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AL: Indian tribe offers Alabama a way out of its budget woes
The Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the state’s only federally recognized tribe, has offered to foot the bill for nearly all of Alabama’s budget deficit of $260 million next year in exchange for a compact giving the tribe exclusive casino gambling rights.
MO: Missouri Legislature sends municipal court reforms to governor
The legislation takes aim at what critics call predatory practices that target the poor by barring Missouri’s municipal courts from fining people no more than $300 for minor traffic offenses and from piling on extra “failure to appear” charges.
AZ: ‘Dreamers’ to pay in-state rates at Arizona universities
The Board of Regents will allow undocumented students known as “dreamers” to pay in-state tuition rather than higher non-resident rates, saving students thousands of dollars a year. In-state rates at Arizona State University, for example, are $10,157 this year compared to $24,503 for non-residents.
TX: Texas Senate takes aim at public labor groups
The Texas Senate tentatively backed legislation that would make it tougher for public sector labor groups to collect dues by prohibiting state agencies and local governments from deducting union dues from many paychecks.
RI: University of Rhode Island police to pack heat
University of Rhode Island campus police will start carrying guns, making it the final public university in the nation to arm its officers.
MN: Minnesota Senate scratches some lottery games
The Minnesota Senate voted to ban lottery sales at gasoline pumps, ATMs and on the Internet.
KS: Senate committee embraces amnesty for Kansas tax scofflaws
The Senate tax committee voted to endorse Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal to collect $30 million owed by tax dodgers as one way of raising revenue for Kansas’ sagging treasury.
FL: Florida seeks injunction against Obama administration over hospital funding
A day after saying he had a “good conversation” with federal officials about Florida hospital funding, Republican Gov. Rick Scott filed a legal motion against them in an effort to keep $1.3 billion in low-income care money flowing to the state.
SC: South Carolina Senate plan would create new private school-choice credit
Some South Carolina parents who pay private-school tuition could get up to $10,000 if changes to the state’s school-choice program become law.
GA: Georgia lawmakers stop teacher pension overhaul
Lawmakers effectively killed a bill overhauling teachers’ pensions by quashing a study of the potential effects of implementing a hybrid pension/401(k) plan.
WI: Effort to repeal Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law fails in committee
A Senate committee derailed a proposed repeal of Wisconsin’s prevailing wage law that sets pay for laborers on public works jobs such as bridges, highways and school buildings.
DE: House committee votes to decriminalize pot possession in Delaware
The measure would replace criminal penalties for marijuana possession with a $100 fine, thereby ending arrests for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana or for using the drug privately.
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