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Good morning, it’s Monday, December 2, 2024. In today’s edition, Texas seeks new AI regulations; Ohio Gov signs bathroom bill; California Dems try to “Trump-proof” the state:
Top Stories
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Texas Rep. Mary González (D) has introduced legislation to prohibit minors from accessing AI tools that generate sexually explicit images and videos. The new bill would place the obligation on AI image generators to police user ages on their own sites.
Texas is among the nearly two dozen states that have already banned nonconsensual deepfakes. It was also one of the first to pass legislation requiring adult websites to verify the ages of their users. The new bill borrows from that existing law — even though the U.S. Supreme Court is set to take up the age verification legislation during their current term. Read more at Pluribus News.
TRUMP: California lawmakers will open a special session today to consider laws to protect the state from a second Trump administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has asked lawmakers for more money for Attorney General Rob Bonta’s (D) office in anticipation of litigation against the incoming administration. (Associated Press)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has signed legislation requiring transgender people to use the bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth. The new law applies to K-12 schools and colleges and bans multi-occupancy gender-neutral bathrooms. (Columbus Dispatch)
EDUCATION: Ohio Republicans are prioritizing a “Parents Bill of Rights” in the weeks leading to the end of the lame duck session. The bill would require parents be notified and allow them to pull their children out of “sexuality” content in the classroom. Schools would be required to inform parents of a change in their student’s physical or mental health. (Statehouse News Bureau)
ENERGY: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has sued investment giants BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, alleging the firms broke antitrust laws by using ESG practices that raised energy costs. The suit alleges the firms pressured coal producers to cut output. (Dallas Morning News)
PUBLIC HEALTH: Arkansas Republicans have introduced legislation that would remove restrictions on non-pasteurized milk, allowing residents to purchase raw milk and goat and sheep milk at farmers’ markets. Current state law restricts the sale of raw milk to the farms where it is produced. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
In Politics & Business
MINNESOTA: Republicans have filed legal challenges in two legislative districts where Democrats pulled out narrow wins, creating a 67-67 tie in the state House. Republican leader Lisa Demuth (R) said there were inconsistencies in House District 54A, and a Republican challenger alleged the winner of House District 40B does not live in the district. (Minnesota Reformer)
IOWA: Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) has appointed former state Rep. Dustin Hite (R) to a district court judgeship — two years after helping to oust Hite in a Republican primary. Hite voted against legislation that would have funded private school vouchers, a key Reynolds priority. Reynolds supported current state Rep. Helena Hays (R), who beat Hite in the 2022 primary. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
DEMOCRATS: Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler has entered the race to run the Democratic National Committee. He joins Minnesota party chair Ken Martin and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley in the race, and others are likely to jump in ahead of elections in February. (Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
PEOPLE: Former Hartford, Conn., Mayor Thirman Milner, the first popularly elected Black mayor of a New England city, has died at 91. Milner served as mayor of Connecticut’s capital from 1981 to 1987. (Hartford Courant)
By The Numbers
At least 95: The number of women who will hold senior leadership posts in state legislatures next year. Women will serve as House speakers in ten states and Senate presidents in four states. (Pluribus News)
$110,015: The base salary for a rank and file Pennsylvania legislator, beginning today — the first time the salary has risen above $110,000. Legislators got a 3.38% pay raise under a 1995 law that sets compensation for public officials. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
$58.08: The estimated cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for ten, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation — the lowest cost in five years and down from a high of $64.05 in 2022. The decline in cost was led by a drop in turkey prices. (Pluribus News)
Off The Wall
Mississippi oysters are back on the menu: The state Department of Marine Resources allowed fishermen to harvest wild oysters for the first time in five years, after a series of natural and man-made disasters devastated oyster populations. (Mississippi Free Press)
Dozens of potential buyers submitted bids on six signs that warned against cursing in Virginia Beach, Va., last week. The signs, auctioned by the Virginia Beach Police Foundation, brought in a whopping $9,000. The city once banned cursing modeled on George Washington’s 1776 “Order Against Profanity,” which barred soldiers from using swear words. (Washington Post)
Quote of the Day
“It’s around pragmatism. It’s about preparedness. We would be fools not to get on top of this before January.”
— California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), on the special session to “Trump-proof” his state. (Los Angeles Times)