Why taxpayers pay when legislators are accused of sexual misconduct
Lawmakers in at least five states — California, Illinois, Iowa, New York and Pennsylvania — have proposed banning the use of public dollars for settlements or payouts related to sexual harassment allegations against state lawmakers.
Felony conviction rates are up nationwide. These states are reconsidering how they classify crimes
In recent decades, every state has seen a dramatic increase in the share of its population convicted of a felony, leaving more people facing hurdles in finding a place to live and prompting some states to revisit how they classify…
How states are working to reduce recidivism among ex-offenders
To ease prison crowding and rein in corrections spending, state legislatures are trying to help ex-offenders re-enter society with the goal of ensuring they don’t return to prison.
What happens when states go hunting for Medicaid fraud
Faced with growing Medicaid enrollment and tight budgets, Republican lawmakers in several states are taking steps to ensure that people receiving welfare benefits are eligible for them.
As much as 40 percent of all food in the United States is thrown away, about 38 million tons annually. This waste occurs while 1 in 7 Americans are food insecure. Now, states are working to reverse the food waste…
Most Americans think of child marriage as a vestige of a bygone era. And yet in every state, people under 18 are allowed to marry.
Some city and state officials are trying to calm immigrants’ fear with legislation to prohibit arrests in courthouses, schools, workplaces and other spots where immigrants gather.
With the advent of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic drugs, many states are amplifying those policies and adding new programs to protect drug users from deadly contaminants in heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs.
Lawmakers in California, home to almost half of the nation’s electric vehicles, decided this year to impose an annual fee on the owners of plug-in electric cars beginning in 2020.
