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Michigan Wineries Toast House Bill
by Chloe Albanesius
The Michigan House on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that limits direct shipments of wine to residents for personal consumption.
The measure, S.B. 625, allows wineries that pay a $100 annual license fee to ship up to 1,500 cases of wine per year to Michigan consumers. In-state wineries can ship directly to restaurants and retailers, but out-of-state establishments cannot. The bill includes proof-of-age regulations on Internet orders and shipment receipts.
The legislation is a departure from a bill that won House passage in August. Under that measure, H.B. 4959, licensed wineries could not ship more than 500 cases to all Michigan consumers. It also would have banned establishments from selling directly to retailers and restaurants.
House lawmakers approved H.B. 4959 by an 84-22 vote. But an amendment approved by voice vote on Dec. 1 changed the bill so that it only allowed officials to use the license fees authorized in S.B. 625 to enforce the restrictions it placed on Michigan consumers. The revised H.B. 4959 was approved Tuesday by a 103-1 vote.
The move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court in May ruled that Michigan and New York laws allowing intrastate wine shipments but not interstate ones violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. The court allowed state legislatures to decide whether to allow both kinds of shipments or to ban the practice altogether.
New York Gov. George Pataki signed a law July 14 permitting out-of-state wine sellers to ship to New York consumers and in-state wineries to sell to consumers in dozens of other states.
Also in Michigan, the Senate unanimously passed H.B. 5277. The measure allows the attorney general, a prosecuting attorney or a court to tell a defendant in a criminal case what type of information the state has on that defendant in its Law Enforcement Information Network. Another measure, H.B. 5275, would rename the LEIN to Criminal Justice Information Systems.
North Carolina OKs E-Voting Systems
North Carolina voting officials last week certified Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software to sell their electronic voting machines in the state, days after a federal judge denied Diebold immunity in the event of an e-voting mishap.
Under state law, e-voting machine makers must disclose software code if their devices were involved in a voting snafu. Diebold requested an injunction because some of its code was owned by third-party software firms like Microsoft and so was not readily available in the event of an emergency.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell disagreed. ''We need to comply with the literal language and the statute,'' he said. ''I don't think we have an issue here yet.''
After the ruling, Diebold lawyer Doug Hanna told AP that the company "would have no alternative but [to] withdraw from the [certification] process." But Diebold reversed course and won certification from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The certification raises questions about the board's procedures and Diebold's integrity, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The board of elections has simply flouted the law," said EFF Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "If Diebold's certification is revoked, counties using its equipment could be left holding a very expensive bag."
Report: States Fail To Make The Grade
At least 22 states are failing to provide students with adequate science education, according to a Wednesday study from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
Fifteen states received failing grades from the foundation, which appraised the quality of science standards from kindergarten to 12th grade as schools rush to meet No Child Left Behind science testing requirements.
Reasons for poor performance include using dense and poorly organized materials, favoring "inquiry-based learning" over content, allowing students to "discover" science rather than learn about it from an instructor and shunning evolutionary theory, according to the report, which was funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
States that received the lowest marks include Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
"We must do a better job of teaching students real science content and skills to assure that there will be a next generation of scientific leadership -- and that everyone else is scientifically literate as well," said lead author Paul Gross. "The first step is to set clear expectations for what schoolchildren should learn."
Seven states earned an "A" grade from Fordham. They are California, Indiana Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico, South Carolina and Virginia.
Ohio Group Opposes State Phone Law
The Ohio Consumers' Council on Tuesday filed comments opposing new rules that will increase basic phone and caller identification rates by 20 percent per year. The group requested that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio reverse course and not impose such hefty rate hikes.
"There must be choices for basic local telephone service before a company's rates can be increased without oversight and scrutiny," said group counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander. "There should be a legal process once a telephone company has made a request for fewer regulations, including public hearings."
The group argues in its filing that the rules, which were part of legislation passed earlier this year, increases prices for those with few phone options, allows for drastic rate increases after a company is deregulated, does not provide for enough public input prior to deregulation, does not include enough customer notification and fails to include any customer benefits.
Seattle Schools Score In Spam Case
A California marketing firm on Tuesday was ordered to pay more than $3 million in fines for blanketing Seattle school district e-mail inboxes with unsolicited, commercial e-mail.
Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna sued AvTech last year after it sent 1,500 spam messages to Seattle schools between May and July 2004. The U.S. District Court in Seattle ordered the company to pay $3 million in civil penalties, $375,000 in restitution to the school district and $67,882 in attorneys' fees and costs.
The suit was filed under a federal anti-spam law. AvTech was accused of sending deceptive messages and continuing to do so after people opted out of receiving them. The lawsuit "is a reminder to spammers that deceptive e-mails are not only irritating, but illegal," McKenna said. "Violations will be taken very seriously."
N.J. Unveils Nanotech Facility
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., on Monday unveiled a new nanotechnology facility at New Jersey's Picatinny Arsenal. The location will house the only plasma reactor in the state and the largest one in North America. It will be used in the development of lighter, stronger materials for warhead and gun components, more powerful explosive and smaller, more reliable fuses, he said. "The arsenal is leading the way in exciting new directions -- and, as a result, our armed forces will be safer."
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