Good morning, it’s Thursday, February 6, 2025. In today’s edition, Texas voucher bill clears critical hurdle; Utah advances collective bargaining ban; Minnesota Dems, GOP reach power-sharing deal:
Top Stories
EDUCATION: The Texas Senate has approved a $1 billion education savings account program that would offer up to $10,000 a year to pay for tuition at accredited private schools and cover other education expenses. The House has rejected voucher programs five times since 2015, but House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) says he thinks the votes are there to pass the bill this year. (Pluribus News)
Tennessee, Wyoming and Indiana are all working on legislation creating or expanding voucher programs.
MORE: A Mississippi House committee has approved legislation that would allow students enrolled in low-performing school districts to use a portion of the average per-pupil spending on private school tuition. The measure is limited to students who do not live within 30 miles of a top-rated school district. (Associated Press)
LABOR: Utah lawmakers are advancing legislation to bar public employee unions from collective bargaining with government agencies after negotiations between Republicans and union officials broke down. It’s not clear when the Senate will take up the bill. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Read the backstory on the most assertive Republican move against unions since Wisconsin’s Act 10 in 2011.
HEALTH CARE: Iowa lawmakers are considering twin bills to require pharmacy benefit managers to sell prescription drugs to consumers at the rate they paid, a practice known as a “pass-through” pricing model. PBMs would be paid through administrative fees. The bills would prohibit PBMs from limiting consumer pharmacy choices. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
PUBLIC HEALTH: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) will ask legislators to tax nicotine products like vapes and oral pouches at the same 32% wholesale tax as most tobacco products. Nicotine products that do not contain tobacco are not taxed at the same wholesale rate as tobacco products. (Bridge MI)
TRANS RIGHTS: The Missouri Senate gave initial approval to legislation making permanent restrictions on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. A current ban on gender-affirming care expires in 2027. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
IMMIGRATION: The Missouri Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee has approved legislation making a state crime of “improper entry,” punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and removal to a port of entry for deportation. Undocumented immigrants who commit a crime would be prosecuted under a new crime of “aggravated illegal presence.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
ABORTION: The North Dakota House is considering legislation that would recognize an unborn child as a human being under chapters of state code that relate to homicide, assault and wrongful death. Opponents of the bill said it would allow those providing abortion care to be charged with murder. (Fargo Forum)
WORKFORCE: The Iowa House State Government Committee has unanimously approved legislation giving four weeks of paid leave to state employees after they give birth, and one week of leave to the parent who did not give birth. It’s the third time the bill has been introduced, but it’s never advanced to a floor vote. (Des Moines Register)
In Politics & Business
MINNESOTA: Republican and Democratic leaders have reached a power-sharing agreement that will allow the state House to resume functioning after Democrats staged a weeks-long boycott. Details weren’t immediately clear, but party leaders said they would return to the capitol on Thursday for an organizing session. (Associated Press, MPR News)
Gov. Tim Walz (D) has set a March 11 special election to fill the one vacant seat in the state House. The results of that election, in a heavily Democratic district, will likely mean a 67-67 tie in the state House. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
CALIFORNIA: Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) will run for re-election, rather than seek to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2026. The Democratic field is packed, and former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (D) are still considering their own bids. (Sacramento Bee)
Also looming over the race: Former Vice President Kamala Harris.
OHIO: State Treasurer Robert Sprague (R) will end his bid for governor and run for Secretary of State instead. Sprague will back entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (R) in the GOP primary; Ramaswamy has yet to formally enter the race, though he’s hiring staff. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
KANSAS: The state House has approved legislation limiting voting to U.S. citizens. If the state Senate approves, voters will get to weigh whether to amend the state constitution. (KSNT) No jurisdictions in Kansas allow non-citizen voting, and federal law prevents such voting in federal elections.
By The Numbers
38%: The decrease in opioid overdose deaths in Maryland between 2023 and 2024. The state Department of Health reported 1,553 people died of overdoses in 2024, the first time in almost 10 years that it recorded fewer than 2,000 overdose deaths. (WYPR)
668: The number of phone calls since 2019 to Connecticut’s Poison Control Center related to children under 18 consuming cannabis. Sen. Saud Anwar (D) has introduced legislation to cut the level of allowable THC content in cannabis products by half. (Register Citizen)
Off The Wall
New Mexico lawmakers are considering a resolution to make August Red and Green Chile Month. Lawmakers took plenty of shots at Colorado during a hearing on the bill: “Is there a tagline, like we’re the best and Colorado sucks?” Rep. Stefani Lord (R) asked. (Albuquerque Journal)
True story: We once interviewed a candidate running for statewide office in New Mexico. When we asked if he preferred red or green chile sauce, he asked us to go off the record. That’s how seriously New Mexicans take their chile.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the theft of 100,000 organic eggs from a distribution trailer in Greencastle, in south-central Pennsylvania. The market value of those eggs is more than $40,000. (New York Times) Quality copy editing in other outlets: The New York Post said the eggs were “poached.” The company is “shell shocked.” And the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that police are “scrambling” to crack the case.
Quote of the Day
“If we pass this bill, my yard is going to dilapidate and fall into disrepair.”
— Utah Rep. Mark Strong (R), on legislation to end daylight saving time. (KSL)