As of late January, legislation dealing with paid time off for workers to care for a newborn or ill family member was pending in at least 26 states, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net . Since California became the first state to enact a paid...

Sixteen states led by California sued President Donald Trump on President’s Day, alleging that his proclamation of a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexican border was unconstitutional. Trump proclaimed the emergency a week earlier after expressing frustration with Congress for providing only...

Pension reformers won a narrow victory this month in the California Supreme Court, but the justices dodged a decision on the “California Rule,” a restrictive provision cherished by public employee unions. In a nationally watched case, the California high court upheld a pension reform...

Legislation dealing with consumer data privacy has been introduced this year in at least 25 states, according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net. As of April 3, such measures had been passed by their chambers of origin in five states - Arkansas...

Although the decennial census is a federal responsibility, with states having so much to gain from an accurate tally, 30 have established committees - either through legislation or executive order - to ensure their populations are fully counted, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures...

As of the start of this year, at least 25 states had passed laws requiring businesses that handle personal data to implement security procedures to protect that information from unauthorized access, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking...

CT Senate Approves HB 7200 The CONNECTICUT Senate approves HB 7200 , which would raise the Constitution State smoking age to 21. The measure moves to Gov. Ned Lamont (D), who has pledged to sign it into law (CONNECTICUT MIRROR [HARTFORD]). CT house Approves SB 1 The CONNECTICUT House approves...

IL LAWMAKERS PASS REVENUE GENERATING MEASURES In overtime after the scheduled adjournment of their regular session on May 31, ILLINOIS lawmakers passed legislation that among other things would allow a casino in Chicago, double the state’s motor fuel tax to 38 cents per gallon and increase the...

At least 28 states have considered legislation this session addressing reciprocity with other states in occupational licensing, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking system . Such measures have been enacted in half of those states, including Arizona, where Gov. Doug Ducey (R...

If a hair stylist learns their craft and is licensed in Las Vegas and then moves across the state line to Arizona, does what they learned in Vegas stay in Vegas? Probably not. But their ability to work might. Or at least it used to. Presumably, the importance of sanitization of combs and the best...

At least 40 states have introduced legislation in 2019 aimed at reducing the cost of prescription drugs, according to LexisNexis State Net ’s legislative tracking system. Fifteen of those states have enacted such measures.

MA House Endorses HB 3904 The MASSACHUSETTS House endorses HB 3904 , a bill that would establish a framework for licensing and regulating appraisal management companies in the Bay State. It is now in the Senate (STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE [BOSTON]. NJ Governor Signs AB 5321 NEW JERSEY Gov....

At least 189 bills dealing with independent contractors have been introduced in state legislatures this session, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking system . Fifty of those measures have been passed by one or both chambers of their originating legislatures, including California’s...

At least 26 states have introduced bills this session dealing with the collection and use of biometric information, such as fingerprints, speech patterns or gait, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net. Three of those states - Arkansas, New York...

At the start of this year, many observers believed states might be lining up to duplicate California’s tough new data privacy law, set to go into effect next year. That rush didn’t quite materialize, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers completely whiffed on data protection. According...

When SNCJ reported in August 2017 on medical balance billing - the direct charging of patients by healthcare providers for services that aren’t fully covered at the providers’ rate by the patients’ insurance - nearly half of the states had passed legislation addressing the practice...

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.-based Institute for Policy Studies. Four states...

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 at Fortune 500 companies rose to $12 million...

At least 37 states have introduced legislation this year dealing with the cybersecurity of government agencies, 24 of which have enacted such measures, according to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures and LexisNexis State Net. The measures deal with a range of issues, including...

VA GOV VOWS END TO LAWSUITS AGAINST PATIENTS VIRGINIA Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said he would work with University of Virginia James Ryan to end the widespread practice of aggressively pursuing former patients for unpaid medical bills. A recent investigation by Kaiser Health News revealed that that UVA...

At least 27 states have considered legislation this year dealing with the privacy of consumer data, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . Consumer data privacy bills were enacted in six of those states, while measures are still pending in several others, including California, where...

As of October 17, 68 lawsuits had been initiated against the Trump administration via a complaint or petition filed by multiple states, according to data compiled by Dr. Paul Nolette, an associate professor of political science at Marquette University, for the website AttorneysGeneral.org . Democrat...

As of Oct. 15, governors or public health agencies in seven states had imposed temporary bans on the sale of vaping products, four of which had been at least partially blocked by legal challenges, according to Time . At least five states have also introduced bills this year aimed at banning flavored...

As of mid-October, 26 states had introduced legislation this year dealing with the privacy of consumer data, according to analysis of LexisNexis State Net legislative data by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Seven of those states had enacted such measures, including Hawaii, where a consumer...

It’s the holiday season, and if most voters are thinking about politics at all they are probably pondering more about how to get through family festivities without a major blowup over differing political philosophies than they are about next year’s legislative agendas. But rest assured...