Good morning, it’s Wednesday, September 4, 2024. In today’s edition, money pours into legislative races; Iowa Lt. Gov. resigns suddenly; Florida pot company spends $75 million on legalization campaign:
Top Stories
ELECTIONS: Democrats and Republicans vying for control of legislative chambers are set to pour an unprecedented amount of money into this year’s election contests. The Republican State Leadership Committee said Tuesday it had committed $34 million to key races so far this year, including a special investment in absentee and early voting program to bank GOP votes.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has said it is planning to spend $60 million to flip seats and chambers. The party had raised $35 million by the end of July. And on Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee said it would invest $2.5 million in the DLCC, its highest level of support in modern times.
The two parties will need every penny they can find: The states where partisan control of legislative chambers is on the line — Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania — almost perfectly align with the states that will decide the presidential contest. That means everything, from television time to field staff, will be more expensive, even for legislative campaigns typically run on a shoestring budget. Read more at Pluribus News.
GUN POLITICS: A federal judge has ruled unconstitutional an Illinois law banning concealed firearms on public transit systems. The judge left the law in place for the general public, but blocked it for four individuals who challenged it in court, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision. (Capitol News Illinois)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has signed legislation giving victims of sexual assault the right to receive notifications about developments in criminal cases in which they are involved. The legislation passed unanimously earlier this year. (New Jersey Globe)
ENERGY: California lawmakers backed legislation in the session’s waning hours to require bidirectional charging capabilities for new electric vehicle batteries, allowing them to power homes and lower energy bills when they are parked. California will become the second state to require bidirectional charging, after Maryland lawmakers passed a similar bill in April. (Pluribus News)
WORKFORCE: California lawmakers approved legislation on Saturday that will offer workplace safety protections for domestic workers. The bill would apply to about 175,000 workers employed by agencies that provide maid services and at-home caregiving. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a broader bill last year. (Sacramento Bee)
In Politics & Business
IOWA: Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg (R) resigned Tuesday to become president and CEO of the Iowa Bankers Association. Gregg, 41, said he wanted to spend more time with his children. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) will pick Gregg’s successor. (Des Moines Register)
WASHINGTON: King County Council member Dave Upthegrove (D) has defeated Republican Sue Kuehl Pederson (R) in the race for Commissioner of Public Lands, after a hand recount of votes showed his lead widening by two votes. Upthegrove will face former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (D) in November. (Seattle Times)
SOUTH DAKOTA: A county judge will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging South Dakota’s proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights on Sept. 23, three days after early voting begins. The lawsuit challenges the validity of the amendment’s signatures, though it will still appear on the ballot regardless of the outcome of the case. (South Dakota Searchlight)
NEVADA: Voters will be asked whether to remove slavery and involuntary servitude as forms of criminal punishment on this year’s ballot. The constitutional amendment passed the legislature in 2021 and 2023, and voters get the final say on whether to remove antiquated language from state law. (Nevada Current)
FLORIDA: The Department of Environmental Protection has fired an employee who leaked information about Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) plans to build golf courses and hotels at state parks. James Gaddis, a cartographer who leaked the plans, was terminated this weekend after public backlash that forced DeSantis to shelve the plans. (Associated Press)
CRIME BLOTTER: A former top aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has been charged with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government. The aide, Linda Sun, allegedly acted to align New York government messaging with Chinese priorities. Sun and her husband, who was also charged, allegedly laundered money received from the Chinese government. (Associated Press)
By The Numbers
$400 million: The size of tax breaks New Jersey is offering the Philadelphia 76ers to lure them to a new arena in Camden. The team is negotiating with Philadelphia over a proposed $1.3 billion arena; they don’t plan to stay in Wells Fargo Arena once their lease expires in 2031. (Associated Press)
$75 million: The amount medical marijuana company Trulieve has spent on behalf of a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Florida. Amendment 3 is now the most expensive pro-legalization campaign ever run, eclipsing the $37 million spent on a California initiative in 2016. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Off The Wall
Online gambling company DraftKings will pay a $19,000 fine after a digital slot game went more than 20,000 spins without producing a win. Connecticut investigators found a computer glitch made it incapable of paying out. (CT Insider)
Jim Dreyer is trying again. The ultra swimmer left Grand Haven, Mich., late Monday in a second attempt to cross Lake Michigan after his first effort was stymied by a bad GPS unit. Dreyer, 61, estimated it will take him about 72 hours to get across the 80 or so miles between Michigan and Milwaukee. (Associated Press)
Track Dreyer’s progress here.
Quote of the Day
“I don’t use the word crisis casually, but this truly is one.”
— Dan O’Connell, former Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, on the housing crisis on Martha’s Vineyard, where affordable housing is virtually nonexistent. The Massachusetts House has advanced legislation allowing towns on Martha’s Vineyard to impose a transfer tax on real estate transactions of more than $1 million to help pay for new housing. (MassLive)