Carl Smith is a senior staff writer for Governing. He works with editors and staff writers to produce smart, high-value, high volume editorial content for the web and related products to make Governing the go-to source.
Bills that address contact tracing take aim at the costs related to testing and tracking COVID-19 infections as states reopen. Others tackle privacy concerns and ensuring tracer workers reflect community diversity.
Public schools face a litany of problems relating to COVID-19 that include significant drops in funding, distribution issues for school lunch programs, lack of broadband access and bus driver protection.
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Currently, the country has hired just a fraction of the contact tracers needed to contain the spread of the coronavirus and help the economy return to life. Experts say a national workforce is needed.
COVID-19 has accelerated demand for telemedicine services. Recently, state legislatures have introduced bills that provide remedies for issues such as reimbursement and credentialing that have slowed implementation.
Despite a huge drop in revenues, states are taking some measures to relieve pressure on taxpayers and have introduced bills that extend filing deadlines, remove penalties and limit certain liabilities for now.
Despite widespread disruption to session calendars, state legislators still find time to address matters other than the pandemic, an illustration of how the wheels of democracy keep turning.
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(UPDATED DAILY) Governing is building a 50-state map to visualize the changes underway to declare states “Open for Business” even as the coronavirus remains at large across the country.
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Leaders from special districts in California, Illinois and New Jersey, with widely varied responsibilities, talk about maintaining operations, as well as functioning remotely, during the pandemic.
The pandemic has raised concerns about keeping this year’s voting process healthy and safe. Allowing voters to send in their ballots by mail could be the answer, but it will be costly and some worry about potential fraud.
The need to protect public health in the remaining primary elections, and uncertainty about the state of the coronavirus pandemic in November, are forcing legislators to consider changes to voting guidelines.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is pursuing a goal of 100 percent renewable energy by including the world’s first utility-scale hydrogen power plant in its energy mix.
State lawmakers continue to address wide-ranging consequences of the pandemic with bills that focus on various remedies to the financial burden on workers and their families placed by government work restrictions.
The range of applications for unmanned aerial vehicles has grown in recent years and, with COVID-19, their purpose could cross into more sensitive areas, such as security and surveillance, according to research.
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Using satellite imagery, California's Humboldt County has found an effective way to deal with unpermitted and illegal cannabis-cultivation operations and reduce their environmental impact.
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State legislatures have introduced more than 200 bills relating to COVID-19 since the beginning of the year to address public health issues only government can handle. Here’s our rundown.
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State lawmakers are tackling new digital threats to elections and public trust by banning voting bots and criminalizing deepfakes; meanwhile, in New Jersey, a legislator wants to bring an end to paper records.
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Richard L. Hasen, one of the nation’s leading experts on election law and campaign finance regulation, talks about what state and local officials can do to reduce potential abuses and disruptions during the 2020 election.
A multi-partner water recycling project is helping Monterey, Calif., stabilize and replenish its dwindling groundwater supply. The project could serve as a model for shrinking aquifers in other regions of the country.
New research from Pew Charitable Trusts points to the need for involvement from all levels of government to help close a digital divide that has left 21 million Americans without broadband access.
The newest generation in wireless networking represents a major boost in both capacity and speed, opening the door to transformative public services. But the technology is both costly and controversial even as states and localities begin to legislate and regulate around 5G.