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Top State Stories 3/23
CA: California lawmakers want to investigate wage theft. But labor unions seek a different path latimes.com On this, labor unions and lawmakers agree: Wage theft is rampant in California, and the state system set up to help robbed workers is broken. But a lawmaker’s call for an independent state investigation into what’s gone wrong has […]
Top State Stories 3/22
CA: Amid soaking storms, California turns to farmland to funnel water into depleted aquifers latimes.com Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order suspending permit requirements for groundwater recharge in many areas in California. The order, which lasts until June 1, will make it easier for local water districts and farms to route river […]
Top State Stories 3/21
SD: South Dakota governor signs bills for stricter sentences, more prisons argusleader.com South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed bills into law that will allow more prisons to be built, change the definitions for rape and force longer sentences for some crimes before parole eligibility kicks in. MN: Minnesota House passes bill to shield abortion providers, out-of-state […]
Top State Stories 3/20
SC: 9 Republicans in South Carolina have pulled support from abortion bill nbcnews.com Nine South Carolina Republicans who had co-sponsored one of the most severe anti-abortion proposals in the country have since withdrawn their support, reversing course on a measure that proposed applying the state’s homicide laws to people who undergo abortions. OH: Ohio pulls […]
Top State Stories 3/17
IA: Iowa House passes ‘bathroom bill’ focused on transgender students desmoinesregister.com The Iowa bill would prohibit people from entering a school restroom or changing room that does not align with their sex at birth. Students would need parental consent to request a special accommodation, such as using a faculty or single-occupancy restroom. The bill now heads […]
Top State Stories 3/16
AR: Arkansas House sends public school bathroom bill to governor’s desk arkansasonline.com Arkansas House Republicans approved a bill that would limit transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice at public schools. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ spokesperson said earlier this week that Sanders “believes that schools are no place for the radical left’s […]
Top State Stories 3/15
SC: South Carolina women who get abortions could face the death penalty under proposed bill thestate.com The South Carolina Pre-Natal Equal Protection Act, which has 16 co-sponsors, would “afford equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization,” and reclassify any act that ends a pregnancy as “willful prenatal homicide.” An […]
Top State Stories 3/14
FL: Florida House panel backs undoing post-Parkland age limit to buy long guns newsserviceflorida.com A Florida House panel approved a bill that would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 to buy rifles and other long guns in the state. The bill would reverse part of a 2018 law that set the minimum age […]
Top State Stories 3/13
AK: Biden to approve huge Alaska oil project today, two officials say nytimes.com The Biden administration will formally approve a huge oil drilling project in Alaska known as Willow, according to two people familiar with the decision, despite widespread opposition because of its likely environmental and climate impacts. The president also will impose sweeping restrictions […]
Top State Stories 3/10
FL: Proposed Florida abortion ban would require rape victims to show proof to get exception orlandosentinel.com Floridians who are raped would need to show evidence of that crime if they want an exception under the legislature’s proposed six-week abortion ban, a requirement that advocates say would traumatize victims of sexual violence even more. AR: Arkansas […]
Top State Stories 3/9
KY: Kentucky governor calls federal investigation of Louisville police ‘urgent opportunity’ kentucky.com Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear called the federal investigation of Louisville police racial bias a chance for “positive, lasting change.” The U.S. Department of Justice found that the Louisville Police Department engaged in a pattern of discrimination and excessive force against Black residents. […]
Top State Stories 3/8
MO: Federal judge tosses Missouri gun law, calling it unconstitutional kansascity.com A federal judge has overturned a Missouri law that declared certain federal gun laws “invalid” if they don’t have a state-level equivalent, after the U.S. Department of Justice sued to overturn the measure. OK: Oklahoma voters reject legalization of recreational marijuana oklahoman.com Oklahomans gave a […]