Good morning, it’s Friday, May 9, 2025. In today’s edition, Texas, Louisiana advance app store bills; Illinois moves to regulate crypto ATMs; judges rule against Alabama legislators in redistricting case:
Top Stories
SOCIAL MEDIA: Lawmakers in Texas and Louisiana are advancing bills to require app stores to verify user ages. The bills would require parental permission for a minor to download or purchase an app. Apple and Google are battling the bills, which put the responsibility to verify user ages on their products, rather than on social media apps like Facebook, X or Snapchat. (Pluribus News)
ENERGY: Seventeen Democratic attorneys general have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s bid to pause $5 billion in spending on expanding the number of electric vehicle chargers around the nation. Congress approved the spending in the 2022 bipartisan infrastructure bill. (Pluribus News)
CRYPTO: The Illinois Senate Executive Committee has advanced legislation placing cryptocurrency kiosks under the supervision of the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The bill would require kiosk operators to report to the department and pay fees. (KWQC)
We wrote about the growing move to place crypto ATMs under more state scrutiny earlier this year.
IMMIGRATION: The New Hampshire House has approved legislation allowing local law enforcement to enter into agreements with federal immigration authorities. The bill includes legislation banning so-called sanctuary policies. (WMUR)
PROTESTS: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) has signed legislation formalizing policies at the state’s public universities prohibiting unauthorized camping on university property. The bill comes after pro-Palestinian protestors erected encampments at Arizona State, the University of Arizona and other schools. (Arizona Republic)
AGRICULTURE: The Texas House has approved legislation allowing Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to decide which countries’ residents, governments or affiliated entities should be banned from buying property in the state. A previous version of the bill would have limited transactions with entities associated with countries that are national security risks, a list that includes only China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. (Texas Tribune)
In Politics & Business
ALABAMA: A panel of federal judges has ruled the Alabama legislature intentionally discriminated against Black voters in a 2023 redistricting plan that would have created just one Black-majority congressional district. The panel, including two Trump appointees, said the legislature had intentionally ignored its order to create two majority-minority districts. (Alabama Reflector)
OHIO: State Republicans meet today to decide whether to endorse a candidate for governor. At the same time, Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel (R) says he hasn’t ruled out a run for governor himself. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (R) has been angling for the endorsement. (Statehouse News Bureau)
MINNESOTA: Army veteran and former health care executive Kendall Qualls (R) will run for governor in 2026. Qualls lost a bid for the Republican nomination in 2022. Gov. Tim Walz (D) has not said whether he will seek a third term. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
NEW YORK: A provision in the state budget approved this week will eliminate primaries for lieutenant governor. The measure will allow gubernatorial and lieutenant governor candidates to run as a ticket. (State of Politics)
IOWA: State House Democrats have selected Rep. Brian Meyer (D) to be their new minority leader. Meyer takes over for former leader Jennifer Konfrst (D), who is stepping down to run for a seat in Congress. (Des Moines Register)
By The Numbers
$1,000: The Permanent Fund dividend Alaska residents would receive this year under a state budget approved by lawmakers this week. That’s the lowest payout since 2020, as lawmakers worry about tighter budgets ahead. (Anchorage Daily News)
About half: The share of submissions to an Oklahoma Department of Government Efficiency portal that suggested making government more efficient by firing Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (R) or other Republican leaders. (Oklahoma Voice)
Off The Wall
Cars belonging to Colorado Sens. Sean Camacho (D) and Byron Pelton (R) were vandalized in the state capitol’s parking lot on Wednesday. State patrol officers said the cars appeared to be targeted at random. (Denver Post)
Former Pennsylvania Rep. Matthew Dowling (R) left office in 2022 after a drunk driving arrest, admitting his struggles with alcoholism. Now he’s opened a new “dry” bar in his hometown, to give people who want to avoid alcohol a place to hang out and socialize. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)
Making lemonade out of lemons.
Quote of the Day
“The people will speak on the treasurer come next primary season and or next November, and that’s where it is.”
— South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith (R), saying the state House does not have the appetite to remove Treasurer Curtis Loftis (R) after a $1.8 billion accounting error originated in his office. The Senate voted last month to remove Loftus from office. (The State)