“He said it was a ‘public safety’ issue. No it’s not,” said bill sponsor Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-Fort Lauderdale) according to the Miami Herald. “These are non-violent drug offenders.” The bill, a rare common sense favorite during a legislative season that saw Scott approve dying animals and Jay-Z lyrics debated on the House floor, was…
Category: State Government
Elizabeth Warren Raises $6.9 Million
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren D has posted another mammoth fundraising quarter, raising $6.9 million in the first three months of the year, more than double the $3.4 million haul of Republican Sen. Scott Brown. Warren raised $5.7 million in the fourth quarter on 2011, teeing up sky-high expectations for the first three months of…
Scott Walker Quietly Repeals Wisconsin Equal Pay Law
A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill. The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by giving workers more avenues via which…
Arizona’s Private Prisons: A Bad Bargain
Since 1987, Arizona’s Department of Corrections has been legislatively mandated to produce cost and quality reviews for its private prisons, in part to judge how they compare with state-run facilities. The data on costs were collected, but in recent years, it took a lawsuit by the AFSC for the Department of Corrections to release quality…
Arizona’s ‘Show Me Your Papers’ Law in the U.S. Supreme Court
If the Court gives its blessing to this coordinated “attrition through enforcement” strategy and allows S.B. 1070 and its progeny to be implemented, the nation will return to a time of deep division, likely cleaved once again along regional lines, with some states passing welcoming laws, and others passing restrictive ones. Yet the ultimate objective…
Poll: Majority For Recalling Walker In Wisconsin
The new Rasmussen poll of Wisconsin shows bad news for Gov. Scott Walker, with a majority of likely voters wanting to kick him out of office in the state’s recently triggered recall election. The poll asked: “A special election will be held to see if voters want to recall Governor Scott Walker and remove him…
More states privatizing their infrastructure. Are they making a mistake?
But before getting too excited about the magical powers of private firms, experts warn that there are potential pitfalls to these arrangements. For one, as Robert Puentes of Brookings noted in a recent paper (pdf), these are complicated multi-decade financial arrangements. And “many states,” he notes, “lack the technical capacity and expertise to consider such…
Sunshine State Bets On Sunset For Health Care Act
Scott holds that, until the Supreme Court decides the case, the Affordable Care Act is not yet the law of the land. In an interview with member station WUSF in Tampa, Scott says until then, he has no interest in setting up a health care exchange. “All it’s going to do is raise the cost…
DOJ: Florida Voting Restrictions May Discriminate Intentionally
New Florida laws that place harsh restrictions on third-party voter registration groups and limit the early voting period may have been passed with a discriminatory intent, lawyers with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division suggested in a court filing on Tuesday. DOJ told the court that the federal government’s position was that Florida “has not…
One Nation, Two Health Care Extremes
The U.S. spent $2.6 trillion on health care in 2010 — more than the entire economy of France or Britain. But the amount spent and how it’s used varies from state to state. And no two states are more different than Texas and Massachusetts. At 25 percent, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people…
Vermont Edges Toward Single Payer Health Care
From October 2011: Many of the details of the system, including the key issue of financing, still need to be worked out and more legislation will be required to complete the transformation. But Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin has moved quickly since taking office last January to set the state on a path to create the…
New healthcare exchange rules issued for states
Industry and consumer groups welcomed the regulations, saying they provided states with the flexibility necessary to meet consumer needs for choice and quality protections. They also said the regulations shift policy focus to the state level, where the new rules must be implemented. State exchanges are part of a two-pronged effort to provide health coverage…
Drug Testing Bill Targets Florida State Workers, Excludes Lawmakers
A Florida state lawmaker is pushing a bill requiring state agencies to test their workers for drugs. But the bill wouldn’t mandate testing for all public sector employees; members of the Florida legislature would get a pass. Rep. Jimmie Smith (R-Lecanto), the bill’s sponsor, said he supports drug testing for lawmakers, but requiring them to…
Florida House Of Representatives Overwhelmingly Approves ‘Inspirational Message’ Bill For Schools
Florida students will soon be allowed to deliver “inspirational messages,” which include everything from prayers to manifestos, at mandatory school events. The Florida House of Representatives just approved SB 98, which permits Florida school districts to allow students to read inspirational messages of their choosing at assemblies and sporting events. The House approval was overwhelming,…
Kansas Abortion Bill: Risks Lives, Governor Hasn’t Read It, But Promises To Sign It
Brownback, speaking to The Huffington Post Monday following the National Governors Association meeting, said that while he has not read the 69-page bill, he is likely to sign the proposal since he opposes abortion rights. Brownback, a former U.S. senator, has signed several anti-abortion bills since he took office last year. “I am pro-life,” Brownback…
Progressive Chellie Pingree Considers Run for Snowe’s Seat
Rep. Chellie Pingree D-Maine is all but certain to make a bid for the Senate in the wake of Sen. Olympia Snowes R retirement announcement, she told The Huffington Post in an interview Wednesday. “I cant think of anything right now thats holding me back,” Pingree said. “I mean, I love being in the House,…
Election Director: No Proof of Dead Voters
The director of the South Carolina Election Commission released a report Wednesday refuting claims that more 200 dead voters participated during the 2010 election. Election Commission Executive Director Marci Andino said that 197 of the cases her agency investigated appeared to be results of human error or coincidence and not cases of voter fraud. The…
The Scandal of Michigan’s Emergency Managers
Under PA 4, EMs have proven to be a divisive solution. Outsourcing services to private companies and abolishing collective bargaining takes a page right out of the right-wing playbook: a 2011 report titled “101 Recommendations to Revitalize Michigan,” published by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy, calls for ending “mandatory collective bargaining for government…
Gov. Scott Walker To Use Foreclosure Settlement Money To Balance His Budget, Not Help Homeowners
Yesterday, 49 states joined the federal government in announcing a $26 billion settlement with five of the nation’s biggest banks over the banks’ foreclosure fraud abuses. The money from the settlement is meant to aid homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure or who find themselves underwater, meaning they owe more on their mortgage than…
States Under Pressure As Health Law Deadlines Approach
The health law’s biggest changes don’t take effect until 2014, when states and insurers must be ready to begin signing up an estimated 32 million people in Medicaid and private insurance. But a successful rollout in two years hinges on critical decisions that states must make – and take quick action on – this year….