Good morning, it’s Thursday, June 27, 2024. In today’s edition, Minnesota tries to rein in drug costs; Alabama will try to ban drag story hours; abortion rights measure headed for Nevada ballot:
Top Stories
HEALTH CARE: Minnesota has released its initial list of pharmaceutical drugs that will be subject to price reporting under a transparency law passed in 2020. The inaugural list of 364 drugs from 76 manufacturers all cost at least $100, and consumers or insurers paid at least 25% above the manufacturer list price. (Pluribus News)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Alabama House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen (R) will reintroduce legislation next session to ban drag shows where minors are present. The bill didn’t make it out of committee this year. (Yellowhammer News)
GUN POLITICS: The Delaware Senate has approved legislation requiring ammunition to be stored securely at retail locations. The bill comes after reports that more than half a million rounds of ammunition were stolen from a Cabela’s store, most of which ended up on the black market. (Delaware Public Media)
ENVIRONMENT: The Delaware General Assembly has given final approval to legislation requiring state-operated vehicles to be zero-emission by 2040. The bill will require the state fleet to be 25% zero emission by 2029, the first benchmark in a series that will lead to a carbon-free fleet. (Delaware Public Media)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: The Ohio House has approved legislation requiring anyone selling a catalytic converter to observe a two-day waiting period, and to fill out paperwork that includes a VIN number. State Rep. Bill Roemer (R) says the bill will crack down on theft. (Columbus Dispatch)
MORE: The Connecticut legislature will consider a bill next year that would ban the sale of drugs or materials for use in executions by any business in the state. A Connecticut-based firm, Absolute Standards, supplies the execution drug pentobarbital to the federal government and other states. (Slate)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) has launched a working group to study and offer recommendations for the safe use of AI within state government. The panel will be headed by Arkansas chief data officer Robert McGough. (Talk Business & Politics)
ECONOMY: The Michigan House has approved legislation extending unemployment aid eligibility from 20 weeks to 26 weeks a year. The bill would make permanent the expansion of jobless benefits first created during the pandemic. (Detroit News)
In Politics & Business
OHIO: Supporters of redistricting reform will turn in more than 750,000 signatures to qualify a proposed constitutional amendment for November’s ballot on Monday. To qualify, 413,487 of those signatures must be valid, including a minimum number from 44 of the state’s 88 counties. The initiative would create a 15-member citizen’s panel to redraw map lines. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
NEVADA: Supporters of reproductive rights said they had submitted 203,862 signatures to qualify a proposed constitutional amendment for the state ballot, almost twice the 102,000 signatures they need under state law. The measure would enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in the state constitution. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
MICHIGAN: The state redistricting committee has adopted a new map for state Senate districts in and around Detroit, after Black residents in the city sued alleging their political influence had been diminished. A federal court must give the map its final approval. (Detroit Free Press)
ILLINOIS: A U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a corruption conviction of a former Indiana mayor could impact the corruption case of former Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan (D). Madigan’s attorney said she believed Madigan’s conviction would be retried, after the high court ruled a federal bribery law did not apply to after-the-fact rewards for public officials. (Chicago Sun-Times)
By The Numbers
53: The number of Rhode Island legislative seats in which single candidates are running unopposed in both the primary and general elections. That’s close to half the 113 seats that are up for election this year. (Rhode Island Current)
$1.4 billion: The amount in total sales of Arizona’s cannabis markets in 2023. The share of sales in the recreational market outpaces medical marijuana sales by about a three-to-one margin. (AZ Mirror)
Off The Wall
Hennepin County Board of Commissioners candidate Marisa Simonetti (R) faces assault charges after allegedly tossing a live tarantula at her housemate. Simonetti says she was inspired by the scene in “Home Alone,” which, if we remember the movie right, doesn’t end well for poor Marv. (Huffington Post)
Maryland officials are angry after the Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted to repeal a prohibition on winter crab dredging in the Chesapeake Bay. The Maryland side says year-round crab fishing will jeopardize the population’s comeback; they say they weren’t consulted over lifting the 16-year-old ban. (Washington Post)
Quote of the Day
“I am an ordinary person who has been given an extraordinary gift.”
— South Carolina Sen. Nikki Setzler (D), the longest-serving state senator in America, in a farewell address after 48 years in office. (Maayan Schechter/X)