Good morning, it’s Thursday, January 2, 2024. In today’s edition, new year kicks off with a tech lobbying battle; data center industry seeks new state incentives; ethics panels come under legal attack:
Top Stories
TECHNOLOGY: Utah Sen. Todd Weiler (R) has drafted legislation that would require app stores to verify a user’s age before they can download an app. The measure builds upon Weiler’s 2023 legislation that required adult entertainment websites to verify user ages. Lawmakers in South Carolina and South Dakota have filed similar bills.
The legislation is an extension of a shadow lobbying fight happening in the states, one that pits social media companies like Meta against app store operators like Google and Apple. Meta wants those operators to be responsible for age verification; Google and Apple want social media companies to verify their users. Read more at Pluribus News.
MORE: The data center industry is hoping to win state-level tax incentives as tech giants seek new locations for mega-projects meant to provide computing power for the nascent artificial intelligence industry. More than 30 states offer incentives for data centers; Michigan, Louisiana and Massachusetts all added new incentives to attract big projects in 2024. (Pluribus News)
SOCIAL MEDIA: A federal judge has blocked parts of a California law preventing social media companies from offering addictive social media algorithms to minors without parental consent. The judge sided with NetChoice, a tech industry trade group, that alleged the law passed last year would infringe on First Amendment rights. (Courthouse News Service)
EDUCATION: Missouri Republicans are set to introduce legislation to authorize charter schools in the state’s five largest counties and in cities with at least 30,000 residents. Charter schools are only allowed in Kansas City, St. Louis and Boone County under current law. (Missouri Independent)
HOUSING: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed legislation barring landlords from denying a rental unit to someone based on the renter’s source of income, specifically including government aid like housing subsidies or veterans benefits. The measure applies to landlords who own more than five rental units. (Detroit News)
CONSUMER PROTECTION: Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) has introduced legislation to ban manipulation of the price of essential goods or services, like medicine, food and shelter. The bill would prohibit someone from causing the price of goods or services to rise beyond inflation. (Nevada Independent)
TAXES: Washington State Democrats say they will likely make new taxes a priority in the coming legislative session as the state faces a $12 billion budget hole. House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D) and Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen (D) have not laid out specifics, but they said new proposals would likely focus on the wealthy and on corporations. (Washington State Standard)
In Politics & Business
ETHICS: Ethics panels in almost a dozen states face legal challenges to their authority, according to a new report from the Campaign Legal Center. Florida, Oregon and Vermont passed legislation in 2024 to give ethics panels more authority. (Pluribus News)
VIRGINIA: Ex-U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Republican who broke with his party over the Jan. 6 insurrection, is considering running for governor or lieutenant governor as an independent. A gubernatorial bid would pit Riggleman against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D), whom he endorsed for re-election to her U.S. House seat in 2022. (Washington Post)
ALABAMA: Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) will not run for governor in 2026, when Gov. Kay Ivey (R) faces term limits. Marshall said he had talks with the incoming Trump administration, but that he had no plans to leave the post he has held since 2017. (AL.com)
Potential candidates include Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth (R), Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate (R) and Lynda Blanchard (R), who challenged Ivey in the 2022 GOP primary.
DEMOCRATS: U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has endorsed Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler to lead the Democratic National Committee. The DNC will elect a new leader on Feb. 1. Wikler faces Minnesota party chair Ken Martin, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and New York Sen. James Skoufis (D). (Politico)
By The Numbers
95: The number of bills the Massachusetts legislature passed in its final 14-hour session on New Year’s Eve. Over that period, neither the House nor the Senate took a full roll call vote; everything passed by unanimous consent. (Boston Globe)
250 million barrels: The amount of oil that may be left in the Bakken Petroleum System in North Dakota, according to the state Department of Mineral Resources. That’s the equivalent of 10.5 billion gallons of oil. (Fargo Forum)
Off The Wall
Proof Americans love their sports: 75 of the top 100 most-watched primetime telecasts of 2024 were live sports events, up from 56 of the top 100 in 2023. NFL games accounted for the 11 most-watched events; the lone presidential debate between President-elect Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was the most-watched non-sports event of the year, at about 20 million viewers. (Variety)
A sad one: Tahlequah, the mother orca who made global headlines in 2018 when she carried her dead calf for 17 days, has lost another baby. The orca’s new baby calf was confirmed dead on New Year’s Eve, about a week after it was born. (Seattle Times)
Quote of the Day
“We’re not the Hatfields and McCoys.”
— North Dakota Rep. Zac Ista (D), the new House minority leader, on working with his Republican colleagues. (Fargo Forum)