State legislators approved thousands of bills in the first half of 2024, tackling emerging issues and longstanding policy problems ahead of November’s midterm elections. As most lawmakers take the summer months off, we took a look at the dominant trends of the year so far.
Big tech, big bills
Colorado became the first state to approve a comprehensive bill relating to and regulating artificial intelligence, after months of behind-the-scenes discussion between lawmakers from around the country debating how to monitor the groundbreaking technology.
Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation to protect artists and singers from having their likenesses adopted by AI. And many states have adopted bills restricting so-called deepfake AI images related to elections or pornography.
Data privacy, especially relating to younger users of social media networks, is all the rage in states like New York and Maryland. Lawmakers in at least 30 states have introduced regulations relating to social media, spurred by concerns over mental health.
The booming housing (policy) market
More than a decade after a housing bubble caused a major recession, America faces a dearth of affordable options. Congress hasn’t acted, so states are crafting their own major responses to spur new construction of low- and middle-income units.
“It’s the most bipartisan issue facing all of our states right now,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) said earlier this year.
Kotek and her counterparts in Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and elsewhere have already signed big housing construction and incentive bills. More states are considering allowing alternative dwelling units — think tiny homes in the back of big yards — or changing land use rules to encourage more building.
One clever refrain we’ve heard: City mayors and council members want state legislators to make unilateral zoning reforms. That allows those cities to build more housing, while taking the heat off local officials who might otherwise face the wrath of NIMBY-ism.
The abortion election
Just over two years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, blue and red states are diverging further over abortion policies. That divide, along with a relentless focus on abortion rights by Democrats up and down the ballot, virtually ensures this year’s elections will be all about the hottest of hot-button culture war issues.
Republican-led states had already approved restrictions on abortion that led to the Supreme Court taking up a case out of Mississippi that ended the Roe precedent. Now, red states are working to restrict abortion-inducing drugs like mifepristone; Louisiana was the first, but probably won’t be the last, to do so.
On the Democratic side, states have approved shield laws protecting providers and patients who must cross borders to obtain reproductive care. And supporters of abortion rights have succeeded or are likely to succeed in qualifying ballot measures protecting those rights in swing states like Arizona and Nevada.
At least a few Arizona Republicans were worried enough that they took steps to insulate themselves from the worst blowback: Several crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats on a bill to repeal an 1864 near-total abortion ban — and while GOP party leaders expressed anger over the vote, they did let it come to the floor.
Reining in drug costs
No industry spends more lobbying Congress than the pharmaceutical industry — but states are starting to pass new measures that would cap the profits those giant drug companies can earn.
Vermont took the widest-ranging approach, approving measures that target health insurers, pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers to cap costs. Other states are starting to roll out lists of drugs that must be price-capped or for which the prices must be disclosed; Minnesota unveiled their first price reporting list last month.
And a few states are moving to cap the cost of diabetes care, limiting the cost of insulin and the supplies diabetics need to care for themselves. Already, more than half the states limit the cost of insulin.
The next big front to watch: GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy. Those medicines are costing states an increasing amount of money, though they are available at far lower prices in Europe and Canada.
Pro (School) Choice
If there is any trend we’ve seen sweep red states over the past two years, it’s the push to expand access to religious and private schools through education savings accounts, vouchers or similar programs. At least 27 states considered 78 bills to expand, create or make fixes to school choice programs this year.
Much of the action happened last year, after Iowa lawmakers passed an education savings account program that lots of red states followed. This year, Alabama created a new education savings programs and lawmakers in Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee considered their own. Texas is likely to next year, after a Republican primary largely focused on the issue.
States that have approved savings account or voucher programs find those programs are widely popular — in some cases, more popular than lawmakers intended. Several states have had to go back to add more money to the programs they created to handle the surging demand.