Good morning, it’s Monday, December 1, 2025. In today’s edition, spending on autism therapies explodes; Indiana lawmakers return for redistricting session; new polls in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Illinois:
Top Stories
HEALTH CARE: State budget writers are growing concerned with the rising costs of Medicaid spending on autism-related therapies. Federal law requires states to cover medically necessary services for children enrolled in Medicaid, and singling out behavioral health care for rate cuts and restrictions can run afoul of mental health parity laws.
All 50 states cover applied behavior analysis, or ABA, a commonly accepted therapy for children with autism. Covering ABA has become shockingly expensive: In Colorado, costs ballooned 306% in five years. In North Carolina, costs quadrupled in four years. In Virginia, coverage grew 61% in just two years. (Pluribus News)
REDISTRICTING: Indiana lawmakers convene today to begin debate over proposed congressional district lines. House Speaker Todd Huston (R) said his chamber will take up redistricting plans, while Senate President Rodric Bray (R) said his chamber will address anything the House sends its way next week. Bray and Senate leaders say they still don’t have the votes to advance a new map. (State Affairs)
TRANSPORTATION: New Jersey’s Senate Transportation Committee has approved legislation creating a five-year pilot program for autonomous vehicles. The bill would mandate three years of on-road testing with a human driver in the vehicle. Disability advocates criticized the bill for delaying driverless cars that are already on the road in other states. (NJ Advance Media)
HOUSING: Democratic governors and attorneys general from 20 states have sued the Trump administration over limits on how much federal money communities can use to house homeless residents. The administration wants to limit federal money spent on long-term housing support to 30% of HUD funding. (Lexington Herald Leader)
ELECTIONS: Idaho House leaders are drafting legislation to make every race in the state partisan. State Republicans have been pushing for partisan labels on elections up and down the ballot for years. House Speaker Mike Moyle (R) previously backed legislation to make the Ada County Highway District Commission a partisan electoral contest. (Idaho Statesman)
NIL: The Ohio House and Senate have approved bills requiring name, image and likeness deals with college athletes to end at the end of their collegiate careers. The bill was inspired by former Ohio State Buckeye wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who was sued by Fanatics after the company claimed he didn’t meet obligations after he left college for the NFL. (Ohio Capital Journal)
ECONOMY: California has collected $6 billion more in personal income taxes than anticipated this year, a boom the state Controller’s Office says is driven by a handful of artificial intelligence and AI-adjacent firms. At the same time, the number of tech jobs in the state has fallen since 2022. (State Affairs)
In Politics & Business
RHODE ISLAND: Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes (D) leads the Democratic primary field with 29%, ahead of House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (D) at 13% and Gov. Dan McKee (D) at 11% in a University of New Hampshire survey. McKee’s favorable rating among Democrats stands at 15%, while 54% see him unfavorably. (UNH) Aaron Guckian (R), executive director of the Rhode Island Dental Association, plans to announce his campaign for governor on Monday. (Boston Globe)
WISCONSIN: A new TIPP survey finds former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (D) leading the Democratic primary with 21% of the vote, followed by Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) at 8% and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley (D) and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez (D) at 6%. On the GOP side, businessman Eric Hovde (R) leads the field with 25%, ahead of U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R) at 17% and construction executive Tim Michels (R) at 12%. (TIPP)
Barnes, Hovde and Michels haven’t formally joined the race. Kaul said last month he would seek another term as attorney general.
MASSACHUSETTS: Venture capitalist Brian Shortsleeve (R) leads the Republican field vying to challenge Gov. Maura Healey (D) with 22%, a new Suffolk poll finds. The poll puts former administration official Mike Kennealy (R) at 13% and med tech executive Mike Minogue (R) at 6%. (Suffolk)
ILLINOIS: A new Victory Research poll finds Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) leading former state Sen. Darren Bailey (R) 54% to 34%. Pritzker’s approval rating stands at 52%. (Fox 32)
PEOPLE: Colorado Sen. Faith Winter (D) was killed Wednesday in a multi-vehicle crash south of Denver. Winter, 45, leaves behind a young son and daughter. (Colorado Sun) Massachusetts Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante (D) has died at 53. Ferrante had suffered from pancreatic cancer. (State Affairs) Connecticut Rep. Kevin Ryan (D) has died at 73, after a battle with cancer. Ryan had served in the legislature since 1992. (CT Mirror)
Our deepest condolences to their family, friends and constituents.
By The Numbers
$55.18: The average cost of a Thanksgiving dinner for ten people this year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That’s down from $58.08 in 2024 and the modern high of $64.08 in 2022. (Pluribus News)
$11.8 billion: The amount shoppers spent online on Black Friday, up 9.1% from last year. Mastercard reported online sales jumped 10.4%, while in-store purchases rose 1.7%. (Associated Press)
Off The Wall
The 110-mile border between Michigan and Indiana hasn’t been formally surveyed since 1827. No one has ever bothered to contest the border, though Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed legislation in 2022 authorizing a new survey. But after two requests for proposals, no one has been willing to take on the surveying project. (BridgeMI)
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) will be the second-youngest mayor to govern the city — maybe. Hugh Grant, who became mayor in 1889, apparently took office at age 30, according to some Census records. But his obituary when he died in 1910 said he was born in 1853, which would have made him 35 when he became mayor. Grant was a Tammany Hall politician at a time when the machine ran city politics. (State of Politics)
Sacramento’s city council has voted unanimously to repeal a 76-year old law banning the sale of comic books to minors. The 1949 ordinance, passed during a panic about comic books inspiring delinquency, hasn’t been enforced for decades. (Los Angeles Times)
Quote of the Day
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was mostly so I could embarrass my kids. I’m away from my boys a lot in this job, and things like this can get their attention and bring us together.”
— U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), who made a 6-7 joke while presiding over the House of Representatives. In a statement later, Moore said his kids “were definitely embarrassed … so mission accomplished.” (Salt Lake Tribune)