techs
Lifer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051231/ap_on_re_us/new_laws
New Jersey and Virginia will bar making public a person's Social Security number, while Minnesota will require businesses that hold such information to quickly notify clients if there is a breach of security.
Michigan, for one, will now demand background checks of just about anyone working at schools, and it will ban convicted sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of a school, or even loitering in the vicinity.
Florida is taking steps to limit the influence of lobbyists, barring them from paying for any food, alcohol or gifts for lawmakers and other state and local officials. The state also is adding a slew of new reporting requirements for lobbyists. (Still, legislators left a loophole in the law, dropping language that would have barred lobbyists from giving money to political parties so they could, in turn, use it to pay for lawmakers' food and drink.)
Legislatures sought ways to improve safety on the highways, demanding seat belt use in taxis and shuttle vans in Oregon, requiring motorists hogging the left lane to move to the right in Florida, and trying to discourage drunk driving in Tennessee by requiring that offenders help clean up state highways while wearing vests emblazoned with the phrase "I am a Drunk Driver" in 4-inch lettering.
In California, paparazzi ? photographers who chase celebrities for lucrative snapshots ? could be hit with hefty civil penalties if they commit assaults. Victims can seek punitive damages and income earned from the pictures involved.
Oklahoma cut taxes for nearly everyone, and New York cut them for those making more than $150,000 a year. Florida cut taxes on stocks and bonds. Nevada gave a tax break to property owners, while West Virginia lowered its tax on food from six cents per dollar to five cents.
Missouri created a state prescription drug program for lower-income seniors to pick up costs not covered by the new federal Medicare prescription plan. Nevada now requires insurance companies to cover cancer patients participating in the earliest phase of clinical trials. Wisconsin lawmakers expanded the state's health care program for the working poor to provide prenatal care and delivery services to illegal immigrants and inmates.
Complaints about illegal immigrants spurred a new Virginia law that will make such people ineligible for state or local benefits such as welfare or health care. Some illegal aliens, however, could still receive benefits from Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor.
And in Missouri, complaints about homeowners' associations overly broad powers brought a law that requires associations to delete "restrictive covenant" policies that discriminate by race or religion. There had been accusations that such language remained in the laws of some associations in the Kansas City area.
Not all laws were so serious. Illinois approved a state amphibian, the Eastern tiger salamander, after it won 51 percent of Internet voters, beating the gray tree frog and the American toad. "The toad and the frog kind of split up the vote and allowed the salamander to slip in," Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said.
Happy New Year.
New Jersey and Virginia will bar making public a person's Social Security number, while Minnesota will require businesses that hold such information to quickly notify clients if there is a breach of security.
Michigan, for one, will now demand background checks of just about anyone working at schools, and it will ban convicted sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of a school, or even loitering in the vicinity.
Florida is taking steps to limit the influence of lobbyists, barring them from paying for any food, alcohol or gifts for lawmakers and other state and local officials. The state also is adding a slew of new reporting requirements for lobbyists. (Still, legislators left a loophole in the law, dropping language that would have barred lobbyists from giving money to political parties so they could, in turn, use it to pay for lawmakers' food and drink.)
Legislatures sought ways to improve safety on the highways, demanding seat belt use in taxis and shuttle vans in Oregon, requiring motorists hogging the left lane to move to the right in Florida, and trying to discourage drunk driving in Tennessee by requiring that offenders help clean up state highways while wearing vests emblazoned with the phrase "I am a Drunk Driver" in 4-inch lettering.
In California, paparazzi ? photographers who chase celebrities for lucrative snapshots ? could be hit with hefty civil penalties if they commit assaults. Victims can seek punitive damages and income earned from the pictures involved.
Oklahoma cut taxes for nearly everyone, and New York cut them for those making more than $150,000 a year. Florida cut taxes on stocks and bonds. Nevada gave a tax break to property owners, while West Virginia lowered its tax on food from six cents per dollar to five cents.
Missouri created a state prescription drug program for lower-income seniors to pick up costs not covered by the new federal Medicare prescription plan. Nevada now requires insurance companies to cover cancer patients participating in the earliest phase of clinical trials. Wisconsin lawmakers expanded the state's health care program for the working poor to provide prenatal care and delivery services to illegal immigrants and inmates.
Complaints about illegal immigrants spurred a new Virginia law that will make such people ineligible for state or local benefits such as welfare or health care. Some illegal aliens, however, could still receive benefits from Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor.
And in Missouri, complaints about homeowners' associations overly broad powers brought a law that requires associations to delete "restrictive covenant" policies that discriminate by race or religion. There had been accusations that such language remained in the laws of some associations in the Kansas City area.
Not all laws were so serious. Illinois approved a state amphibian, the Eastern tiger salamander, after it won 51 percent of Internet voters, beating the gray tree frog and the American toad. "The toad and the frog kind of split up the vote and allowed the salamander to slip in," Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said.
Happy New Year.
