Good morning, it’s Wednesday, August 14, 2024. In today’s edition, producer responsibility laws gain traction; abortion measure makes Missouri ballot; Wisconsin voters reject GOP referenda on gubernatorial powers:
Top Stories
ENVIRONMENT: Illinois became the 16th state in the nation to establish a program to recycle and dispose of used batteries, part of a trend of what environmental groups are calling producer responsibility laws — measures that require producers to take responsibility for disposing the products they make.
The Illinois law requires businesses that sell or distribute batteries to develop and fund a recycling stewardship program. Battery producers will be required to pay a $100,000 annual fee to the state Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the programs.
A total of 33 states have enacted 139 producer responsibility laws extending to 19 products. Some of those laws apply to tires, textiles, solar panels, radioactive devices, pharmaceuticals — and even phone books. Read more at Pluribus News.
EDUCATION: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has signed legislation requiring K-3 students to be screened for literacy at least twice a year beginning in the next school year. Students who fall behind peers would receive mandatory intervention in an effort to combat pandemic-era learning loss. (New Jersey Monitor)
AGRICULTURE: A California-based producer of lab-grown poultry has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s new ban on selling or manufacturing “cultivated” meat. The company alleges the law violates a constitutional ban on favoring an in-state business over out-of-state competitors. (Orlando Sentinel)
TAXES: Top Oregon Democrats are joining legislative Republicans and Gov. Tina Kotek (D) to oppose Measure 118, which would raise corporate taxes to give every state resident an estimated $1,600 yearly rebate. Democratic legislative leaders said in a statement Tuesday the universal basic income program would lead to higher prices and hurt businesses of all sizes. (Oregonian)
In Politics & Business
MISSOURI: Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) has certified a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to abortion access. Supporters said they gathered more than 380,000 signatures, more than double the 171,592 they needed to make the ballot. (Pluribus News)
MORE: Ashcroft’s office also certified ballot measures that would raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour and guarantee paid sick leave for workers, and another that would legalize sports betting across the state. Supporters of the minimum wage and sick leave measure submitted 158,000 valid signatures; Missouri voters last approved a minimum wage hike in 2018. (Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star)
MINNESOTA: Former state Sen. Ann Johnson Stewart (D) will face small business owner Kathleen Fowke (R) in the race for an open state Senate seat that will decide control of the evenly-divided chamber. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee tells us they will add the race to their Spotlight program of key races. The senator who resigned the seat to run for Congress, Kelly Morrison (D), carried the district with 56% of the vote in 2022.
WISCONSIN: State voters rejected two proposed ballot measures to limit Gov. Tony Evers’s (D) authority to spend federal money, a blow to legislative Republicans who placed the measures on Tuesday’s primary ballots. The results were rare defeats for legislative referrals, about three quarters of which have passed since 1854. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
VERMONT: Vermont Commission on Women co-chair Esther Charlestin (D) has won the Democratic primary to challenge Gov. Phil Scott (R) in November. With more than 95% of the vote in, Charlestin had won 72%. (Vermont Public Radio)
Vermont is a very blue state, but Scott is so popular he won re-election in 2022 with 71% of the vote — and he didn’t spend a penny on television ads in the process.
By The Numbers
$966.2 million: The amount private school vouchers cost Ohio during the last school year, though those numbers aren’t final and some applications are still being processed. Ohio spent $124 million on the same voucher program in the 2022-2023 school year, before legislators expanded it. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
More than $23 million: The amount Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (D) earned in income over the last four years, mostly from investment income. Gianforte made his fortune when Oracle bought his technology company for $1.8 billion. (Associated Press)
Off The Wall
Grammar nerds are fighting over the appropriate use of apostrophes for possessive proper nouns relating to Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). Is Walz Harris’ running mate, or Harris’s running mate? If she wins, Harris would be the first U.S. president since Rutherford B. Hayes to have a last name ending in S. (Associated Press)
The last presidential nominee whose name ended in S, Michael Dukakis, says he sides with the s-apostrophe version. We love that they called him to ask.
The Mob Museum in Las Vegas has a new artifact on display: The Colt .45 pistol that famed mobster Al Capone called “Sweetheart.” A private donor gave the pistol to the museum, though it’s not clear if it’s the same person who bought the gun for $1 million at auction in 2021. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Quote of the Day
“In this notion that we’re always striving for a more perfect union, we’re never done.”
— Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Sturla (D), the second-longest serving lawmaker in the state House, announcing his retirement at the end of the year. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)