A better No Child Left Behind or another empty promise to our disadvantaged students?
President Obama signs new bill on December 10, 2015 that replaces the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act. [...]
Legislative and Policy
Highlighting state and national legislative news, focusing on some of the most important policy issues of the day.
California Becomes Fifth State With Physician-Assisted Suicide Legislation
Should physician-assisted suicide in terminally ill patients be legalized? The California State Legislature has passed a bill saying that it can. What legal implications may arise? [...]
Planned Parenthood continues to receive federal funding despite GOP’s continued attacks
Despite the fact that Planned Parenthood is prohibited by law from receiving federal funding to provide abortion services, anti-abortion Republican lawmakers threatened to shut down the federal government in order to defund the organization, which provides a variety of necessary health care services for women who are unable to afford them otherwise. [...]
Proposed Overtime Regulation Changes May Positively Affect Many Americans: Will a Hard Day’s Work Actually Mean a Fair Day’s Pay?
Though there has been no change to the “duties test,” Department of Labor proposed overtime regulation changes may permit nearly five million workers in 2016 to have access to overtime protections. [...]
Fifth Circuit rules strict Texas voter ID laws violate Voting Rights Act
A federal appeals court found that exceedingly strict voter ID laws in Texas violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 due to the laws’ disparate impact on minorities. [...]
Think before you serve a drink—dram shop laws in North Carolina
Bars, restaurants, and social hosts can be held liable under dram shop laws for serving alcohol to intoxicated guests or customers that later cause an accident due to being intoxicated. [...]
Second Circuit Rules Unpaid Interns Likely Not Employees Because of Educational Nature of Internship Programs
In an appeal to the Second Circuit, unpaid interns argue they are entitled to compensation, as they are employees – however, the Second Circuit rules that due to the educational nature of internships, in most cases, unpaid interns are not entitled to compensation based on a primary beneficiary test. [...]
How Nebraska killed the death penalty
Nebraska repeals the death penalty in a landmark override vote by the state legislature. [...]
Elonis v. United States: SCOTUS Determines Mental State is Necessary to Distinguish the Bad Acts From the Innocent
In another 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court of the United States chooses to withhold First Amendment analysis in this true threats case, but instead held that 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) requires a defendant intend to communicate a threat to be guilty of communicating threats via interstate commerce. [...]
North Carolina House Bill 774: Restoring Proper Justice or Resuming Retrogressive Punishment?
Despite many states’ efforts to place moratoriums on the death penalty, North Carolina lawmakers take a step toward resuming executions for the first time in nine years by passing House Bill 774, dubbed the “Restoring Proper Justice Act.” [...]
State Senate Targets Sunday Hunting Ban
Bills introduced by both the North Carolina Senate and House of Representatives would allow hunting on Sundays, with some restrictions. [...]
Digital revolution in the classroom—What protections are there for student privacy?
Two congressmen are proposing a bill to place limits on how education technology companies can use information about students. [...]
“To Ensure Fair Sale of Dorothea Dix Property”
Almost five years after the Dorothea Dix Hospital property was first put up for sale, a purchase agreement between the State of North Carolina and the City of Raleigh has yet to be finalized. [...]
Bills Before North Carolina Senate Seek to Clarify Muddled Contempt Laws
Confusion in case law has led the North Carolina House of Representatives to draft HB 284 and HB 79, clarifying the law pertaining to violations of civil no-contact orders. [...]
UPDATE: Discrimination Against Pregnant Workers Can Be Inferred
The U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Young v. UPS on March 25, 2015. [...]
