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CA Regulators Move to Ban Oil Drilling Near Homes : California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposed new regulations on Thursday that would ban drilling new oil or gas wells near residential neighborhoods. Under the proposal, new wells could not be closer...

OSHA Could Strip Workplace Safety Regulation Authority from AZ, SC, UT: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is poised to begin the process of revoking the authority of Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah to regulate workplace safety, due...

Nursing Home In-Room Camera Bill Advancing in OH: A bipartisan bill ( SB 58 ) passed unanimously by the Ohio Senate in May and now up for its third committee hearing in the state’s House would allow nursing home residents or their families to...

Business The U.S. Supreme Court rejects an appeal by trucking companies seeking to exempt drivers from a California labor law that would classify them as employees rather than independent contractors. The SCOTUS rejected without comment an appeal of...

ID Gov in Power Struggle with Lt. Gov : A simmering feud between Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) and Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) became public last week when Little said he would rescind an executive order McGeachin issued in his absence that banned Gem...

AR Lawmakers Pass COVID-19 Vaccine Opt-Out Measure: Arkansas’ General Assembly passed a bill ( HB 1977 ) requiring employers in the state to allow their workers to opt-out of getting vaccinated for COVID-19. The measure failed to draw the two...

Divergent Worker Vaccination Mandate Results in NY, RI: Healthcare workers in New York have been getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at over twice the rate of adult residents of the state as a whole, since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a vaccine...

NJ Gov Unveils Return to Work Incentives : In an effort to address ongoing staffing shortages across several industries, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced an incentive program that will pay currently unemployed workers $500 to return to the...

CA Boosts Cal/OSHA’s Power: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed legislation ( SB 606 ) expanding the enforcement authority of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). The new law, effective Jan. 1, 2022, establishes...

NY Hospitals Push Unvaccinated Workers toward Vaccination with Suspensions: Hospitals in upstate New York have started placing employees on unpaid leave for failing to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers...

CA Dems Will Explore Changing Recall Rules : California voters emphatically rejected a Republican-led effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), and now Dems are looking to revise what they call a “flawed recall system.” That system offers...

FL to Begin Fining Local Governments over Vaccine Mandates: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced at a news conference last week that the state will begin enforcing a new state law enacted in May ( SB 2006 ) that bars businesses and local governments...

Cost Cutting has Made Hospitals More Vulnerable to Pandemic: Hawaii has one of the lowest hospital bed per capita rates in the nation, at 1.9 beds for every 1,000 people. The state is now out of intensive care beds, with half of the 223 total statewide...

ID Lawmakers Still Working to Curb Gov Powers : Idaho House lawmakers endorsed three bills last week to curb Gov. Brad Little’s (R) emergency powers. The measures collectively would limit a governor’s ability during declared emergencies to...

Business: The FLORIDA Senate fails to reach concurrence on HB 969 , a comprehensive data privacy measure that would have allowed consumers to know what personal information companies have collected on them and to demand they delete it. The measure passed...

FL Legislature Approves Big Auto, Property Insurance Changes: On the final day of their regular 2021 session last month, Florida lawmakers passed two bills that would bring significant changes to the state’s auto and property insurance industries...

EUA Status of COVID-19 Vaccines Unlikely to Hinder Employer Mandates: Although employers seem to be leaning toward encouraging their workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19 over requiring them to do so , the very real prospect of such mandates has sparked...

States Shifting Burden of Doctors’, Dentists’ Pandemic Expenses onto Insurers: A bill in committee in the California Senate ( SB 242 ) would require state-regulated private health insurance plans to reimburse doctors and dentists for “medically...

TX, FL, IA Govs Sign on for Alcohol to Go : The governors of Florida, Iowa and Texas signed measures last week that make permanent pandemic-induced temporary regulations allowing restaurants to sell alcohol to go or for delivery. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds...

Business: WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signs SB 5172 , a bill that will ensure farm laborers in the Evergreen State receive overtime pay. The law will be phased in, granting the additional pay for workers who put in more than 55 hours of work by 2022;...

FL Insurers Dropping Over 50,000 Polices to Remain Afloat: The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has issued consent orders allowing three insurers to drop thousands of personal residential policies to try to remain solvent. Universal Insurance Co...

Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Millions to Restore Service: Colonial Pipeline Co. reportedly paid almost $5 million in cryptocurrency to hackers this month to get its ransomware-disabled computer network restored and resume operation of its fuel pipeline...

Coronavirus Tests Cash Cows for Some Providers: Some hospitals have been charging as much as $650 for a basic molecular COVID-19 test that costs them less than $50 to do, according to analysis of Medicare claims by Hospital Pricing Specialists. Some...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) last week ordered state regulators to yank the licenses of facilities that house undocumented migrant kids. The move was intended to stymie a Biden administration policy that contracts with 52 Texas general residential facilities...

Business The VERMONT House and Senate give final approval to HB 313 , a measure that would extend for two years an earlier executive order by Gov. Phil Scott (R) allowing for the curbside pickup and delivery of alcohol. It is with Gov. Scott now for...