23 states face budget gaps in '09
From: www.stateline.org
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Like a college student fishing for stray quarters in the sofa cushions, states are tightening their belts, dipping into their rainy day funds and hoping revenues will pick up. But the faltering economy already has punched a $26 billion hole in 23 state budgets for 2009 – and it could get worse, according to a new report issued today (April 25).
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Hiring law snares zero employers
From: www.azcentral.com
"When the Legal Arizona Workers Act passed last year, it was hailed as landmark legislation that would help law enforcement crack down on employers who illegally hired "unauthorized aliens." "
To reach youth, California goes YouTube
From: www.csmonitor.com
"LOS ANGELES - Question: What do you get when you cross the stuffy subject of America's largest state government with the audiovisual possibilities of the digisphere?"
Does commission on California elected officials' pay have power to cut their salaries?
From: www.sacbee.com
"A push to cut the salaries of California's statewide elected officials shines a light on an obscure fact in the state constitution: Pay was not meant to be tied to performance.
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Florida to examine faith-based health care
From: www.tampabay.com
"The health care program is called Medi-Share, Biblical Healthcare Solutions. "
Budget ready for final passage
From: www.palmbeachpost.com
"House and Senate budget chiefs reached agreement on a $65 billion state budget Sunday that spares the A.G. Holley tuberculosis hospital in Lantana and clears the way for legislators to pass the spending plan on time and go home on Friday as scheduled.
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Will lust for poker bring back quarter-horse races in Florida?
From: www.orlandosentinel.com
"Gambling proponents think they have a great way to tap poker's popularity in Florida: Bring back quarter-horse racing by building tracks that also include card rooms.
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House, Senate agree on budget
From: floridacapitalnews.com
"House and Senate budget chiefs agreed Sunday on a $65 billion-plus state budget deal, including a 5 percent reduction in the salaries of Florida lawmakers who have made painful spending tradeoffs in a second straight year of declining state revenues.
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Final week of Florida Legislature's session features controversial measures
From: www.sun-sentinel.com
"Florida legislators starting their final workweek today still face the session's major issues, including revamping public school assessment tests, finding health-care coverage for millions of uninsured Floridians and easing the rules for building nuclear power plants.
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Bill that would set training standards for crane operators expected to fail
From: www.sun-sentinel.com
"For the second year, crane company owners, consultants and inspectors have been pushing the Florida Legislature to pass a bill establishing training standards and certification procedures for crane operators, their loaders ? also called riggers ? and those who direct the crane by radio or hand signal. It's expected to fail."
S. Florida lawmakers losing clout
From: www.miamiherald.com
"South Florida lawmakers' voices often go unheard or are at odds with one another, leaving the state's largest school districts with little policy clout.
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Florida budget gets final education, health care cuts
From: www.tampabay.com
"Florida lawmakers will earn 5 percent less next year, public schools will have less money and the state's health safety net will be slashed under a final budget deal announced Sunday by legislative leaders."
2008 Iowa Legislature adjourns for the year
From: www.radioiowa.com
"The 2008 Iowa legislative session concluded early Saturday. The Senate adjourned at 2:32 a.m. and the House followed nine minutes later."
Loophole lets lender skirt law, group says
From: www.chicagotribune.com
"When a law governing payday loans took effect more than two years ago, Illinois officials ballyhooed the millions of dollars saved and the burdens lifted for cash-strapped borrowers. But consumer advocates say a major player in the loan industry has used a loophole in the law to shift customers to loans with no caps on interest rates, allowing them to charge an average 279 percent annual interest on loans to mostly female, minority and low-income borrowers."
Illinois legislators propose flurry of Internet laws
From: www.chicagotribune.com
"It's become an annual rite of spring at the Capitol: lawmakers putting forth measure after measure to crack down on troubling aspects of the Internet, dangling the promise of making schoolchildren safer."
The governor's $25,000 club
From: www.chicagotribune.com
"Gov. Rod Blagojevich's aggressive fundraising machine collected hundreds of $25,000 checks in a campaign effort that dwarfed his predecessors', and most of these big givers ended up benefiting from his administration."
Assessments rise as home prices fall
From: www.indystar.com
"A sluggish housing market is eroding Marion County home values even as the state is calculating higher values for tax purposes, squeezing thousands of homeowners and tipping some toward bankruptcy."
Calls grow for relief from business tax
From: www.detnews.com
"The outcry from Michigan companies stunned and angry about their new tax bills has touched off a scramble in the state capital, where politicians are mindful about scaring away business in an already floundering economy."
Churches start drive to cover uninsured
From: www.detnews.com
"Angel Kreutzans has been hobbling around for a month since her minivan broke down and the vehicle ran over her left foot as a truck began towing it."
Better insurance for autism sought
From: www.freep.com
"Supporters of legislation to get better insurance coverage for autism are calling for action at the state Capitol."
Tainted ballpark dirt ends up near river
From: www.startribune.com
"Thousands of tons of contaminated soil excavated from the site of the new Twins ballpark was improperly placed in a flood plain last summer, and the stadium's owner estimates it now could cost up to $1 million to correct the problem."
Pawlenty shrugs off DFL budget counteroffer
From: www.twincities.com
"Democratic-Farmer-Labor legislative leaders on Friday proposed reviving the Central Corridor light-rail line linking St. Paul and Minneapolis as part of their first budget-balancing counteroffer to Gov. Tim Pawlenty."
U's pressure for its light-rail plan alarms partners
From: www.twincities.com
"The University of Minnesota is not on board the Central Corridor. Still."
One agency's junk another's treasure at online auction
From: www.nj.com
"Many New Jersey towns, counties and government agencies are abandoning the traditional methods of selling surplus at local warehouse auctions in favor of posting them on GovDeals.com because of the huge market of potential buyers."
A hunger for a property tax cap, but the teachers' union isn't feeling it
From: www.nytimes.com
"The next battleground for the teachers' union is almost certain to be property taxes."
Frustrated Ohio homeowners put properties up for auction
From: www.daytondailynews.com
"CLEVELAND - Impatient with a sputtering real estate market, in which available homes are plentiful and prices are continuing to fall, people struggling to sell their homes in northeast Ohio are putting their properties on the auction block."
Strickland backs cap on interest rates
From: www.daytondailynews.com
"Gov. Ted Strickland wants to put a 36 percent annual interest rate cap on loans made by payday lending stores."
New from the PLCB -- wine sold in vending machines
From: www.post-gazette.com
"The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board wants to set up a statewide network of 100 satellite wine kiosks. The agency is soliciting proposals for a five-year contract to operate and maintain the kiosks, requiring that it be done at no cost to the state or PLCB. Each temperature-controlled kiosk will stock about 500 bottles for sale."
Clearing the air
From: www.pennlive.com
"Glossy magazine ads for a popular brand of cigarettes used to carry the slogan: "I'd rather fight than switch." In 2008, it could be like that again for Pennsylvania lawmakers who are considering a bill to ban indoor smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants across the state."
5-year-old played slots at Philly casino, complaint says
From: www.pittsburghlive.com
"A 5-year-old sat with his grandfather "taking turns" at a slot machine in Philadelphia Park Casino, according to a complaint pending before state gambling regulators."
Liquor board seeking operator for wine kiosks
From: www.pittsburghlive.com
"The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is seeking proposals for a contractor to operate up to 100 wine kiosks throughout the state."
State business tax draws concern
From: www.dallasnews.com
"Hundreds of thousands of Texas businesses, fresh from paying their federal income taxes earlier this month, are now busy calculating what they owe the state under its new business tax ? and many don't like what the numbers show. "
P.A. dredges up millions for cargo firm
From: www.nj.com
"In a last-minute addition to its agenda, the Port Authority approved a deal yesterday that will allow a politically connected New York seaport company to use money set aside for harbor dredging to pay off $2.6 million in back rent."
Group urges ban on medical giveaways
From: www.nytimes.com
"Drug and medical device companies should be banned from offering free food, gifts, travel and ghost-writing services to doctors, staff members and students in all 129 of the nation's medical colleges, an influential college association has concluded."
Farm-bill pact adds $10 billion for nutrition
From: online.wsj.com
"WASHINGTON -- Key members of the House and Senate reached tentative agreement on a plan to increase by more than $10 billion the spending on nutrition programs as part of a broader push to finish a bill to overhaul federal farm policy. "
Pro life firm asks Supreme Court to hear pharmacy case
From: www.wrn.com
"Paul Linton, Special Counsel with the Thomas Moore Society, says in 2002 their client, a Menominee pharmacist, refused to fill a prescription for birth control pills because of conscientious objections."
Illinois questions water pact
From: www.jsonline.com
"Illinois water officials are researching whether a provision of the Great Lakes water compact that could allow places such as Waukesha and Brookfield to receive Lake Michigan water would damage a lake recreation area that needs the Fox River to replenish it."
Older cars to get a pass on state emissions tests
From: www.jsonline.com
"Starting on July 1, cars and trucks built before 1996 will be exempt from having to undergo vehicle emissions inspections in southeastern Wisconsin. The latest figures in 2007 show that the change would have affected 28% of vehicles in the region - or about 175,000 cars."
Pharmacist says discipline violated rights
From: www.jsonline.com
"When pharmacist Neil Noesen told Amanda Thiede that his conscience would not permit him to refill her prescription for birth control pills in July 2002, she thought he was kidding."
Investment questions raised
From: www.jsonline.com
"After a change to state law in 2006 opened the door for school districts to get more aggressive in investing to pay for retiree health care, the measure proved so popular that the Legislature gave similar power to other governments this year."
WVU provost to quit over M.B.A.
From: www.post-gazette.com
"West Virginia University's top academic officer will announce his resignation today following a scathing report criticizing the role he and other top administrators played in awarding Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch a graduate degree that she did not earn."
Legislators prod Congress on Medicaid, Real ID
From: www.stateline.org
"As some states tumble into what they fear is a recession, state lawmakers from across the country are pushing Congress for relief from impending federal rules that would force states to pick up more Medicaid costs and spend billions to make drivers’ licenses more secure."
WORTH NOTING: Phantom voter stalks Ala. State House
From: www.stateline.org
"An Alabama lawmaker says someone’s been using his voting machine. Florida’s House Speaker locks the doors and turns off Internet access to make legislators pay attention. And Mayberry’s Sheriff Taylor endorses a North Carolina gubernatorial candidate. In case you missed those stories this week, "Worth Noting" fills you in."
Credit crunch hits states' college loans
From: www.stateline.org
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(Updated 11:55 a.m. EDT, April 23, 2008)
The credit crisis has led some state lending agencies to suspend their federal and private student loan programs, forcing thousands of students to search elsewhere for money to pay for college.
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Turf wars rage over fake grass
From: www.stateline.org
"State legislators are used to political turf wars. Now, debates in a handful of states really are about turf, pitting those who back the artificial variety against supporters of natural grass for playgrounds and athletic fields. "
States push to get food to needy
From: www.stateline.org
"This year, soaring food and energy prices and lost jobs have led a record number of people to enter the federally funded Food Stamps program — more than in any year since the program began in 1964. But even as the number of applicants spirals, states are reaching out to millions more who may not realize they are eligible or are reluctant to participate."
The economic downturn: an opportunity for governors?
From: www.stateline.org
"Most governors recognize that they have the best political job in America. Most also would concede that the job is more satisfying when the economy is strong and revenues are growing than during an economic downturn, when cutting budgets becomes the major task. But even a recession can present opportunities for governors to make improvements that yield lasting benefits for their states."
WORTH NOTING: Illinois gov runs up travel tab
From: www.stateline.org
"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s commuting costs start to add up. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds settles a dispute with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a cranky game warden.
California corrections officials install “flushometers” to control wasteful toilet flushing in prisons. In case you missed any of those stories this week, "Worth Noting" fills you in."
Visit the Stateline.org Economy & Business Page
From: www.stateline.org
"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s commuting costs start to add up. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds settles a dispute with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a cranky game warden.
California corrections officials install “flushometers” to control wasteful toilet flushing in prisons. In case you missed any of those stories this week, "Worth Noting" fills you in."
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