Good morning, it’s Friday, September 5, 2025. In today’s edition, tech groups back California chatbot bill; blue states advance vaccine access measures; Missouri House moves redistricting bill:
Top Stories
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Tech groups are supporting California Sen. Steve Padilla’s (D) legislation to regulate AI companion chatbots and allow citizens to sue for damages, over a more restrictive bill offered by Assemb. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D). Padilla’s bill requires companies to develop protocols to ensure chatbots don’t produce content promoting self-harm. It would bar chatbots from encouraging minors to engage in explicit conduct.
Bauer-Kahan’s bill would prevent minors from accessing chatbots that have addictive features, manipulate users into engaging in harmful behavior or purport to provide mental health therapy. Like Padilla’s, Bauer-Kahan’s bill would create a private right of action. (Pluribus News)
One group backing Bauer-Kahan’s bill found that nearly three-quarters of 13- to 17-year olds have interacted with an AI companion.
PUBLIC HEALTH: Massachusetts will require insurance companies to cover vaccinations for state residents, Gov. Maura Healey (D) said Thursday. (State Affairs) New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) plans to sign an executive order that would authorize pharmacists to provide Covid vaccines to residents, after the FDA authorized shots only for those over 65 or with medical conditions. (New York Times)
REDISTRICTING: A Missouri House committee has advanced Gov. Mike Kehoe’s (R) redistricting plan, setting up a House floor debate next week. (Associated Press, Kansas City Star) Utah Judge Diana Gibson has given state lawmakers until Sept. 24 to approve a new congressional district map that conforms to voter-approved standards. The legislature must vote on a final map to submit to the court by Oct. 6. (Deseret News)
MARIJUANA: Georgia lawmakers will consider measures next year to add new restrictions on THC products, after an outright ban failed this year. An interim study committee meeting this week considered considered whether to add taxes to hemp-based products, revenue which would be directed to law enforcement. (State Affairs)
HEALTH CARE: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) will call lawmakers back to special session in October to consider measures to shore up rural health access and affordable health car exchange premiums. The legislature is considering ways to shore up the social safety net after President Trump’s reconciliation measure cost the state $1 billion in Medicaid funds over the coming decade. (Associated Press)
DISASTER RELIEF: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) plans to sign legislation today to impose new requirements on summer camps after July’s deadly flooding in the Hill Country. The measures prohibit cabins in flood zones and require camp operators to develop emergency plans. Another bill provides $240 million for disaster relief. (Associated Press)
In Politics & Business
MARYLAND: Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey (R) has formed an exploratory committee to consider a run for governor in 2026. Hershey will decide by the end of the year whether to mount a formal challenge to Gov. Wes Moore (D). (Maryland Matters)
GEORGIA: Gabriel Sterling (R), the chief operating officer in the Secretary of State’s office, will run to replace incumbent Brad Raffensperger (R) in 2026. Sterling gained prominence in 2020 for defending the state’s election results. His entry into the race is a sign that Raffensperger is likely to run for another office, possibly governor, next year. (Associated Press)
NEW YORK CITY: Mayor Eric Adams has told friends and advisors he is considering ending his re-election bid and taking a job in the Trump administration after meeting with President Trump’s advisor Steve Witkoff in Florida this week. Trump has also considered offering a job to Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, in an effort to coalesce opposition to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. (New York Times)
By The Numbers
More than 11,000: The number of counterfeit Labubu dolls seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Seattle’s SeaTac Airport last week. The dolls were valued at nearly $514,000. (Seattle Times)
More than $200,000: The amount Anchorage spent on the summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Most of those expenses went to pay overtime for law enforcement officers who provided security for the summit. (Alaska Beacon)
Off The Wall
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) will host a weekly call-in show on SiriusXM as he considers a 2028 bid for president. Beshear is the latest Democrat to launch a podcast, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). He’s hosted Maryland Gov. Moore, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and entrepreneur Mark Cuban, among others. (Associated Press)
Twin red pandas have been born at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, R.I., zookeepers said. It’s the first successful birth of red pandas at the zoo, and the photos are worth the click. (Providence Journal)
Tourism officials in New Haven, Conn., will attempt to hold the world’s largest pizza party next weekend. They say they will bring in 625 pizzas to feed 5,000 attendees in an effort to break a record currently held by Tulsa, Okla., which held a pizza party for 3,357 people in 2023. (CT Insider)
Quote of the Day
“Is the banana pudding really that good up there?”
— Texas Rep. Christian Manuel (D), raising a parliamentary inquiry over Rep. Carl Tepper’s (R) bill to name the town of Slaton the official banana pudding capital of Texas. (Texas Tribune)