Good morning, it’s Thursday, September 12, 2024. In today’s edition, Big Tech kicks off AI lobbying push; North Carolina lawmakers fund voucher program; elections officials worry about USPS problems:
Top Stories
TECHNOLOGY: The era of Big Tech lobbying is here. Look no farther than California, where more than 150 entities and individuals weighed in against a first-in-the-nation bill to regulate the most powerful artificial intelligence models of the future.
Those groups failed to sway lawmakers, who approved the legislation with two days to spare during their just-concluded session. Now they’re turning to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who faces an avalanche of letters and public statements urging him to nix the bill. Tech insiders tell us they expect a veto.
The pressure on Newsom and his legislative colleagues shows the evolution of Big Tech’s lobbying priorities. The fights over data privacy, children’s online safety and social media are becoming old hat, replaced by the race to set up guardrails around what could soon be the trillion-dollar AI industry. With all that money comes the teams of lobbyists who want to write their own rules. Read more at Pluribus News.
EDUCATION: The North Carolina legislature signed off on a bill to spend $248 million to clear a 54,000-child waitlist for private school vouchers. Legislators expanded eligibility for the voucher program to all North Carolina students, and 72,000 new students applied in the first year of expansion. (Pluribus News)
MORE: The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s new K-12 voucher program is unconstitutional, leaving lawmakers worried about what to tell parents who have already received checks. The ruling means parents can no longer use $6,000 from the state for private school tuition. (SC Daily Gazette)
SOCIAL MEDIA: A federal judge has blocked a Utah law requiring social media companies to verify user ages and implement default privacy settings for those under 18. The judge ruled the law likely violates First Amendment rights, putting a hold on its implementation scheduled for October. (Salt Lake Tribune)
ENERGY: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has included a package of clean energy bills in a supplemental budget filed with the legislature on Wednesday. The package would streamline siting and permitting processes for clean energy infrastructure, and it would allow the state to procure more energy storage. (WBUR)
GAMBLING: Ohio lawmakers have filed legislation to allow the state’s four casinos to introduce websites and apps to allow people over 21 to gamble online. The bill would impose a 15% tax on internet casino gaming revenue. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Eight other states already allow online casino and poker gambling.
In Politics & Business
ELECTIONS: State and local election officials are warning that widespread problems with the U.S. Postal Service threatens to disenfranchise voters this year. In a letter to Postmaster Louis DeJoy, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Elections Directors warned USPS had not fixed persistent problems that delayed ballots. (Associated Press)
MORE: The first mail-in ballots of this year’s presidential election are heading to voters in Alabama, elections officials said. North Carolina voters typically get the first ballots, but their mailing process was delayed after a judge ruled the state had to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from ballots that had already been printed. (Associated Press)
DELAWARE: House Speaker Valerie Longhurst (D) lost her bid for a new term in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, falling to a progressive challenger by 180 votes, or about 6%. Longhurst served 20 years in the legislature before losing her seat. (Delaware Public Media)
OKLAHOMA: Voters will decide in 2026 whether to raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour by 2029. Supporters turned in more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) pushed the measure two years down the road. (Oklahoman)
MICHIGAN: Automaker Stellantis will retool a Sterling Heights manufacturing plant into its first electric vehicle plant in North America. The auto giant said it would spend $406 million to retool factories across Michigan to enable new EV production. (Bridge MI)
By The Numbers
67.1 million: The estimated audience for Tuesday’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. That audience was 31% larger than the debate between Trump and President Biden in June. But it’s short of the 76.3 million who watched the Seinfeld finale in 1998. (New York Times)
Total audience for the Washington gubernatorial debate that followed the Harris-Trump clash: 12 people. (We’re kidding, we’re kidding)
$77,719: The median household income in the United States in 2023, according to new Census Bureau data, down 1% since 2019. Thirty of 50 states registered declines in median income, thanks to inflation. (Bridge MI)
Off The Wall
A California developer has added a new character to the video game Crazy Taxi: An avatar that represents Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). The developer also added a new stop in the game so that Walz can drop passengers off at a polling place. (MPR News)
The Maine Supreme Court weighed in on the ownership of a single parking spot in Old Orchard Beach, a small town south of Portland. The court found the Pearl Inn Condominiums had squatters rights to the spot at another nearby condo building. (Maine Public Radio)
A California bill to allow cannabis cafes to sell food and host live events has a new backer: Woody Harrelson, the Hollywood actor. Harrelson co-owns the Woods Cannabis Lounge in West Hollywood. (Los Angeles Times)
Quote of the Day
“I never have to say my name twice.”
— Wisconsin Assembly candidate Scott Walker (D), on voters who confuse him with the state’s former governor of the same name. Walker wears a button identifying himself as “the other Scott Walker.” (Associated Press)
Bonus points: The article quotes voter Ron Johnsen, who nearly shares a name with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).