Declarations

No Place to Go

“When your house comes apart like that, there’s no place to go. I thought this is it.”

— Mark Tyson, a resident of the Prairie Lake Estate Mobile Park near Chetek, Wis., which was levelled by tornado-bearing storms in mid-May. Tyson said he and his wife Robin were huddled behind a living room chair when an entire wall of their mobile home suddenly came flying at them.

A Regional Concern

“Transportation, by its very nature, is a regional concern that routinely crosses municipal boundaries.”

— Georgetown, Texas, Sen. Charles Schwertner, sponsor of HB 100, which the state legislature passed in mid-May. The bill sets statewide operating standards, including insurance requirements, for transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, which currently are regulated on a city-by-city basis in Texas.

Worker Lives Matter

“When you reduce fines and downgrade violations again and again, you’re sending a message that workers’ lives are not valued.”

— Peter Dooley, a spokesman for a Tucson, Ariz.-based safety group, said the practice of a commission overseeing Arizona’s workplace safety agency of lowering fines on companies for worker injuries and deaths is jeopardizing worker welfare.

Unmet Needs

“Many affected North Carolinians feel that they have been forgotten, and though the flood waters may have receded, I refuse to let their needs go unmet.”

— North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, in a letter to the Trump administration and congressional leaders after only $6 million of a $929 million request for Hurricane Matthew recovery funds was approved. The request was in addition to approximately $1.4 billion in state and federal funds the state has received so far.

Transportation Technology

“New York has emerged as one of the nation’s leading hubs for innovation, and as we invite companies and entrepreneurs to reimagine transportation technology, we will encourage the development of new, safe travel options for New Yorkers.”

— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that New York is accepting applications from companies interested in testing or demonstrating autonomous vehicles on public roads. Included in the fiscal year 2018 budget, new legislation will allow for testing autonomous technology through a year-long pilot program.

Topics New York