Recently in Legislative Oddities Category

Commercial space travel may sound like a blast. But if anyone gets hurt, certain personal injury lawsuits may not fly, thanks to a new law.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez signed legislation Tuesday that limits the civil liability of commercial spaceflight operators and parts suppliers. The bill is an effort to protect the state's nearly quarter-billion-dollar investment in commercial space travel, including the construction of a futuristic "spaceport," and to keep billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic firmly grounded in the state, Insurance Journal reports.

The specific purpose of the law is to protect spacecraft parts suppliers from lawsuits filed by future passengers. So what exactly does the space travel liability law say?

Apparently, you don't need to be an inmate to find yourself incarcerated in San Diego. And this is not a one-time problem, either. It's one of those ongoing-type issues in San Diego.

A California lawyer was left in a waiting room at a San Diego jail, after guards forgot about him, according to NBC News.

Tax season is upon us. Around this time of year, many accountants and taxpayers are scrambling, trying to figure out the smartest and most creative tax deductions.

The Internal Revenue Code is jam-packed with all sorts of tax deductions. Some taxpayers have been creative over the years and come up with some truly crazy schemes to deduct expenses on their tax returns.

Here are five of the weirdest tax deductions approved by the IRS:

Fans of legal adult pornography may never view an X-rated movie the same ever again, after Los Angeles County voters passed a ballot measure requiring condom use by porn stars.

Almost 56% of voters in Los Angeles County cast their ballots in favor of Measure B. The measure requires all porn actors to wear condoms, and requires porn producers to pay for a permit to shoot pornographic scenes, reports Business Insider.

With LA's San Fernando Valley being the unofficial porn capital of the United States, a major portion of porn produced in this country will be affected by the measure.

After announcing his candidacy only a few days earlier, Republican Mark Schimel has pulled out of the race against his estranged wife, Democrat Michelle Schimel. The couple separated last year after 32 years of marriage, NBC New York reports. They had two children together.

Michelle is serving her third term in the New York State Assembly. Mark was competing for her spot.

So why did the Republican candidate suddenly decide to exit the race for the State Assembly seat?

A Florida lawmaker's far-flung idea to repeal an anti dwarf-tossing law has itself been tossed, thanks to heightened awareness from little people across America.

As this blog explained last fall, Florida State Rep. Ritch Workman proposed a bill to repeal the state's ban on dwarf-tossing, in effect since 1989.

The repeal would have (ostensibly) created jobs for little people who were (supposedly) willing to be picked up and thrown through the air -- or through a door, or a glass window, or down a well -- with adequate protection, of course.

Many little people, and non-little people, were up in arms.

Couples divorce for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they just fall out of love. Sometimes they cheat on each other. And on rare occasions, a wife will divorce her husband because he made her dress up as a Klingon.

That's exactly what happened to a couple in England, The New York Times reports. The wife in question also accused her ex-husband of forcing her to speak to him in Klingon, too.

Unlike in America, English divorce law is fault-based, so couples must cite mundane reasons like these in order to get divorced. But some English judges don't like it.

A legal dogfight could soon be hatching in Florida, where state lawmakers repealed a decades-old ban on dyeing animals. But don't expect a deluge of brightly dyed chicks this Easter.

Florida's governor must still approve the repeal of the state's 45-year-old ban on dyeing animals, which would then be lifted July 1, UPI reports. So Florida's chirping chickadee population can still expect a dye-free Easter this weekend.

Come next Easter, however, animal-rights activists fear Florida could see a boom in brightly dyed chicks, along with other animal breeds. But don't expect activists to roll over and "dye" so easily.

Give Mayor Doug Ellison enough rope, and he'll hang himself -- as part of a historic re-enactment for tourists visiting the town of Medora, N.D.

That was Ellison's plan, anyway, until townsfolk started talking. Now the mayor is backing down from his "hang me from the gallows" idea, which he hoped would be a compelling tie-in to his small town's Wild West history.

"I thought it would just be entertaining like a Western movie," Ellison, 49, told the Associated Press. But opponents thought he'd lost his head.

California secession is on the mind of Jeff Stone, a Republican who sits on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Have you ever heard of "South California"?

Maybe you will!

Stone wants to create a 51st state, "South California," which will include 13 counties in Southern California. Los Angeles County is noticeably absent from the list of counties Stone wants to include, the Los Angeles Times reports.