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Good morning, it’s Wednesday, October 11, 2023. In today’s edition, Newsom signs tech bills; Utah sues TikTok; Youngkin leans into abortion fight in Virginia elections:
Top Stories
TECHNOLOGY: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Tuesday signed two bills targeting the technology industry: The Delete Act will allow consumers to more easily request that brokers delete their personal data. And a right-to-repair bill would require manufacturers of electronics and appliances to provide individuals and third-party repair shops with instructions, tools and parts to complete repairs. (Pluribus News)
SOCIAL MEDIA: Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) has filed suit against TikTok, accusing the social media giant of harming children by using features meant to keep users on the app. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) sued the app last December. About three-quarters of states have banned TikTok from state-owned devices. (Pluribus News)
ENERGY: North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s (D) veto of a bill that will allow the state to include nuclear energy in their renewable and efficient energy portfolio. Duke Energy has proposed using small modular reactors at a coal plant in Stoke County. (Pluribus News)
EDUCATION: Texas’s Senate Education Committee advanced its proposal to use education savings accounts to pay for up to $8,000 in private school tuition and other education costs on a party-line vote. The bill now heads to the Senate floor before a less certain future in the state House. (Dallas Morning News)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed an executive order creating an Artificial Intelligence Task Force to examine benefits and pitfalls of AI. The order directs state agencies to examine how AI can help the economy and boost college research. (NJ Advance Media)
LGBTQ RIGHTS: Two Wisconsin Assembly committees approved legislation banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and barring schools from allowing athletes to take part in women’s sports that do not conform to their biological sex, regardless of gender identity. The bills will hit the Assembly floor on Thursday. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Examiner)
AGRICULTURE: Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R) is leading 13 Republican attorneys general in a brief in a lawsuit challenging a Massachusetts law that limits the sale and transport of pork and animal products that are not raised in humane conditions. The law, approved by voters in 2016, took effect in August. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
HOUSING: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) says he will push again for land use reform in next year’s legislative session to address a housing supply shortage in the state. Polis’s proposal this year giving the state more authority over development and encouraging multi-family housing died amid opposition from local governments. (Colorado Public Radio)
MARIJUANA: California Gov. Newsom vetoed legislation that wold have allowed cannabis dispensaries to become cafes that could serve food and host live concerts. Newsom cited smoke-free workplace protections in his veto message. (Los Angeles Times)
In Politics & Business
MISSISSIPPI: Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley (D) pulled in $5.6 million over the third quarter of the year, including $3 million from the Democratic Governors Association. Gov. Tate Reeves (R) raised $1.7 million over the same period, though he ended the quarter with $6 million in the bank, three times what Presley has to play with. (Pluribus News)
VIRGINIA: Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) political action committee will spend $1.4 million on a statewide ad campaign on abortion, aiming to undercut a prime Democratic message ahead of November’s elections. The ad says Democrats misrepresent what Republicans would do to restrict abortions if they win control of the General Assembly. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
NEBRASKA: Opponents of a school voucher program have submitted enough signatures to qualify a referendum for the 2024 ballot. The Nebraska legislature approved a bill diverting millions in state income tax to organizations that grant private school tuition scholarships. (Associated Press)
OHIO: House Republican lawmakers led by state Rep. Derek Merrin (R) have sued Speaker Jason Stephens (R) over control of the GOP’s campaign account. Merrin, who lost out on the speakership when 32 Democrats joined some Republicans to elect Stephens, alleges that Stephens is not the head of the Republican conference, and therefore should not control the campaign account. (Columbus Dispatch)
MORE: Early voting begins today in Ohio, where voters will decide this year on a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights and reproductive care and on a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. Elections officials expect much higher-than-usual turnout for an off-year election. (Associated Press)
NORTH CAROLINA: National Democrats have sued North Carolina after the Republican-led legislature overrode Gov. Cooper’s veto of legislation changing election administration and absentee ballot rules. The new law requires absentee ballots to arrive by 7:30 p.m. on Election Night, ending a three-day grace period. (NC Newsline)
CRIME BLOTTER: Former Alabama state Rep. David Cole (R) pleaded guilty to a voter fraud charge for voting in an unauthorized location. The judge sentenced Cole to serve 60 days in the Madison County jail. (Associated Press)
By The Numbers
51,840: The number of migrants, approximately, who have been bused from Texas to other states and cities in Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) program to relocate those crossing the southern border. Texas has sent about 18,500 migrants to New York City, 13,500 to Chicago and 12,500 to Washington, D.C. (Axios)
$20 million: The amount Michigan will spend on an ad campaign meant to draw workers to the state. The ads will run in states that border Michigan, and in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham and Austin. (Detroit News)
$25 million: The amount Connecticut residents spent on cannabis products in September, the highest monthly total recorded since adult-use sales began on Jan. 10. About half of all sales came from flowers, the products that can be smoked, while 30% of sales were vape products and 11% were edibles. (Hartford Courant)
Off The Wall
The update you know you needed: Congratulations to Bear 128, known as Grazer, the new reigning champion of the National Park Service’s Fat Bear Week. Grazer easily outpaced fellow finalist Chunk in a runoff election. More than 1.3 million votes were cast in the online poll. (Anchorage Daily News)
Upstate New York Republicans are trying again to split the state between different governing factions. But instead of creating new states, a Republican-led bill would create three regional governments to share control: New York would encompass the city’s five boroughs; New Montauk would cover Long Island; and New Amsterdam would cover the rest of the state. (State of Politics)
Quote of the Day
“I don’t have any history lessons planned.”
— New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, opening his first presidential primary filing period in office. Scanlan’s predecessor, Bill Gardner, was known to sit down with presidential candidates to walk them through Granite State presidential history, sometimes for long stretches of time. (Associated Press)
True story: One of us had a 15-minute interview with Gardner that ended up lasting three hours. It went so long we got not one, but two parking tickets.