Good morning, it’s Monday, October 7, 2024. In today’s edition, North Carolina lawmakers to act on disaster relief this week; the age of disruption comes for paychecks; Ohio redistricting reform measure passing easily:
Top Stories
DISASTER RELIEF: North Carolina lawmakers will return to Raleigh on Wednesday to vote on what leaders described as an “initial” disaster relief package for communities hit by Hurricane Helene. Senate President Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R) said they were still working to determine what will be included in the package. (NC Newsline)
CONSUMER PROTECTION: Lawmakers are debating how to classify earned wage access products, an emerging financial service that allows workers to get early access to pay. Consumer groups say the new products, offered by companies like DailyPay, Payactiv and EarnIn, are little more than repackaged payday loans.
Legislators in Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin have passed industry-backed bills that clarify the products are not loans. Those bills require providers to obtain a license and allow users to access funds for free. Connecticut took the opposite tack: Lawmakers passed legislation defining earned wage access transactions as small loans.
This is an example of the new frontier in legislating: In the age of disruption, lawmakers are considering how to tackle emerging technologies, from ride share to artificial intelligence and, now, novel financial products. Once again, states are taking a lead where Congress is absent. Read more at Pluribus News.
MORE: The Biden administration is asking a federal judge to block Illinois’s first-in-the-nation law limiting credit card swipe fees on taxes and tips. In a court filing, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the Illinois law conflicts with existing federal law. (Capitol News Illinois)
ABORTION: Delaware is the fifth state to require private insurers to cover abortion procedures after Gov. John Carney (D) signed the legislation last month. Legislative leaders gathered to celebrate the bill on Friday, ahead of its implementation in the new year. (Delaware Public Media)
PUBLIC HEALTH: Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill has reached a settlement with the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi that will guarantee state residents not enrolled in government health care programs can purchase insulin for $35 a month for the next five years. Hill is one of a handful of attorneys general who have scrutinized drug makers over insulin costs. (Wyoming Tribune Eagle)
In Politics & Business
OHIO: A YouGov survey conducted for Bowling Green State University found Issue 1, a ballot measure to create a bipartisan citizen’s commission to redraw district boundaries, passing with 60% of the vote. Just 20% said they opposed the ballot question. (Pluribus News)
INDIANA: The Democratic Governors Association will spend $600,000 on behalf of former Superintendent of Public Education Jennifer McCormick (D) in her bid to replace retiring Gov. Eric Holcomb (R). A DGA poll taken last month showed McCormick within striking distance of U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R), the Republican nominee, with Libertarian Donald Rainwater taking a substantial 8% share. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Reality check: Two public polls released last month show Braun with a healthy lead.
CRIME BLOTTER: Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) faces trial beginning tomorrow on charges that he used his influence to run a criminal enterprise. Madigan is charged in a racketeering and bribery scheme involving ComEd, Illinois’s largest utility. (Chicago Tribune, Associated Press)
MORE: New York Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs (D) was arrested on disorderly conduct charges following a traffic stop in Harlem. Gibbs apologized to the officers involved after he said he interfered with a traffic stop involving his brother. (State of Politics)
By The Numbers
30: The number of instances of voter fraud local elections clerks in Wisconsin identified between July 1, 2023 and September 12, 2024. Voters cast more than 4 million ballots over that time period. Most of the fraud cases were people voting both in person and by absentee. (Wisconsin Examiner)
4193.4 feet: The average elevation of the south arm of the Great Salt Lake over the last year, the highest the lake has risen since 2020. Lake watchers are hoping for a third straight wetter-than-average winter. (Salt Lake Tribune)
$3.2 million: The amount the University of Iowa’s athletics program earned from alcohol sales during home games in 2023, up 29% from the 2022 figures. The Hawkeyes’ most lucrative game came in an Oct. 21 loss to Minnesota, when fans spent $539,722 on booze. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
Off The Wall
Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (R) has issued a request for bids for 55,000 Bibles that will be placed in public schools across the state. To qualify, the Bibles must include the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and must be bound in leather or leather-like material. What a coincidence, the only version of the Bible on the market that satisfies those requirements are endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who gets a commission on sales. (Oklahoma Watch)
Bonus: Walters’s office wants to buy 55,000 copies, but there are only 43,000 classroom teachers in the state.
Colorado fire fighter Brad Bledsoe has reclaimed the state’s pumpkin record with a 2,083-lb. giant pumpkin dubbed Winifred Sanderson, after a character in the 1993 film “Hocus Pocus.” Winifred is the first pumpkin from Colorado to top one ton. (Denver Post)
Quote of the Day
“Who the hell knows?”
— Former U.S. Rep. John Burton (D-Calif.), long a king-and-queenmaker in San Francisco politics, on how the city by the bay became the launching pad for so many prominent women in politics. (Los Angeles Times)
The reporters hasten to add that Burton’s comment “was actually mild language for the famously profane but beloved power broker.”