Good morning, it’s Monday, January 13, 2025. In today’s edition, New York eyes civil suits against energy giants; GOP lawmakers target abortion medication; way-too-early poll of Virginia’s marquee governor’s race:
Top Stories
ENVIRONMENT: New York Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D) has reintroduced legislation that would allow citizens to sue oil and gas companies over damage caused by climate change. The new version, which stalled last year, also gives the state attorney general the right to go after energy firms.
The legislation relies on a provision in the state constitution known as the green amendment, guaranteeing New Yorkers the right to clean air and water and a healthy environment. Montana and Pennsylvania have similar provisions on the books.
It also relies on an unusual provision from another state: In an interview, Myrie said he got the idea to allow citizens to bring civil lawsuits from the 2021 Texas legislation that banned abortion after six weeks. Under that law, members of the public can sue abortion providers. Read more at Pluribus News.
ABORTION: Lawmakers in four states — Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire and Tennessee — have introduced bills to ban abortion-inducing pills. Those measures differ from legislation passed in Louisiana last year, where lawmakers voted to classify abortion medication as a controlled dangerous substance. (Associated Press, Chicago Tribune)
GUN POLITICS: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) has signed legislation prohibiting financial institutions from using separate merchant codes for gun shops, and barring financial institutions from requiring gun owners to buy liability insurance. Lawmakers in more than a dozen other states have approved similar merchant code bans. (Ohio Capital Journal)
We wrote about the fight over merchant codes last year, when blue states started passing measures to require those codes.
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Nebraska Sen. Kathleen Kauth and 20 other lawmakers have introduced legislation to define gender-related words like male, female, man and woman in state law. The bill would require all K-12 schools and state-run facilities to designate restroom and locker room spaces for a single gender. (Nebraska Examiner)
HOUSING: Washington State Democrats will push once again to restrict rent hikes, after a similar bill died last session. The bill would cap rent hikes at 7% for existing tenants and requires 180 days notice before raising rents 3% or more. (Washington State Standard)
MEDIA: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has proposed spending $30 million on a fund to bolster local newsrooms, part of an agreement last year with Google to help shore up struggling news institutions. The agreement called for Google to spend $15 million this year, and $10 million through 2029, on a fund overseen by UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. (Sacramento Bee)
In Politics & Business
VIRGINIA: In a way-too-early survey of state voters, former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) leads Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) by a 47% to 44% margin, according to a Mason-Dixon poll. Earle-Sears leads U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D), also said to be considering a run, 46% to 44%. (Virginian-Pilot)
CALIFORNIA: Gov. Newsom has signed an executive order suspending environmental review processes for homeowners and businesses whose property was damaged or destroyed by the wildfires in Los Angeles. Newsom is likely to sign other orders streamlining permitting processes. (Los Angeles Times)
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara (D) ordered a year-long ban on insurance policy cancellations. The order applies to property owners around the Palisades and Eaton fires. (Sacramento Bee)
WASHINGTON: Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson (D) will back Republican legislation to spend $100 million to develop a grant program for local police departments to hire officers. The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Law & Justice Committee have both sponsored the bill. (Washington State Standard)
MISSISSIPPI: The state House has filed legislation to eliminate the state income tax over the next decade. The bill would also phase down sales tax applied to groceries from 7% to 2.5%. (Magnolia Tribune) Ending the income tax has been Gov. Tate Reeves’s (R) top priority in office. Reeves took to social media last week to declare ending the tax his number one goal. (Mississippi Today)
FLORIDA: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is leaning toward choosing Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) to replace Sen. Marco Rubio (R) once Rubio is confirmed as President-elect Trump’s Secretary of State. Former House Speaker Jose Oliva (R) is also said to be under consideration. (Washington Post)
By The Numbers
$854 million: The budget surplus Michigan lawmakers expect during the current fiscal year. Lawmakers said the state’s tax revenue is projected to grow further in the next three years. (Detroit News)
37, 37: The number of baby boomers and millennials serving in the Iowa legislature, the first time the two largest generations in American history have tied. Generation X trails in a distant third. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
4%: The jump in enrollment in Catholic schools in Iowa this school year, as more students take advantage of education savings accounts the legislature expanded in 2023. About two-thirds of all Catholic school students in Iowa receive savings accounts. (Des Moines Register)
Off The Wall
The Washington Commanders won their first NFL playoff game since January 2006 last night, knocking off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a last-minute field goal. To put that 19-year drought in legislative context: The last time the Commanders won a playoff game, Democrats controlled the West Virginia legislature, and Republicans ran the New York Senate.
When Arizona House members file new bills in a box known as the hopper, they meet Hopper the Frog, the plastic guardian of new legislation. Hopper croaks when a bill gets dropped. Check out Hopper here, courtesy the Arizona Republic.
Maryland Del. Heather Bagnall (D) has introduced a resolution exonerating settlers accused of witchcraft about 400 years ago. At least one of the seven individuals accused or indicted of witchcraft was executed in the Providence of Maryland, the resolution says. (Baltimore Sun)
Quote of the Day
“Montanans did not send the Democrats to run the show, they sent us. And I will not move from that. I will never stop fighting for all 32 of you.”
— Montana Senate President Matt Regier (R), after some fellow Republicans joined Democrats to vote down a proposed rules package, bringing the Senate to a halt just as it kicks off work for the year. (Daily Montanan)