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FL: Florida legislators launch plan to rewrite environmental laws
House and Senate Republican leaders are preparing to rewrite many of the state’s environmental laws to respond to the new constitutional amendment passed by state voters, which requires setting aside a third of all taxes collected from certain real estate transactions to fund environmental projects.
AK: Judge invalidates part of Alaska school funding mechanism
A Superior Court judge has invalidated Alaska’s requirement that local school districts help pay for education, which could leave a cash-strapped state on the hook for more than million in additional funding statewide.
WV: More West Virginia cities could soon have sales taxes
The number of West Virginia cities with local sales taxes could triple, to 21, if all proposed taxes are approved under new home rule laws.
OK: Feds reinstate Oklahoma’s No Child Left Behind waiver
The U.S. Department of Education had pulled the waiver in August after the state legislature repealed Common Core academic standards for English and math. Without the waiver, schools stood to lose control of how to spend up to million in federal aid.
MD: Governor urged not to commute Maryland death-row sentences by victim’s daughter
The appeal comes amid speculation that outgoing Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is considering commuting the sentences of Maryland’s four remaining men on death row. The state legislature repealed capital punishment in early 2013, but left four prisoners on death row.
NH: New Hampshire budget writers face tough task with declining revenues
Budget writers in the upcoming legislature will try to balance a new, two-year state budget amid declining business tax revenues and built-in spending increases. State agency budget requests for the next biennium are 18 percent higher.
KY: Kentucky lottery to sell tickets online
The Kentucky Lottery expects to make the sale of tickets for at least some games available through the use of computers, smart phones and other mobile devices by early next fall.
WA: Attorney general says cops don’t need to ask permission to use body cams
Citizens must assume interactions with police officers on duty are public and don’t need to be notified of recording, the Washington state attorney general has ruled.
CT: Plans underway to cover kids with autism under Medicaid
Plans are proceeding to provide thousands of individuals under age 21 who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with home-based interventions and other services through Connecticut’s Medicaid program beginning Jan. 1.
NV: Nevada Assembly’s speaker-elect steps down amid racism controversy
After facing a firestorm of criticism for racist comments he made publicly about blacks, gays, Hispanics and women, incoming Assembly Speaker Ira Hansen said he would not lead the chamber during the upcoming legislative session.
NY: New York City and state to pay .7 million to settle murder conviction lawsuit
New York City and New York state have agreed to pay a total of .7 million to settle lawsuits on behalf of a Bronx man who served more than 12 years in prison before his murder conviction was overturned in 2007.
CA: Hundreds of University of California students walk out over proposed tuition hike
The students walked out of classes to protest a planned 25 percent tuition increase over the next five years that they say will make the cost of education across the 10-campus system too expensive.
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