmakers in at least three states have introduced legislation this year that would impose a tax on corporations that pay their chief executive officers far more than their average workers, according to Inequality.org, a project of the Washington, D.C...
During the final week of this year’s legislative session in Arizona, state lawmakers passed a bill ( HB 2756 ) that, among other things, will require the state to calculate the additional state cost of any minimum wage increase above the state rate...
It’s been 10 months since Hurricane Michael slammed Florida’s Panhandle in October 2018. But more than 20,000 insurance claims from residential property owners - about 14 percent of the total number filed - remain open. That rate is...
MN, NC MAY BE IN RECESSION MINNESOTA and NORTH CAROLINA may be in a recession, according to research indicating that when a state’s unemployment rate rises by at least 0.4 percentage points above its lowest rate in the preceding 12 months, there’s...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and executives of other big tech companies have been saying recently that they want a federal data privacy law. But this year the companies and their lobbyists helped kill data privacy bills introduced in at least 13 states...
Democrats are pouring money into next year’s state legislative races. In Dallas, Shawn Terry, the Democratic challenger in a longtime Republican district, has already raised $235,000. In Virginia, where the GOP holds narrow majorities in both...
Dismissal rates in certain types of criminal cases in Massachusetts - including some that involve public officials - vary widely from court to court, according to analysis of court data by the Boston Globe . In Massachusetts, when someone is accused...
FEDERAL COURT RULES CO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS DON’T HAVE TO VOTE IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATE ELECTORATE The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled last month that COLORADO’s presidential electors don’t have to vote for the...
After months of negotiations, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced an agreement last week among charter school advocates, teacher unions and legislative leaders on a bill that will impose new restrictions on the state’s charter schools. ...
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) conditionally vetoed a measure that would have overhauled the Garden State’s process for expunging convictions for those who have stayed out of further legal trouble for at least 10 years. In his veto message for...
COURT SAYS KY GOV CAN REJECT PRIVATE LAWYERS The KENTUCKY Supreme Court rules that Gov. Matt Bevin (R) and legislative leaders were within their legal authority to cancel an employment contract that Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear awarded...
Illinois governor Signs HB 3394 ILLINOIS Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signs HB 3394 , a bill that will require companies headquartered in the Prairie State to submit an annual report on their board membership and how they identify and appoint diverse candidates...
Arizona Board of Regents Approves Proposal The ARIZONA Board of Regents unanimously approves a proposal to charge undocumented students who graduate from high school in the Grand Canyon State 150 percent of the in-state tuition rate, a 50 percent reduction...
Delaware Governor Signs HB 65 DELAWARE Gov. John Carney (D) signs HB 65 , which bars covenants or other restrictions that would halt or unreasonably limit the use of roof or ground-mounted residential solar systems. The measure also lowers the voting...