Ks and TX Friends of the Court In Florida Support Governors in KANSAS and TEXAS said they would file amicus briefs in support of FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging the government is illegally coercing the state to expand Medicaid (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION...

A quartet of former Kansas governors have waded into a bitter fight in Kansas over whether voters will opt to retain or remove four justices on the Sunflower State Supreme Court. Former Govs. Michael Hayden and Bill Graves, both Republicans, joining with Democratic former Govs. John Carlin and Kathleen...

HOGAN PROPOSES NEW TIMETABLE FOR MD EMISSIONS TESTS MARYLAND Gov. Larry Hogan (R) proposed giving Old Line State drivers an extra year before their vehicles would have to undergo an initial emissions inspection. Current law requires the inspection at 24 months; Hogan has proposed conducting it at...

MURPHY ORDERS NJ MEDICAL WEED REVIEW : Calling the Garden State’s medical marijuana system “constrained,” NEW JERSEY Gov. Phil Murphy (D) issued Executive Order No. 6 , which mandates a 60-day review of the program. Murphy said he would consider allowing home delivery, purchases...

OR GOV CALLS ON GOP LAWMAKER TO RESIGN : OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) called on Sen. Jeff Kruse (R) to resign last week after an independent investigator determined he had repeatedly subjected women to uncomfortable hugging and unwanted touching even after repeated warnings. “Senator Kruse’s...

Taking advantage of state candidacy laws that set no minimum age or residency requirements, seven minors have filed to run for governor in Kansas. They are just a portion of at least 20 people – and one dog - that have filed paperwork to run for the office. One of the seven has never lived in Kansas...

AZ GOV SIGNS OFF ON TEACHER PAY RAISE ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed budget legislation last week that will hike the pay of Grand Canyon State teachers by 20 percent over the next three years. The wage increase came after dozens of the state’s school districts canceled classes as part of...

Kansas Gov.-elect Laura Kelly (D) reiterated her intention to issue an executive order reinstating protections from workplace discrimination for LGBTQ Kansans after she is sworn in next January. “I am planning to actually have an executive order drafted before I take office,” Kelly...

DESANTIS WANTS MAJOR CHANGE TO FL MEDICAL WEED LAW Saying he wants to see people “be able to have their suffering relieved,” FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) urged Sunshine State lawmakers to allow medical marijuana patients to smoke their weed if they so choose. If lawmakers do not go along...

After passing the House in March, a bill championed by Gov. Laura Kelly (D) to expand Medicaid in the Sunflower State appears to have died in the GOP-controlled Senate. Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley forced a procedural vote to move HB 2066 out of the Public Health and Welfare Committee...

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed legislation last week aimed at ending a long running battle with neighboring Kansas in which both states have spent hundreds of millions of public dollars to lure private companies back and forth across the border. Under SB 182 , the Show Me State would no longer...

Faced with the imminent threat of litigation from her own attorney general, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) has dropped her effort to allow thousands of Show Me State residents to continue receiving food stamps without meeting state-mandated work requirements. Kelly announced in June she would allow...