Good morning, it’s Monday, September 16, 2024. In today’s edition, meet the tech industry’s legal eagles; states race to spend Covid bucks; poll shows Dem leading Washington Gov race:
Top Stories
TECHNOLOGY: Big tech firms suing to stop states from imposing new child safety restrictions are relying on NetChoice, a trade association launched in 2001, to serve as the industry’s litigator-in-chief. Since 2021, the group has filed 10 lawsuits to block new state laws from taking effect, most of which relate to social media and youth online safety.
Expect more suits down the road: In March 2023, NetChoice set up a litigation center as the “go-to” source for the future of tech lawsuits. The group is eyeing new laws in Florida and New York, and they’ve won temporary victories in nine cases, including in Utah last week. Read more at Pluribus News.
BUDGETS: State and local governments have until the end of the year to allocate or spend their share of $350 billion in Covid-19 relief funds approved by Congress and President Biden in 2021. About 80% of that money had been allocated by March, but one in five governments reported having spent less than half the money. (Associated Press)
GUN POLITICS: Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns (R) said lawmakers will consider new policies to improve student mental health, detect guns and encourage safe storage after the school shooting in Winder earlier this month. Burns said he wanted to consider ways to improve information sharing between police, schools and mental health workers. (Georgia Public Broadcasting)
HEALTH CARE: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said the state will spend $130 million on programs to graduate more nurses from state schools. The programs, created in 2022, have helped boost the number of nursing graduates to 1,800, a record high. Florida is expected to face a nursing shortage of 60,000 by 2035. (Health News Florida)
MARIJUANA: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has signed legislation temporarily banning businesses that do not have a cannabis license from selling hemp products. The measure puts hemp products under the purview of the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission. (New Jersey Monitor)
ENERGY: Massachusetts and Connecticut are negotiating an energy swap deal, in which Massachusetts would buy power from Connecticut’s Millstone nuclear power plant and Connecticut would buy a portion of the output from a wind farm off Martha’s Vineyard. Connecticut declined to purchase about 400 megawatts of power from the wind farm during talks that ended last week. (CommonWealth Beacon)
In Politics & Business
WASHINGTON: A new Cascade PBS/Elway Poll shows Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) leading former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R) 50%-39% in the race for governor. Independents favor Reichert by a 46%-29% margin, but Ferguson leads among both men and women, and among all age cohorts except for those over 65. (Cascade PBS)
ARKANSAS: A Hendrix College poll finds 54% of Arkansas voters back a proposed constitutional amendment to expand access to medical marijuana. The measure would also allow the possession of up to an ounce of pot if the federal government removes marijuana from the list of controlled substances. Just 35% say they oppose the measure. (Talk Business & Politics)
UTAH: The state Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether to include Amendment D on the November ballot, the proposed constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to repeal or amend voter-passed initiatives. A state judge ruled that the legislature violated publication laws in kicking the measure off the ballot last week. (Salt Lake Tribune)
COLORADO: An El Paso County judge will hold a three-day trial beginning Oct. 14 to determine the rightful head of the state Republican Party. Republicans voted to oust current chairman Dave Williams in August, but Williams and his allies did not recognize that vote as legitimate. (Colorado Sun)
TEXAS: Rep. John Smithee (R) is the fifth candidate to announce a challenge to Speaker Dade Phelan (R). Smithee has served in the House since 1985, making him one of the senior-most members. (Texas Tribune)
PEOPLE: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is back at work after undergoing a procedure to remove a small cancerous growth. Hochul used the incident to encourage residents to get checked for skin cancer. (State of Politics)
By The Numbers
685,113: The number of Washington State households that will receive a $200 credit on their electricity bills under the state’s carbon credit auction program. The credits come just before an election in which voters will decide on a ballot initiative that would repeal the auction program. (Washington State Standard)
$146.7 billion: The amount of student debt owed by 3.9 million California residents, according to a new Kaplan Group study. About 2.9% of borrowers owe more than $200,000. (Sacramento Bee)
Off The Wall
Michigan lawmakers are considering whether to name the cherry the official state fruit. Michigan accounts for about 70% of the nation’s cherries, and tart cherries alone account for $280 million in annual sales. (Michigan Advance)
Don’t miss the annual National Cherry Festival — and the cherry pit spitting contest — in Traverse City.
Construction workers building new facilities at San Pedro High School in Los Angeles have found a massive deposit of thousands of marine fossils. One bone bed dates back 8.7 million years to the Miocene era, and a shell bed dates back 120,000 yers to the Pleistocene era. Scientists say it’s the richest deposit ever found in the Los Angeles area. (Los Angeles Times)
Quote of the Day
“If you’re skeptical, it’s because you’re a critical thinker. So go be a poll worker. Go help us out. Go make the system better.”
— Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab (R), on his advice to those who question election results. (Kansas Reflector)