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  • Blog Post: Flurry of Remote Sales Tax Bills in States This Year

    At least a dozen states have introduced legislation in 2016 related to out-of-state, or remote, sales taxes, according to LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking database. Most of the bills have been aimed at expanding the definition of a state presence, or “nexus,” for sales tax...
  • Blog Post: Majority of States Looking at Daily Fantasy Sports

    Thirty-three states have considered legislation related to daily fantasy sports this year, according to LegalSportsReport.com and LexisNexis State Net legislative data. DFS bills have been passed in four states, including Virginia, which enacted two. DFS measures have also failed in 13 states, but DFS...
  • Blog Post: Majority of States Have Minimum Wage Higher Than Federal Standard

    As of last month, 29 states had a minimum wage that was higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Two of those states, California and New York, have also passed laws that will gradually raise their minimum wages to $15 per hour...
  • Blog Post: Texas et al Win Challenge To Obama Immigration Policy

    Twenty-five states joined Texas in challenging President Obama’s executive actions on immigration policy in November 2014, expanding temporary relief from deportation for undocumented immigrants. Fifteen states also filed amicus, or “friend of the court,” briefs supporting those executive...
  • Blog Post: Most States Allow Transportation Network Companies

    Thirty-seven states have passed laws regulating transportation network companies (TNCs), according to the R Street Institute and LexisNexis State Net’s legislative tracking database. The most recent addition to that group is Delaware, where Gov. Jack Markell (D) signed SB 262 last week. TNC legislation...
  • Blog Post: Business - May 15 2017

    Illinois Approves SB 1502 The ILLINOIS Senate approves SB 1502 , a measure that would require online companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to disclose to consumers what data about them has been collected and shared with third parties. It is now in the House (CHICAGO TRIBUNE). Georgia Vetoes...
  • Blog Post: Politics In Brief - October 2 2017

    DHS CONTACTS STATES ABOUT 2016 ELECTION HACKING The Department of Homeland Security directly notified election officials in 21 states last month that they had been targeted by hackers connected to the Russian government during the 2016 election campaign. The states that confirmed they were targeted...
  • Blog Post: More Familiar Issues Likely to Draw State Lawmakers’ Attention in 2018

    As SNCJ ’s Rich Ehisen reported last week, some of the issues likely to receive the most attention from state lawmakers next year are those that are already familiar, such as health care, the opioid epidemic and sexual harassment. Here are several more issues that generally fall in that same category...
  • Blog Post: Most States Taking Action on Cybersecurity

    As of Oct. 30 at least 43 states had introduced over 240 bills and resolutions related to cybersecurity this year, according to analysis of LexisNexis State Net data by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Twenty-seven of those states have enacted bills, and four have adopted resolutions. Among...
  • Blog Post: 2018: A Year of Living Dangerously

    The shadow of President Donald Trump and the Republican tax bill will hover over state governing bodies in 2018, a year of midterm elections that Tim Storey, political analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, says will be “a referendum on the president.” Long before...
  • Blog Post: More State Cybersecurity Regulation Ahead for Financial Services Industry?

    Developments in 2017, including the highly publicized Equifax data breach and adoption of cybersecurity requirements for insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions by New York’s Department of Financial Services, have the financial services industry bracing for more state cybersecurity...
  • Blog Post: Legislative Efforts to Arm Teachers Bog Down in States in 2018

    At least 20 bills dealing with the arming of teachers and other school employees have been introduced in 12 states since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, according to legislative information from the National Conference of State Legislatures...
  • Blog Post: Governors in Brief - July 16 2018

    DUCEY DECRIES ‘RECKLESS’ CALLS TO ABOLISH ICE In an op-ed in USA Today last week, ARIZONA Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said calls from a growing number of Democratic officials to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency were “reckless” and “misguided.”...
  • Blog Post: Many States Taken Action but Many Yet to Act on Wayfair Ruling

    When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that a law passed by South Dakota had freed it from a longstanding legal precedent barring states from imposing sales taxes on internet and mail-order retailers that did not have a physical presence within their borders, some predicted there would be a flurry...
  • Blog Post: Baker Remains Most Popular Governor

    For the seventh quarter in a row, polling by Morning Consult shows that the ten most popular governors in America are all Republicans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker topped the list with a 70 percent approval rating, followed closely by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, at 67 percent. That pair has topped...
  • Blog Post: More Democratic Women Candidates Than Republican Ones in Most States

    Of the 3,388 women running for legislative office in 46 states this year, 70 percent are Democrats. In 19 of those states, there are about twice as many Democratic female candidates as Republican ones. In 15 states, there are three times more. In five, there are four times more. In Alabama there are...
  • Blog Post: More States Under Unified One-Party Control in 2019

    As a result of the November elections, in 2019 Republicans will control both the legislature and the governor’s office in 23 states, three less than the number of states under unified GOP control this year. Democrats will control the legislative and executive branch in 14 states, twice as many...
  • Blog Post: More States Ready for Moderate Recession Than Not

    As of September 2018, 23 states had enough rainy day and other reserve funds to weather a moderate recession, while 17 states lacked such reserves, according to Moody’s Analytics. The other 10 states had reserve balances that were within 5 percentage points of the amount they would need to get...
  • Blog Post: Record Number of Women Serving as State Legislative Leaders

    After picking up over 200 state legislative seats in the 2018 midterm elections, women now hold 2,112 legislative seats nationwide, nearly 29 percent of the 7,383 total, a record high, according to data from the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University . Women will also hold...
  • Blog Post: Budgets in Brief - March 11 2019

    MN GOV PROPOSES $1.3B IN BORROWING MINNESOTA Gov. Tim Walz (D) has proposed borrowing nearly $1.3 billion to provide more affordable housing, fix buildings on college campuses and repair transportation infrastructure. Although parts of the governor’s plan have broad appeal, the state’s...
  • Blog Post: Gas Tax Hikes Not Long-Term Fix for Transportation Funding

    Since 2013, 31 states have raised their gas taxes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures . Four states - Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio and Virginia - have done so this year. And Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin could be next. Gas tax hikes are the natural go-to for transportation...
  • Blog Post: States Taking Action to Ensure Complete 2020 Census Count

    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...
  • Blog Post: Over Half of States Have Passed Private-Sector Data Security Laws

    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...
  • Blog Post: Many States Looking at Occupational Licensing Reciprocity

    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...
  • Blog Post: Will Arizona Lead Charge for Licensing Reciprocity?

    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...