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  • Blog Post: Pre-election voting restricted in many states

    In most states eligible voters can cast their votes before Election Day, either by going to the polls during designated early voting periods or by voting via absentee ballot. But 30 states have no early voting period, although 13 of those states allow voters to cast absentee ballots in person before...
  • Blog Post: States Still Divesting from Iran

    Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books prohibiting at least some state pension or retirement funds from investing in companies that do a certain amount of business in Iran. Ten of those states also have laws on the books prohibiting at least some government contracts with...
  • Blog Post: More States Oppose Obama Immigration Policy Than Support

    Texas and twenty-five other states have filed suit to block President Obama’s executive actions in November shielding undocumented immigrants from deportation for three years, according to the Pew Research Center. Twelve states have filed an amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief in...
  • Blog Post: Texas Abortion Ruling Reverberates In Other States

    Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a 2013 Texas law requiring doctors and clinics that perform abortions to meet hospital-like standards resulted in the almost immediate effective invalidation of similar laws facing legal challenge in three other states. The same could happen in...
  • 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: States Sue To Block Federal Overtime Rule

    Twenty-one predominantly Republican-governed states have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Obama administration rule extending mandatory overtime pay to millions of American workers. The rule, which was finalized in May and takes effect in December, mandates that employers pay salaried workers...
  • Blog Post: Politics In Brief - October 10 2016

    Federal Appeals Court Blocks KS Voter Registration Requirement The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has upheld an order blocking KANSAS Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) from requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote at Department of Motor Vehicles offices in...
  • 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: 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: 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: 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...