Forty-six states begin a new fiscal year (FY) on July 1. Twenty-eight of those 46 have final budgets in place for FY 2016. That leaves eighteen states at various stages of the budget process with just one week left to finish the job.

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St. Louis, the Gateway to the West, provided a top-notch setting for NCSL’s Agriculture Task Force’s meeting June 11-13.

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You know it is going to be a good day for state government when the U.S. Supreme Court begins the analysis portion of its opinion with this: “When government speaks, it is not barred by the Free Speech Clause from determining the content of what it says.”

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That sound you hear isn’t your car backfiring, but rather the gavels of Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) of the Senate Finance Committee, both of whom held hearings this week to discuss the challenges facing the future of the Highway Trust Fund

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Even though her crimes aren’t violent and horrific like many criminal defendants whose cases land in the U.S. Supreme Court, it is hard to feel sorry for Sila Luis. But her point is that she has rights, regardless.

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If you are from the East Coast you may not be familiar with the greater sage grouse, but it has been making quite a bit of noise in the Western states, and not just because of its mating call.

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Texas might be called the Twitter capital of the U.S., if measures passed this session are any indication.

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Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo presents a classic legal dilemma: Two lines of cases, one older and one newer, neither exactly on point. State legislatures should be interested because it involves the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and no employer is immune from the possibility of FLSA litigation.

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The June issue of State Legislatures magazine will soon be in your mailbox. Be sure to flip through it to find all kinds of new and engaging information on state policy.

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With Wednesday's enactment of Senate Bill 47, South Carolina became the first state to require all law enforcement agencies in their state to use body-worn cameras.

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