Good morning, it’s Monday, December 29, 2025. In today’s edition, where the abortion fight is headed in 2026; Washington Gov backs high-earner income tax; 22 states will see minimum wage hikes:
Top Stories
ABORTION: State lawmakers are already filing legislation to expand the battle over abortion rights and restrictions in new sessions beginning next year. In most states, the central debate is no longer whether or at what point in a pregnancy abortion should be legal, but around medication abortion and the growth of online prescriptions.
Abortions in the United States continued to rise in 2026, driven largely by telehealth prescribing. Abortion opponents are working to limit or ban the two drugs most commonly used to induce abortions. In other states, abortion opponents are pursuing measures to expand the legal definition of when human life begins, which could impact fertility treatments like IVF. (Pluribus News)
TAXES: Lawmakers in at least nine states increased or broadened excise taxes on products including cigarettes, sports books and cannabis. Those sin taxes can be a politically convenient way to plug budget holes, but experts say they are too narrowly targeted and volatile to reliably fund public services. Five states raised cigarette and tobacco taxes, while four states hiked taxes on betting companies. (Pluribus News)
MORE: Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) will back a new income tax on millionaires. Ferguson said he supports a proposal to impose a 9.9% tax on those earning more than $1 million annually. Washington is one of nine states that do not levy personal income taxes. (Seattle Times)
TECHNOLOGY: The California Senate has established a new Committee on Privacy, Digital Technologies and Consumer Protection. The committee will be chaired by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D), who said he would focus on regulating artificial intelligence, chatbots and social media. (State Affairs)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley (R) says his chamber will seek longer prison sentences for those previously convicted of violent crime. Rep. Steven Holt (R), who is authoring the package, said he will seek to require mandatory sentences for those considered habitual offenders under the law. (Radio Iowa)
MINIMUM WAGE: Twenty-two states will see minimum wage increases in 2026 under laws that tie the lowest wages to inflation increases. Minimum wages are set to rise to $17.95 an hour in Washington, D.C. Wages will rise in both blue states like California, Connecticut and Hawaii and red states like Florida, Missouri, Montana and Nebraska. (CNN)
In Politics & Business
GEORGIA: A dark-money outside group called Georgians for Integrity is fueling about $5 million in attacks on Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), running for governor. The TV ads, mailers and texts allege Jones is using his office to enrich himself. The group does not have to disclose its donors. (Associated Press)
UTAH: State Republicans have turned in more than 20,000 valid signatures in their effort to repeal a ban on partisan gerrymandering approved by voters several years ago. They must turn in a total of 140,748 valid signatures by Feb. 14 to qualify for the ballot. A state judge threw out existing congressional district lines under current law for violating fair map rules. (Salt Lake Tribune)
ARIZONA: Former state Rep. Leezah Sun (D) will run for governor. Sun, who resigned a year into her single two-year term in office, faced scandal during her tenure. She faces a recall effort aimed at booting her from her seat on the Tolleson Union High School District governing board. (Arizona Republic)
CALIFORNIA: Sen. Angelique Ashby (D) will be the new Senate majority leader, President Pro Tem Monique Límon (D) said last week. Ashby, first elected in 2022, had been assistant majority leader last session. (Sacramento Bee)
PEOPLE: Former North Dakota Gov. Allen Olson (R) has died at 87. After leaving office after one term, President George W. Bush appointed Olson to serve on the International Joint Commission, which deals with water issues with Canada. (North Dakota Monitor)
By The Numbers
26.4%: The increase in the number of students attending charter schools in North Carolina between the 2019-2020 school year and the 2024-2025 school year. That’s the fourth-largest increase in the nation, following Texas, Florida and California. Nationally, charter school populations are growing faster than school-age populations as a whole. (Carolina Journal)
$60 to $80 million: The amount of damage wild hogs cause in Mississippi annually, by eating crops and damaging property. Wild hogs live in 35 states now, up from just 17 states in the 1980s. (Associated Press)
$13 million: The amount Washington Gov. Ferguson has proposed spending on enhanced security at the Capitol campus after an October break-in by a man experiencing a mental health crisis caused about $600,000 in damage. Washington’s 486-acre Capitol campus is the largest in the country. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)
Off The Wall
Thieves have made off with $400,000 in lobster bound for Costco locations in the Midwest. It’s the second major theft of seafood from a facility in Taunton, Mass., leading to concerns of an organized crime ring in the area. (Boston 25)
Police are on the lookout for anyone buying loads of clarified butter and lobster bibs.
Officials in Bonner Springs, Kan., have approved more than $200 million in tax incentives for a new Mattel Adventure Park spotlighting the Barbie and Hot Wheels brands. The new park will be built near an entertainment district in Kansas City, Kan., that is likely to host the Chiefs’ new $3 billion stadium. (KCUR)
Quote of the Day
“With everything going on in the world, I struggle to understand why my evidently humorous post is considered news.”
— Indiana Senate Majority Leader Chris Garten (R), after he received backlash from a Christmas Day post of AI images showing him punching and kicking Santa Claus. (State Affairs)