Highlights: Gov. Kasich proposes $65M Workers' Comp rate cut; Is Mass. the next Wisconsin?; Union Dues Fight: Miami Republicans Cause Another Defeat for Rick Scott; PA Gov to Universities: Short on cash? Drill for natural gas; Total Recall in Wisconsin; full Scrooge Alert here: http://dailyscroogealert.blogspot.com/
Florida
Union Dues Fight: Miami Republicans Cause Another Defeat for Rick Scott
Miami New Times (blog)
Scott Walker of Wisconsin did (and it should be noted that Florida is a right-to-work state where unions are less powerful), the measure was viewed as another Republican effort to chip away at the power of unions. Scott really became interested in the
Rick Scott Rebuffed By Florida Republicans On Anti-Union Bill Rick Scott (R). The legislation, SB 830, would prohibit state and local governments from automatically deducting union dues from employees' paychecks.
Massachusetts
Is Mass. the next Wisconsin?
WWLP 22News
Rudy Renaud, an organizer with AFSCME told 22News, “I just can't believe that after everything that's happened in a state like this Massachusetts, they would try to take collective bargaining rights from workers." Governor Deval Patrick said this isn't ...
Union Busting, Massachusetts Style
Wall Street Journal
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL Pop quiz: What political party, in what state, this week passed a bill in the dead of night stripping public-sector unions of their collective- bargaining powers? Republicans in Wisconsin? The GOP in Ohio or Indiana?
Pennsylvania
PA: Gov. Tom Corbett suggests Pa. universities raise money through Marcellus Shale drilling
EDINBORO, Pa. — Some Pennsylvania universities should consider drilling for natural gas below campus to help solve their financial problems, Gov. Tom Corbett said today.
State senator proposes 'impact fee' on gas drillers
The much-awaited Senate Republican plan for an impact fee on gas drillers arrived Thursday with a sense of urgency and some linguistic gymnastics.
New tuition voucher bill would expand eligibility
Poor children hoping to use tuition vouchers for private school won't get them in time for next school year. Meanwhile, more middle-income children could be eligible for them in 2015, if the House and Senate approve.
Ohio
Gov. Kasich proposes $65M Workers' Comp rate cut
Gov. John Kasich on Thursday proposed a 4 percent cut in workers' compensation base rates for a total cut in premiums of about $65 million a year.
Swing-state Ohio at heart of union rights battle
Los Angeles Times
A battle royal looms in a referendum to repeal a new GOP-backed law limiting collective bargaining rights for state workers. The showdown has implications for the 2012 presidential election. Protestors against Senate Bill 5 gather at the Ohio
Obama's criticism of Ohio's new collective bargaining law rankles ...
COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich on Wednesday fired back in reaction to criticism from President Barack Obama of Ohio's new law restricting public employees'
New Hampshire
Right to Work bill a threat to state's way of life
Seacoastonline.com
For several days the Right to Work legislation, which has passed the NH House and Senate, had been on my mind, and a letter to the editor about it had been tumbling around in my head. And then lo and behold the Portsmouth Herald editorial staff wrote ...
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Grocers Brace for Anti-Walker Sticker Campaign
Fox News
But instead of marching outside stores with picket signs, protesters are planning more subversive action: placing anti-Walker stickers on products made by businesses they believe support the law that severely limits the collective bargaining power of
Total Recall in Wisconsin
msnbc.com
After Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker's move to strip public employees' collective-bargaining rights, the state finds itself in the middle of a historic and unprecedented wave of recall efforts. Today, the Committee to Recall Robert Cowles submitted
Texas
Senate still lacking votes to debate budget bill
Senate leaders emerged from a lengthy closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday still shy of the votes needed to debate a budget plan that maps out state spending for the next two years.
Michigan
State House approves massive tax shift package
Michigan Messenger
By Ed Brayton | 04.29.11 | 7:53 am The Michigan House of Representatives ... the right to a quality education and the
Indiana
Indiana Gov. Daniels Approves Most Expansive School Voucher System in U.S.
Centre Daily Times
The legislation was approved along with other Daniels proposals for education reform, including the expansion of charter schools, merit-based pay for teachers, and restrictions on the collective bargaining powers of teachers unions.
State budget set for final vote
nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana General Assembly is set to give final approval Friday to a two-year, $28 billion state budget that does not increase taxes and is projected to leave Indiana with a $1.07 billion surplus by June 2013. House Bill 1001 increases
Maine
Maine's child labor mess
Salon
The governor wants to let teenagers work longer hours. .... Ikea's code of conduct, known as IWAY, guarantees workers the right to organize and stipulates
EMMC, nurses union reach one-year agreement; union withdraws strike notice
Negotiators for Eastern Maine Medical Center and the unionized registered nurses who work there resumed negotiations Thursday despite the hospital's announcement shortly after midnight Wednesday that the deadline had passed and it was too late to avert a threatened five-day work stoppage. The decision to continue talks apparently paid off.
Montana
Bonding bill for state building projects fails to pass
The House failed again Thursday to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass a bill to authorize $100 million in bonds to pay for construction of new state buildings across the state.
