Good morning, it’s Friday, January 23, 2026. In today’s edition, lawmakers target personalized pricing; Sabato spotlights legislative toss-up states; Klobuchar takes step toward Minnesota governor bid:
Top Stories
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills to curb AI-powered personalized pricing, also known as surveillance pricing. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has made banning dynamic pricing a legislative priority for the year, through a bill that would bar stores from using electronic shelf labels to adjust prices in real time. Other bills have been introduced in red and blue states alike, from Kentucky and Oklahoma to Vermont and Washington. (Pluribus News)
MORE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) AI Bill of Rights has cleared its first committee hurdle. The bill would ban companion chatbots from interacting with minors without parental consent, forbid personal data from being sold and bar the use of AI to generate fake images of someone without express permission. The bill would also ban governments from using foreign-owned AI programs. (WLRN)
EVEN MORE: Kansas lawmakers have introduced bills to spend $3 million in technology upgrades for the Department of Children and Families, part of an effort to use AI systems to root out fraud and abuse. (State Affairs)
CHILD WELFARE: Washington lawmakers are considering a bill to require social media creators based in the state to register if they make more than $12,000 annually from video content. The bill would require platforms and advertisers to place a portion of a child creator’s earnings into a trust until they turn 18. (Seattle Times)
ENERGY: New Wisconsin legislation would bar data center developers from entering into agreements that conceal information about their projects from the public. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) Oklahoma Sen. Kendal Sacchieri (R) has introduced legislation to temporarily halt the construction of new data centers while regulators study long-term impacts on infrastructure, utilities and communities. (McCarville Report)
HEALTH CARE: New Mexico lawmakers have introduced bills to overhaul the state’s medical malpractice system, including a bill to limit punitive damages. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) has made medical malpractice reform a pillar of her final year in office, hinting she might even call lawmakers back to a special session to take up the issue. (Albuquerque Journal)
STADIUMS: The Indiana Senate Appropriations Committee has approved legislation creating a new stadium authority in a bid to lure the Chicago Bears. The authority would have the power to acquire, finance, construct and lease land for a new stadium. (State Affairs)
In Politics & Business
LEGISLATURES: Sabato’s Crystal Ball projects 15 legislative chambers will be competitive in this year’s midterm elections. Republicans hold eight of the competitive chambers, while Democrats hold four. Alaska’s two chambers are controlled by cross-party alliances, and Minnesota’s House is temporarily tied ahead of a special election. (Center for Politics)
Toss-up chambers include the Arizona House and Senate, the Michigan House, the New Hampshire House and the Wisconsin House and Senate, all held by Republicans, and the Democratic-controlled Michigan Senate and Minnesota House and Senate.
MINNESOTA: U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) has formally filed papers to run for governor, weeks after Gov. Tim Walz (D) bowed out of a bid for a third term. Walz had urged Klobuchar to enter the race. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
ALABAMA: President Trump has endorsed state Republican Party chairman John Wahl for lieutenant governor. Wahl has not yet qualified for the race. (AL.com) Secretary of State Wes Allen (R), Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate (R) and several other Republicans are already in the race.
REPUBLICANS: The Republican National Committee is taking steps to hold a convention ahead of the midterm elections. The committee voted Thursday to change party rules to convene a ceremonial convention in a bid to energize Republican voters this fall. (Fox News)
By The Numbers
$1,153,500: The amount Kentucky lobbyist Stephen Huffman made in 2025 for advocating on behalf of 25 clients before the legislature. He and fellow lobbyist Patrick Jennings were the first in Kentucky history to cross the $1 million mark in a single year. (Kentucky Lantern)
About 10%: The share of low-income Californians who have fled the state since 2014, according to a new PPIC report. The report shows lower-income residents leaving at a rate almost 10 times faster than high earners. (State Affairs)
Off The Wall
A mental health startup has installed pay phones in San Francisco and Abilene, Texas, in hopes of connecting Democrats and Republicans for civil conversations. The San Francisco phone urges residents to “call a Republican,” while the Abilene phone wants locals to “call a Democrat.” (Los Angeles Times)
Police responding to a burglar alarm at a Suffolk County, N.Y., bank caught the suspect red-handed: A deer had crashed through the bank’s window. “We think the buck was looking for bucks,” the department said in a social media post. (UPI)
Quote of the Day
“We got tired of each other.”
— Gene Shawcroft, Utah’s lead negotiator on Colorado River water rights, after delegates from the seven states along the river spent four days together in a conference room in Salt Lake City. (AZ Mirror)