What We're Reading: Top State Stories 4/17
AR: Arkansas battles on multiple legal fronts to start series of executions
Lawyers for the state of Arkansas faced fights on multiple legal fronts as the deadline neared to start a series of double executions before a key sedative used in lethal injections expires at the end of the month.
WV: No bull, West Virginia governor vetoes budget bill
Democratic Gov. Jim Justice brought a plate full of bull feces with him to veto a $4.102 billion budget bill that the West Virginia Legislature sent him. Justice had initially proposed a $4.5 billion budget, then reduced it to $4.394 billion.
AK: Alaska House votes for a statewide personal income tax
The Alaska House voted to institute a state personal income tax that would be geared toward the state’s high earners and raise about $700 million a year. Despite the state’s budget crisis, the proposal has little chance in the Senate.
MN: Minnesota’s experiment with dental therapists seems to be working
Minnesota's six-year-old experiment with allowing dental therapists to do more work on patients appears to be delivering greater care at reduced costs in low-income and rural areas.
KS: Bill would usher in biggest change to Kansas liquor law in decades
The bill before Republican Gov. Sam Brownback would allow Kansas grocery stores for the first time to sell "strong" beer that contains up to 6 percent alcohol. It also would let liquor stores sell cigarettes, chips and mixers.
NC: Trump administration drops HB2 lawsuit; North Carolina mayors want travel bans lifted
The Trump administration dropped a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s law that required transgender people to use restrooms in government buildings that corresponded with the gender listed on their birth certificates. Now, mayors in the state are asking big cities around the nation to drop their travel bans that were imposed to protest the law.
CA: California board may fine Uber more than $1 million
Uber's popular ride-hailing network has repeatedly failed to promptly suspend and investigate its California drivers when passengers report them driving drunk, state regulators charged in an enforcement action that recommends $1.13 million in fines.
WA: Washington's roadside litter funds shifted to state parks
The state's roadside litter tax, which has been collected for more than 45 years, was intended to pay for litter cleanup and waste prevention programs. But since 2009, half the money, about $5 million annually, has been shifted to Washington’s parks to help patch annual budget holes.
FL: Florida lawmakers meddle with voter-approved amendments
Five amendments to the Florida Constitution relating to the environment, solar power, education, redistricting and medical marijuana are getting a rewrite as lawmakers — mostly in the House — attempt to revise what voters approved with their own ideas of how the amendments should work.
CO: Driverless-car bill goes to Colorado governor’s desk
Gov. John Hickenlooper would open Colorado to testing self-driving cars that are able to obey every state and federal law. Those that cannot would be barred unless the test was approved and overseen by the State Patrol and the Department of Transportation.
