In an era where brokers are under increasing pressure to add value to client relationships, its become a business imperative to streamline administrative tasks and focus on service.

Workers' rights groups outlined a series of bills in the House and Senate that attempt to make changes to prevailing wage laws, the state pension plan and a plan carried over from 2011 that would prohibit collecting money from paychecks for contributions to political action committees.

The House legislation vastly expands the list of felony convictions that would require lawmakers to be ineligible for their government pensions.

Some senior officials at the Federal Air Marshal service made fun of veterans, homosexuals and minorities, creating what employees described as an unpleasant work environment at an agency with a mission that requires operating mostly under the radar, government investigators found.