On May 6, the U.S. Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act with a vote of 69 to 27. The vote is a big win for local retailers across the country and for states. With the passage in the Senate and the strong support from President Obama, the next and final step for the Marketplace Fairness Act is passage in the U.S. House of Representatives.

With wide support for the bill on both sides of the aisle, the opposition is scared, and they’re resorting to distortions and misleading statements. This behavior was on full display last week in an interview eBay CEO John Donahoe gave to NPR’s David Greene. To help set the record straight, we’ll be playing portions of the interview, then allowing NCSL State/Federal Relations Manager Max Behlke to respond. Max is a state and local tax expert and has been working on the issue for the past three years.

We’re jumping across the pond for this week’s StateCast to Scotland, discussing the Scottish Parliament and the referendum for independence, which is set to take place in September of 2014. NCSL’s Jon Kuhl sat down with two members of the Scottish Parliament: The Honorable Bruce Crawford from the Scottish National Party, and The Honorable Duncan McNeil from the Labour Party.

Did you know that along with all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands are also a member of NCSL? To hear about some of the unique challenges facing the U.S. Virgin Islands, NCSL’s Jon Kuhl sat down for an interview with Senate President Shawn-Michael Malone, head of the territory’s unicameral legislature.