Good morning, it’s Monday, June 26, 2023. In today’s edition, states promote semiconductor incentives; Biden to roll out broadband funding; Ariz., N.Y. Govs move to protect abortion providers:
Top Stories
ECONOMY: States are racing to pass incentive packages to win new semiconductor manufacturing plants and businesses as the federal government prepares to dole out $39 billion in manufacturing incentives. Texas, Oregon, Kansas, Ohio, New York have all approved new incentives or tax credits aimed at luring plants. (Pluribus News)
BROADBAND: President Biden will announce today the administration’s plans to distribute $42 billion in broadband grants aimed at expanding internet access to every household and business in the country. About 7% of the country is underserved by broadband providers, according to the FCC. (Associated Press)
ABORTION: Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) has issued an executive order giving the state Attorney General’s office the authority to handle county-level prosecutions under state abortion laws. The attorney general, Kris Mayes, is a Democrat. (Arizona Republic) New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Friday signed legislation protecting providers who prescribe abortion medication to patients who live in states where those pills are restricted or outlawed. (State of Politics)
MORE: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) has not decided whether to call a special session to pass new abortion restrictions after the state Supreme Court deadlocked over a 2018 law barring abortions after six weeks. (Des Moines Register)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) has asked a federal judge to end a requirement that the state allow transgender people to change their birth certificates to align with their gender identity. Federal judges have previously struck down Ohio and Idaho laws barring transgender people from changing their birth certificates, but other judges in Tennessee and Oklahoma dismissed challenges to laws in those states. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE: The Michigan legislature began holding hearings last week on clean energy legislation that would require utilities to invest in energy efficiencies and transition away from fossil fuels. The bills would require utilities to be 100% carbon-free by 2035. (MLive) Oregon lawmakers on Saturday approved a package of bills aimed at combatting climate change, including $61 million for renewable energy projects and new incentives to help businesses qualify for federal infrastructure grants. (Oregon Capital Chroncile)
GUN POLITICS: The Oregon Senate gave final approval to a measure aimed at reducing paramilitary activity that interferes with law enforcement or infringes on someone’s right to vote. (Oregonian)
EDUCATION: The Ohio House voted to eliminate a policy that would hold back third graders who do not meet reading requirements. The requirement remains in the Senate’s version of an education budget, setting up a showdown later this year. (Ohio Capital Journal)
HOLLYWOOD: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is expected to sign legislation this week giving Hollywood studios new tax breaks, and requiring new safety protocols for those who work in film production. The bill would allow studios to receive cash payments from the state if tax credits they receive are larger than their tax bills. (Los Angeles Times)
In Politics & Business
ELECTIONS: Republican lawmakers in 13 red states have advanced measures giving themselves more power over local election administration. North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill changing the composition of county election boards. Texas legislators voted to eliminate a top election official in Houston’s Harris County. (Associated Press)
NEBRASKA: Supporters of paid family leave have filed initiative petitions with the Secretary of State in hopes of qualifying for the 2024 ballot. The proposed initiative would require businesses to provide at least five paid sick days per year. (Omaha World-Herald)
OREGON: Voters will be asked to grant state legislators the power to impeach statewide officials in next year’s presidential elections. The state Senate gave final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment on Sunday. (Oregonian)
Oregon is the only state in the nation where the legislature does not have the power to impeach a statewide official.
HAWAII: Gov. Josh Green (D) has signed a package of government reform bills that ban lobbyists from making campaign contributions during and just after legislative sessions, protect journalists’s sources and require lawmakers to disclose relationships with lobbyists. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
FLORIDA: Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis (R) says his family wants him to run for governor in 2026. (Florida Politics) Expect a crowded race that year, regardless of how Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) presidential campaign goes.
CALIFORNIA: Gov. Newsom and state legislators are scrambling to finish budget negotiations by the end of the month. The big sticking point: Newsom’s proposal to fast-track water, transportation and energy infrastructure projects under the California Environmental Quality Act. Lawmakers say Newsom is using the budget to make major policy changes. (Sacramento Bee)
By The Numbers
57%: The increase in the number of abortions performed in Kansas last year over 2021. More than two-thirds of patients who received an abortion in Kansas traveled from other states, primarily Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. (KCUR)
42%: The increase in lobbyist spending on Oklahoma legislators, a rebound to pre-pandemic times. Lobbyists reported spending nearly $380,000 on gifts, meals and beverages for lawmakers. (Oklahoma Watch)
How do you know things are returning to normal? When the lobbyists come back.
Off The Wall
The first passengers to travel across a newly rebuilt section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia over the weekend: Gritty, the Philly Phanatic and mascots from the city’s other sports team. Their trip, aboard a city fire track, “mark[ed] the reopening of the road in the most Philly way possible.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Rhode Island Sen. Josh Miller (D) was arrested for allegedly keying a car in a shopping center parking lot with a “Biden sucks” bumper sticker. The man whose car was keyed identified Miller by his own bumper sticker — a “Re-Elect Sen. Josh Miller” sticker. (Providence Journal, Boston Globe)
Quote of the Day
“You don’t learn it all at once, you learn it piece by piece. When you get to a legislature, you learn about committees, because that’s your first experience. But you don’t know how a bill gets out of committee.”
— Washington Senate President Pro Tem Karen Keiser (D), on her new book, a how-to for rookie state legislators. (Pluribus News)