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Good morning, it’s Tuesday, August 6, 2024. In today’s edition, artificial intelligence the focus at NCSL; Secretaries of State warn Musk over misinformation; primary contests to watch in Washington, Missouri:
Top Stories
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Artificial Intelligence could help states deliver services more efficiently, but it also threatens to displace workers and make it easier for bad actors to sow election misinformation.
Those were among the key takeaways Monday as state lawmakers from across the country convened here for the first official day of the National Conference of State Legislatures’s annual legislative summit.
AI is a featured topic at the summit this year. The at least eight sessions devoted to the issue reflect intense interest on the part of state policymakers as they seek to both promote the fast-evolving industry and establish guardrails. Read the whole story, outside our paywall, at Pluribus News.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Secretaries of State from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington are asking the social media platform X to fix its chatbot after the bot produced false information about state ballot deadlines related to President Biden’s exit from the presidential contest. The misinformation, shared widely across social platforms, also referenced Alabama, Indiana, Ohio and Texas. (Associated Press)
HOUSING: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) will sign a $5.2 billion housing bond bill today, a measure that includes $2 billion for public housing and $800 million for new affordable units. The bill also includes a provision allowing accessory dwelling units in single-family zones, which Healey’s office estimates could add 10,000 new units. (Berkshire Eagle)
GUN POLITICS: The Oregon Firearms Federation and Firearms Policy Coalition are suing the state over a new ban on the possession and sale of so-called ghost guns. The groups allege the measure unconstitutionally violates the Second Amendment. (Oregonian)
TAXES: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has signed legislation eliminating the state’s 1% grocery tax. The law still allows counties and municipalities to levy a 1% grocery tax by passing an ordinance, rather than going through voters. (Capitol News Illinois)
ANTITRUST: A federal judge has sided with the Justice Department and state attorneys general who alleged Google has illegally exploited its dominance in search to squash competition. The company says it will appeal the ruling. (Associated Press)
In Politics & Business
ELECTIONS: Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington hold primary elections today. Among the big races we’re watching: Washington’s all-party gubernatorial primary, in which Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R) are expected to finish in the top two. In the race for Attorney General, former U.S. Attorney Nick Brown (D), state Sen. Manka Dhingra (D) and Pasco Mayor Pete Serrano (R) are facing off for two spots in the general election.
In Missouri, Republicans face a crowded field in the race to replace Gov. Mike Parson (R). Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) has led recent polls, but Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) and state Sen. Bill Eigel (R) are competitive. Races for lieutenant governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General all have packed fields.
ARIZONA: Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) has agreed to drop charges against former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis in exchange for her cooperation in the case against fraudulent electors who tried to overturn the 2020 election, Mayes said late Monday. Ellis is one of 18 people charged with nine felonies in the case. She took a similar deal in Georgia’s case against fraudulent electors. (Arizona Republic)
MAINE: Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) has unveiled a proposed new flag design that closely resembles the state’s old pine tree and blue star design. Voters will decide in November whether to opt for the new design, in which the tree has 16 branches to represent each of the state’s 16 counties, or to keep the current design. (Maine Morning Star)
CALIFORNIA: Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) said he had raised more than $1.5 million in the first week since announcing his run for governor in 2026. Villaraigosa will face former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D), Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D), Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond (D) and former Comptroller Betty Yee (D) in the primary. No prominent Republican has yet entered the race. (Sacramento Bee)
By The Numbers
-1,033.99: The decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday, a 2.6% selloff. The Nasdaq slid by 3.4%, and the S&P 500 ended down 3%. The declines, following a selloff in Asian and European markets, represented the worst day for stocks since September 2022. (CNBC)
Dow futures are up this morning and the Nikkei registered its best day since 2008 today.
$2.6 billion: The amount in tax revenues Massachusetts collected in July, about $18 million less than the year prior. The 0.7% decline came after a top Senate budget expert warned collections would be “very bad.” (Boston Herald)
1817: The year in which the Toll House restaurant was built in Whitman, Mass., a small town south of Boston. More than a century later, Ruth Graves Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie there. The building burned down in 1984. The chocolate chip cookie became the state cookie of Massachusetts in 1997, over the objection of Gov. Bill Weld (R), who thought the Fig Newton deserved the crown. (MassLive)
Off The Wall
Will Vice President Harris choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate? If she does, expect the campaign to reach out to Jeremy Green Eche, a trademark lawyer in New York who has owned the domain name HarrisWalz.com for four years. Eche said he bought the site on a whim in 2020, when Harris first ran for president. He’s willing to sell it for a cool $15,000. (Associated Press)
Hurricane Debby lashed Florida on Monday, bringing high winds and flooding — and 25 packages of cocaine onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Authorities said the 70 pounds of drugs would carry a street value of about $1 million. (AFP)
Quote of the Day
“I like to tell my constituents, don’t complain to me about data centers and transmission lines by sending me an email on your smartphone.”
— Loudoun County, Va., Supervisor Mike Turner (D), speaking on an NCSL panel on the proliferation of data centers in his district. (Pluribus News reporting)