INSIDER
After years of claiming that companies selling lottery tickets online could not be regulated, the Texas Lottery Commission voted to ban the practice.
Texas lawmakers on Thursday passed a $1 billion education bill that allows families to use public money to pay for private school tuition, a major victory for school voucher proponents nationwide that was cheered on by President Donald Trump.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the Democratic governor legally used the state’s uniquely powerful veto to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years.
As the Texas House prepares to vote on the budget, officials and other experts monitor national policy and state tax revenue.
Only Gov. Greg Abbott can call for a special session. But in his role presiding over the Texas Senate, Patrick can block any bill from passing, giving him leverage to compel overtime sessions by killing must-pass legislation.
A federal judge has found the extreme heat in Texas prisons that don’t have air conditioning is “plainly unconstitutional.”.
A bill that would relax restrictions on working hours for Florida teenagers is moving through the state Legislature amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.
From requiring law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal officials to forcing state contractors to use E-Verify to spot undocumented workers, here are the bills that could reshape the state’s immigration policies.
When Fargo voters approved a unique local election system in 2018, their goal was to choose candidates with broader support to lead North Dakota’s largest city.
Among the proposals is a bill that would force more inspections of power lines, which a committee concluded ignited a blaze that burned more than 1 million acres last year.
Utah’s Republican governor has signed a collective bargaining ban that experts are calling one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country, despite overwhelming opposition from union members.
Texas’ border spending exploded after Joe Biden’s election, then state leaders signaled a new willingness to reduce it when Trump won. That didn’t last long.
Restrict THC, help with deportations, infuse religion in schools and provide property tax relief – these are among the Patrick priorities.
Paxton’s latest tour is the continuation of his efforts in the past year to get political revenge on House Republicans who supported his impeachment.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to let voters repeal and create state laws without legislative involvement met opposition from the Republican leaders of the Legislature, who signaled that the idea is likely to be rejected for a second time.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says she will introduce legislation to expand the state’s involuntary commitment laws to allow hospitals to compel more mentally ill people into treatment.
Lawmakers have clashed in Taiwan’s legislature after members of a leading political party broke into the building overnight to occupy the speaker’s chair.
The Public Utility Commission found that the performance credit mechanism, a financial tool the Legislature capped at $1 billion, would only marginally improve reliability of the state power grid.
Voters in some parts of the country are discovering that having their say at the ballot box is not necessarily the final word, even though this year's election was over a month ago.
Committee members said it was necessary to skip the two years after Texas passed its restrictive abortion laws to offer more timely recommendations.
Patrick contends retailers have exploited a law passed in 2019 to sell unregulated and potentially harmful consumable tetrahydrocannabinol products.
A judge’s overturning of Wisconsin’s 13-year-old law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and most state government employees has rekindled a battle over labor rights in a state where the first public sector unions were formed 65 years ago.
School voucher supporters say they have the votes to get a bill across both the Texas Senate, led by Patrick, and the House, which has repeatedly blocked such proposals.
Arizona voters have approved letting local police arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the state from Mexico.
The same Michigan voters Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris needs in the critical swing state will also determine whether her party maintains its foothold on state government two years after pulling off a historic sweep.
Voters in nine states are deciding next month whether to add the right to abortion to their constitutions.
The examination of Deloitte’s existing contracts comes after it failed to catch red flags in a company’s application for a loan to build or upgrade power plants in the state.
The new list includes many right-wing priorities, and would escalate Republicans’ wars against diversity, equity and inclusion programs and review laws to keep noncitizens off voter rolls.
With ballot deadlines approaching, Nebraska and Missouri courts are weighing whether amendments on abortion will go before voters.
Texas Republicans have been trying to reduce the state’s high property taxes for years, but some acknowledge eliminating them would be too expensive.
The Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld a 2023 state law that restores voting rights for felons once they have completed their prison sentences.
Wisconsin Republicans are asking voters to take away the governor’s power to unilaterally spend federal money, a reaction to the billions of dollars that flowed into the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats in the state legislative majority have rebuffed calls by New Mexico’s governor to address the “dangerous intersection” of crime and homelessness.
Utah’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of opponents of redistricting that carved up Democratic-leaning Salt Lake County among four congressional districts that have since elected Republicans by wide margins.
All over Florida, arts groups are scrambling to plug large budget gaps after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unexpectedly vetoed $32 million in arts funding.
Parents and medical providers of transgender adolescents sued Texas, challenging the constitutionality of a restriction on puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The California Supreme Court has removed a measure from the state’s November ballot that would have made it harder to raise taxes.
The committee’s chair also raised concerns about the state’s possible departure from a federal system to share data about maternal deaths.
An anti-abortion group in South Dakota has filed a lawsuit to block an abortion rights measure from the November ballot.
Other cities have passed similar measures, but Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to block them from going into effect.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed legislation overhauling access to the state’s public records, likely making it harder for the public and media to access some documents, according to critics.
Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.
Youth services and civil rights groups are suing to block a new Washington state parental rights law that is set to take effect next month.
Some Kansas lawmakers see a chance to lure Kansas City’s two biggest professional sports teams across the Missouri border.
Florida is on the verge of repealing what’s left of a 16-year-old law that puts climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions.
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell says “our heart aches for the loss of life” in tornadoes that left four dead and about 100 injured in Oklahoma.
Abbott made the remarks as he recounted the story of a male teacher in North Texas who wore a pink dress for his school’s spirit day earlier this year.
Supporters of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota are welcoming federal legislation that would help cover the construction costs of the library and to showcase artifacts of the 26th president.
Unlike recent years when there was an LGBTQ+ ally in the Louisiana governor's office, nothing stands in the way this year of legislation hostile to transgender people.
A new voting rights law in New York is already having a dramatic effect, with lawsuits in several local communities seeking to reverse decades of minority voter disenfranchisement.
Examining charitable bail organizations and banning Delta 9 were also among Patrick’s priorities in the next legislative session.
Nebraska’s Republican governor is calling on state lawmakers to move forward with a “winner-take-all” system of awarding Electoral College votes.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that would have banned high school transgender athletes from competing on teams that align with their gender identity.
As Kansas prepares to ban gender-affirming care for minors, students at the state's largest university taking action.
New Mexico’s State Land Office will withhold lease sales indefinitely on its most promising tracts for oil and gas development in the Permian Basin as it seeks approval by the state Legislature to increase top-tier royalty rates.
South Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature has approved the creation of a video to outline the state’s abortion laws and to clarify when health care providers are legally allowed to intervene.
South Dakota's Legislature has made it easier for the city of Sioux Falls to find new homes for more than 150 taxidermy animals of its arsenic-contaminated collection.
Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, has signed new legislative district maps into law that he proposed and that the Republicans who control the Legislature passed to avoid having the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court draw the lines.
Nebraska state Sen_ Loren Lippincott is touting a bill that would give the Nebraska State Patrol $200,000 to hire “an ethical hacker.”.
Wisconsin Democrats are inching closer to overturning Republican-drawn legislative maps that the GOP have used to grow their majorities and advance their agenda over the past 13 years.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ lawsuit against the Republican-controlled Legislature arguing that it is obstructing basic government functions.
New Jersey's Democratic-led state government is considering legislation that would eliminate out-of-pocket costs for abortion.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has promised to veto a redistricting proposal that the Republican-controlled Assembly passed and that largely mirror maps he proposed, but with changes that would reduce the number of GOP incumbents who would have to face one another in November.
Hawaii lawmakers are opening a new session of the state Legislature vowing to address glaring problems laid bare by the deadly wildfire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina in August.
Hawaii lawmakers are due to convene this week for the first time since the burning of historic Lahaina awakened the state to the deadly and costly threat posed by wildfires in an age of climate change.
Louisiana’s newly inaugurated lawmakers are set to convene for a special session during which they will discuss items that could impact how the state conducts elections.
A federal judge has ordered a new legislative district for two Native American tribes who successfully challenged North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting map as violating the Voting Rights Act in diluting Native American voters’ strength.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is more aggressive and openly political in pushing to expand Medicaid in Kansas as the Republican-controlled Legislature prepares to open its annual session.
The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned Republican-drawn legislative maps and ordered that new ones be created.
New York’s highest court just gave Democrats a chance to redraw the state’s congressional districts, a major victory as the party tries to flip seats in the state to win control of the U.S. House next year.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request from North Dakota's secretary of state to delay a federal judge's ruling that found the state's 2021 redistricting map violated the Voting Rights Act in diluting the voting strength of two Native American tribes.
New York’s highest court has ordered the state to draw new congressional districts ahead of the 2024 elections.
Louisiana lawmakers now have until the end of January to draw and pass new congressional boundaries to replace the current map that a federal judge says dilutes the power of the state’s Black voters.
A federal judge has ruled that North Dakota’s 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the rights of two Native American tribes because it dilutes their voting strength.
The legislation, which Republican lawmakers have been trying to pass since 2021, offers no exceptions for doctors’ offices, clinics or other health facilities.
Rep. Frederick Frazier was indicted over a year ago on two charges of impersonating a public servant. But the case has not gone to trial yet, partly because Frazier has been able to delay the case until the Legislature concludes its work.
Donald Trump has Pennsylvania’s voting rules in his sights, and it's a familiar target.
A ruling by North Dakota’s Supreme Court has jeopardized funding for major parts of the state government.
Accusations that New Mexico’s Democratic-led Legislature unfairly diluted the vote of a politically conservative oil-producing region with its redistricting map have gone to trial.
Democrats in the Pennsylvania House will keep their one-vote majority after winning a Pittsburgh area seat in a special election.
Oregon has taken an unprecedented step in offering psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, to the public.
Even before the newly elected justice who gave liberals a one-seat majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has heard a case, Republican lawmakers are talking about taking the unprecedented step of impeaching and removing her from office.
Record-breaking oil production in New Mexico is likely to provide state government with a new multibillion-dollar surplus during the upcoming budget year.
South Carolina's newly all-male Supreme Court has reversed course on abortion, upholding a ban on most such procedures after just weeks of pregnancy.
Tennessee lawmakers are convening a special session this week that highlights the divergent response states are taking to a spate of mass shootings.
State officials backing Senate Bill 12 have said they want to protect children from seeing sexually explicit performances. But new legal challenges say the law is so broad and vague that it criminalizes constitutionally protected expression.
