Latest news with #Bill38
Winnipeg Free Press
13-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
RCMP campaign targets drivers who don't slow, move over for first responders, tow trucks stopped on highways
The RCMP is launching a summer enforcement campaign to catch drivers who do not reduce their speed if they see a police car or tow truck responding to an incident ahead. 'That's our office space, so to speak — that's our workplace,' Sgt. Mark Hume told a news conference in a parking lot outside the Manitoba legislature Tuesday. Hume was joined by representatives from CAA Manitoba and the provincial government on the newly proclaimed 'Slow Down Move Over Day.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Sgt. Mark Hume said RCMP will be sending out multiple units to do highway patrols in the coming months to issue tickets and improve workplace safety. The event sought to raise awareness about related laws that aim to protect people who patrol and work on highways. Motorists are required to reduce their speed and switch lanes, when the latter is safe to do, to give first responders, including police, paramedics and firefighters, and tow operators as much space as possible. When the posted speed limit is 80 km/h or under, road users must slow to 40 km/h. Drivers are required to slow to 60 km/h on highways with higher limits. The base ticket is a $298 fine. That penalty is greater and may include jail time for motorists who also cause a collision or injury. These laws are generally under-enforced because there may only be one police car on a scene, Hume said. 'Quite often, the first officer that's doing the initial traffic stop can't just drop what he's doing and run and take off to the vehicle that's gone by him,' he said. The RCMP spokesman said the police force will be sending out multiple units to do highway patrols in the coming months to issue tickets and improve workplace safety. Motorists who come across an emergency responder on the shoulder of a two-lane highway are required to stop until they can safely continue via the furthest lane from it. 'Too many drivers take risks, and we want everyone to make it home at the end of the day,' Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor told reporters. RCMP and CAA Manitoba data suggest these rules, which date back to 2011, are not widely known. Ewald Friesen, manager of government and community relations at CAA Manitoba, said more public education is key to reduce hazards for tow operators and their colleagues. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. A recent survey of CAA members in Manitoba found 99 per cent of them support the 'Slow Down Move Over' legislation but just over half of respondents could offer a precise definition of what it entails. Naylor tabled Bill 38, which includes a slew of changes to the Highway Traffic Act, in the winter. It is now at the third reading stage. The proposed amendments would require motorists to leave at least 30 metres between them and a snowplow they are following. The minimum trailing distance would increase to 100 metres when the posted speed limit is upwards of 80 km/h. Maggie MacintoshEducation reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Every piece of reporting Maggie produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Texas senate has passed an anti-squatter bill — but critics call it 'pro-eviction' legislation
A bill that cracks down on squatting in Texas has passed the state senate. Bill 38 aims to provide property owners with a faster legal process to evict squatters from their dwellings and reclaim their properties. 'The current process is so broken that it punishes the rightful property owners while rewarding trespassers who know how to game the system,' State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who authored the bill, said in a press release on April 10. I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 — and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) The bill would give landlords the right to file for an eviction notice if they have given a tenant at least three days' prior notice, unless there's an existing lease or agreement with a different timeframe spelled out. In addition, the courts would be required to act between 10 and 21 days of the landlord's filing. 'You can't stay in the home because we have the ability to do a quick eviction process,' Bettencourt told Fox 7 Austin. There's limited data available to estimate how many squatters are currently holding property illegally in Texas. Cpt. Jim Sharmon, Harris County Constable Pct. 4, testified that there are hundreds of cases each year in a single Harris County Constable Precinct, according to a press release from Bettencourt in May 2024. Bettencourt also cited a third-party survey that reported 475 cases of squatting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He estimated there were thousands of cases across the state. In the April 10 press release, Bettencourt emphasized the problem by recounting victims' stories. 'A homeowner testified a squatter broke into her Mesquite home, sold her belongings for pennies on the dollar, and then a JP in Garland, Texas, ruled to keep the squatter in her home over the holidays, denying her the right to come home for Christmas!' he said. Read more: This hedge fund legend warns US stock market will crash a stunning 80% — claims 'Armageddon' is coming. Don't believe him? He earned 4,144% during COVID. Here's 3 ways to protect yourself Local Texas news station KHOU 11 reported a representative from the Texas Apartment Association testified that a group in San Antonio illegally seized more than 250 apartment units. The apartments were marketed as an immigration services center, but the group kept the rent money they collected for themselves. 'These stories are outrageous, but they're real — and they're happening statewide,' Bettencourt said in the release. State Sen. Molly Cook was among those who opposed the bill. '[Bill] 38 is very clearly a pro-eviction piece of legislation,' she wrote in a social media post. 'This bill would streamline evictions, erode due process and increase homelessness in a time where rent prices are increasing faster than peoples' wages. Housing insecurity is a public health crisis.' The Texas Tribune reported on the state's housing affordability crisis in January. Rising home prices have vastly outpaced incomes, according to the publication. Meanwhile, housing policy group Up for Growth estimates there's a shortage of hundreds of thousands of homes. Proponents of the bill argue that the proposed legislation works for both landlords and tenants with valid leases. 'I think we've struck the right balance between property rights of the owners and the needs of the of the renters, but to drive out the squatters that are really taking advantage of the fact that that they think they don't have to pay anything or they have no penalty of occupying what they don't own,' Bettencourt told Fox 7 Austin. The bill must pass the House before the governor can sign it into law. Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead Here are 5 'must have' items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you? This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
CBC
26-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Alberta-British Columbia boundary changes would be easier under proposed bill
Social Sharing Just when you think a provincial boundary is set in stone, the geological whims of the Rocky Mountains have other ideas. Laws dating as far back as 1866 say the mountainous portion of the Alberta-British Columbia boundary is determined by how the water flows — eastward into Alberta, or westward into B.C. Erosion, landslides and other natural processes nudge the provincial dividing line all the time. But changing the description of the border on paper is a slog, with even a slight tweak necessitating a referendum in Alberta. Now, the Alberta government is trying to do away with that requirement, proposing a bill in the legislature Wednesday that would eliminate the need for a boundary change referendum. "Obviously, we're not talking about a significant carving up of the border," Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally said at a news conference in Edmonton. "That still would fall under the Constitution, and a referendum will be required." Nally's ministry is tasked with axing or simplifying laws and regulations that put bureaucratic hurdles in the way of people accomplishing what should be straightforward paperwork. The bill would allow the provinces to draw a straight-line "conventional" border in small areas where the landscape is in flux, but a business wants clarity about which province they're operating in. Nally gave the example of a ski hill, where owners need to know which provincial regulations to follow. Banff's Sunshine Village ski resort, for instance, has the Great Divide chairlift, which chugs skiers across the provincial boundary twice on their way up the mountain. Nally said the change would help with survey work that's currently underway on the boundary. According to the Land Title and Survey Authority of B.C. website, the question of the boundary's location a century ago was murky enough for coal companies and foresters that the federal government and provinces agreed to establish a provincial boundary commission in 1913. The federal government has updated the statute a few times, but a 1974 law, now in effect, says a representative from B.C., Alberta and the federal government now comprise the Alberta-British Columbia Boundary Commission. The commission is in charge of record-keeping, settling disputes about the boundary, maintaining and restoring monuments marking the boundary, and surveying the provincial line for changes. In a technical briefing with reporters, Alberta officials said surveying work done on the boundary in 1979 and 1980 resulted in a new set of boundary markers plotting the line, but legal changes making the border move official were never done. Alberta officials said they couldn't think of a time when any change to the B.C.-Alberta border had been legalized. Proposed changes to tracking child and youth deaths Bill 38, the Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, also proposes to change the mandate of the province's Office of the Child and Youth Advocate. Nally said the bill would reduce the amount of reporting required of the advocate when young adults previously in government care die or are gravely injured. The changes would also compel the advocate to report to legislators less frequently. Nally characterized the changes as streamlining the advocate's work so she can focus on making recommendations to improve services for vulnerable children and youth. He said the children's services ministry consulted with the advocate about the proposed changes, but Nally wasn't involved in those consultations, and couldn't say if the advocate asked for the amendments or supported them. Nally referred questions to Children's Services Minister Searle Turton, who won't be available to reporters until later Wednesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the advocate's office said she was away on Wednesday. New communication for tenants Among the seven pieces of legislation that would be modified by Bill 38 is the Residential Tenancies Act. A proposed modernization would allow landlords to use electronic means, such as email, to serve tenants with documents about rent increases and eviction notices. Nally said landlords should still attempt to communicate this information with tenants on paper, either in person or posted inside buildings. The law allows landlords to try other methods — like faxing — when they can't locate the tenants. Nally says the amendment proposes to future-proof the law by allowing communication by electronic methods that have a time and date stamp of delivery and allow the sender to know when the recipient has read the message.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmaker introduces ‘boneless wing bill' after viral Ohio Supreme Court court ruling
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Ohio Supreme Court's viral ruling that customers who order boneless chicken wings should expect bones has inspired a lawmaker to introduce a bill that aims to hold food companies accountable. Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) introduced Senate Bill 38 in late January, which would set statewide standards in lawsuits regarding an injury caused by food. Dubbed the 'boneless wing bill' by DeMora, the legislation would mandate that juries determine the liability of a restaurant or food supplier by deciding whether the injured person had a 'reasonable expectation that the food did not contain a substance that is injurious to human health.' Vivek Ramaswamy will reportedly kick off bid for Ohio governor on Feb. 24 'A [reasonable expectation] test means what would the average person think about a certain situation,' DeMora said. 'I don't know what normal person in the United States doesn't think boneless means without bones.' DeMora said the bill is in direct response to a July 2024 Ohio Supreme Court case, in which justices ruled bones are a natural part of chicken, so consumers should be on guard for them – even in wings labeled as 'boneless.' The ruling came after a man named Michael Berkheimer got a bone stuck in his throat after eating a 'boneless wing' and attempted to sue the restaurant that served it to him. A Butler County Common Pleas Court granted summary judgment — meaning the case was decided without a jury trial — siding with the companies. Judges may take this course of action when they determine the evidence clearly leans a certain way and there are no significantly disputed facts that need to be decided by a jury. Berkheimer fought against this ruling; however, the 12th District Court of Appeals once again ruled against him, before the case went to the Ohio Supreme Court. The state's highest court also sided with the companies, preventing Berkheimer from receiving a jury trial. Due to this, SB 38 would also mandate that all civil food injury cases go before a jury of one's peers rather than be decided by a judge. Ohio bill looks to make it easier to prosecute parents who enable underage drinking 'It instills back the right to a jury trial in these kinds of cases,' DeMora said. 'Jury trials are the backbone and foundation of the judicial system and they should not have an individual judge determine whether a company is negligent or not.' DeMora said the justices' ruling made Ohio the 'laughing stock of the nation.' Shortly after the court's decision, the ruling drew national headlines and online criticism, with Late Show host Stephen Colbert calling the ruling 'hot legal garbage.' If the bill were signed into law, it would not undo the Supreme Court's decision in Berkheimer's case, but would rather set a new precedent going forward. The case originated from a 2016 incident when Berkheimer went to the Butler County restaurant Wings on Brookwood and ordered boneless wings. He cut each of his wings into a few pieces before eating them. When he ate a piece of his chicken, he testified it felt like a piece of meat went down the wrong pipe. In the following days, he experienced a fever and was unable to keep food down. He went to the emergency room, where a doctor discovered a five-centimeter chicken bone lodged in his esophagus. After multiple surgeries, weeks in the hospital and the prolonged use of an oxygen tank, Berkheimer was left with lasting heart and lung damage and a partially paralyzed diaphragm, according to court filings. In 2017, Berkheimer sued the restaurant owners, as well as the chicken suppliers and processors. After multiple legal failures, Berkheimer brought the case to the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that lower courts did not consider the fact that the meal was advertised as boneless and gave no warning that a bone might be in the dish. To make its decision, the state's highest court used a blend of food liability legal principles, including the reasonable expectation test and the foreign natural test, which considers whether the object that caused the injury was a foreign object or a natural part of the food to make. The Spectrum: House Minority Leader Russo; Jim Tressel The majority opinion stated it is 'common sense' that the label was merely a description of the cooking style, not a guarantee of no bones. The justices argued since bones are natural to chicken, such as pieces of shell are natural to oysters, Berkheimer could have reasonably expected and guarded against the bone. SB 38 was referred to the Senate's Judiciary Committee, where it awaits proponent and opponent testimony. It currently has one Democrat cosponsor. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
