Pennsylvania
Business Owners Detail Health Care Problems
Owners and managers of eight central Pennsylvania companies highlighted problems facing small businesses seeking to provide employee health insurance during a hearing before the state insurance commission last week. A common complaint among speakers at the hearing was the difficulty in obtaining coverage for older workers with existing medical conditions or women of childbearing age. One speaker said a potential employee's health, and the possible impact on health-benefit costs, has become a factor in hiring decisions.
Source: The Patriot-News

Rhode Island
Health Care Jobs Up, Manufacturing Shrinking
At the end of last year, there were 423,751 private-sector jobs in Rhode Island, according to a county-by-county look at employment and wages by the state Department of Labor and Training. Statewide, the report showed a continued loss of manufacturing jobs, which were down 2,034 between 2005 and last year. Jobs in the health care and social assistance category, on the other hand, showed a statewide increase of 1,945.
Source: The Providence Journal

Alabama
Governor Urges Businesses to Protect IP
Gov. Bob Riley (R) is urging business owners to protect their companies from the counterfeiting and piracy of their intellectual property. The state is setting up seminars in Huntsville, Birmingham, and Mobile in mid-October to give advice about protecting inventions, brands, and business methods. The seminars will include federal and state officials working with local attorneys to show how to protect intellectual property in the global marketplace.
Source: Associated Press

Virginia
Governor Puts Workforce Development on Two-Year Colleges
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said last week that he will ask legislators in 2008 to designate the state community college system as the coordinator of Virginia's dispersed workforce development efforts. Currently, Kaine said, 22 state agencies, such as the Departments of Education and Rehabilitative Services, have a hand in workforce development. Under his proposal, the other agencies would continue some of their work, but the two-year college system "really will be the top of the pyramid when it comes to work force in Virginia."
Source: The Virginian-Pilot

Illinois
DHS Sues State for Blocking Immigration Crackdown
The Department of Homeland Security is suing Illinois over its new law to keep employers there from enrolling in a voluntary federal program that verifies the legal status of job applicants. Illinois lawmakers, spurred by business, and immigrant and workers' rights groups say the federal verification system is flawed and its database is riddled with errors. They want the feds to ensure that it's 99% accurate before Illinois employers can participate.
Source: National Public Radio

Montana
Governor Touts State's 'Restoration Economy'
It's not an industry that anyone has quite figured out how to measure, but the business of cleaning up environmental messes is booming. Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) noted that cleanups of small-scale environmental problems are occurring all over the state, creating an economy that is effectively stepping in to replace the extractive economy that once buoyed Montana, but is now in decline.
Source: The Billings Gazette

California
Governor Considers Family Leave Expansion Bills
State legislators have sent several bills to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) that would expand the scope of California's family-leave laws to cover siblings, in-laws, and grandparents. A spokesman for the Republican governor said last week that he has not taken a position on the bills, which would give California the most far-reaching family leave policy in the country. He has until October 14 to decide whether to sign them.
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

Idaho
Legislators Advise Scrapping Tax Breaks
The 2008 Legislature should end an investment tax credit that allows farmers, dairy owners and businesses to wipe out up to half of their state income tax if they buy new machinery or buildings, members of a state Senate and House interim committee said last week. The lawmakers called for repealing nearly $50 million worth of exemptions and reviewing exemptions worth millions of dollars more. It's part of an effort to rebalance taxes on Idaho businesses following years of expanding tax breaks critics say have created an unfair system.
Source: Associated Press