Domestic partners of Michigan state employees were supposed to start getting state benefits on October 1, but the Republican-controlled state House is having none of that: The bills, HB 4770 and 4771, prohibit any government entity in the state – including universities and city governments – from providing such benefits and prohibit unions from including them in collective bargaining…
Category: State Government
N.Y. Worker Accuses State of Illegal GPS Spying
A New York state worker has accused government officials of violating the state constitution after they installed a GPS tracker on his private car and recorded its whereabouts for a month. The state Department of Labor placed the device secretly on the worker’s car without a warrant and tracked the vehicle 24 hours a…
Perry Brags About Texas’ Tax System That Charges The Poor Four Times As Much As The Rich
As Matt Yglesias has noted, in reality Perry’s tax system “has done a great job of soaking the poor.” In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, someone in the poorest 20 percent of Texans can expect to face a tax rate four times as high as a Texan in…
House OKs ban on schools automatically deducting union dues from pay
The Michigan House today narrowly passed a bill that would prohibit school districts from automatically deducting union dues from employee paychecks. The bill passed on a 55-53 vote in the Republican-controlled House. It now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate. House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, praised the vote, saying school employees “should be able to ask…
Judge blocks Fla. law restricting doctor gun talk
A federal judge Wednesday blocked a Florida gun law that restricted doctors from asking patients about firearms. Judge Marcia G. Cooke said doctors had a First Amendment right to ask about firearms, and she rapped the state’s lawyers for failing to provide more than anecdotal evidence to show the law was needed. “The State has…
Statistically, You Have a Better Chance of Being Executed by Rick Perry Than Dying in an Airplane Crash
OK, maybe not you — you may well live in a state other than Texas. And if you do live in the Lone Star State but you’re white, that’ll also decrease your odds of taking the needle. But in terms of overall population, Texans are more likely to have their execution order signed by Rick Perry…