LEGISLATURE

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.

California lawmakers have finished their work for 2023.

Oregon has taken an unprecedented step in offering psilocybin, also known as magic mushrooms, to the public.

Nearly 1 million California workers would win major salary increases under a pair of bills in the state Legislature.

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.

Construction began in June on the Theodore Roosevelt presidential library planned for the Badlands of western North Dakota.

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.

The Iowa Supreme Court says Gov. Kim Reynolds can appeal a temporary block on the state’s restrictive abortion law.

Maine will soon expand abortion access, joining a half dozen states that leave it to doctors and patients to make the decision without restrictions on timing.

State lawmakers made a deal in legislative "double overtime." But could it ultimately hurt public schools and cost Texans more in the long run? KSAT Explains.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto that attempts to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years drew outrage and surprise from his political opponents.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has signed off on a two-year spending plan after gutting a Republican tax cut and using his broad veto powers to increase school funding for centuries.

North Dakota higher education officials are deeply worried about losing students and revenue in 2024 when neighboring Minnesota makes tuition free for thousands of its residents at public colleges and universities.

Legislators also passed bills that will provide foster kids entering the troubled system with duffel bags or backpacks and those aging out of the system with help setting up bank accounts.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called state lawmakers into a second special legislative session with no talks of border security and immigration on the agenda.

A new California law aimed in part at increasing salaries for fast food workers has been delayed.

The bipartisan legislation was long sought by advocates for disabled voters, including some of the governor’s own allies.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing an end to public disclosure of investigations of abusive and corrupt police officers.

A federal judge is blocking much of Indiana's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors from taking effect as scheduled July 1.

A new law could help deter street takeovers from happening across Texas.

Wisconsin's top elections official is nearing the end of her term, and uncertainty looms over who will hold the position through the 2024 presidential election.

So-called environmental, social and governance policies are often adopted by companies to reduce their carbon footprints. The new Texas bill aims to stop insurers doing business in Texas from using ESG criteria, but it doesn’t include penalties for violations.

New York would create a commission to consider reparations to address the lingering, negative effects of slavery under a bill passed by the state Legislature.

The bill, recently signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and set to take effect Sept. 1, does not restrict pandemic rules by private entities.

Before Abbott can review the budget that will direct the state’s spending for the next two years, the comptroller has to certify that it doesn’t spend more money than the state expects to bring in.

The bills will give owners of natural gas power plants incentives to build more capacity, but they don’t go as far as originally proposed to change how electricity is created and sold in the Texas market.

The governor stands behind his support of the Texas House tax plan despite Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s insistence that the Senate has a better deal for homeowners.

Texans across the state are affected by declining water supplies, water infrastructure disruptions and flooding in their communities.

Minnesota’s governor has legalized marijuana for people over 21.

2023 marked a first for the Texas Legislature -- the creation of the House Select Committee on Community Safety.

In our one-hour special, “One Year In: Uvalde,” KSAT looks at the past 12 months, the victims and survivors, and how their legacy spreads outside their local community.

Emotions often ran high over a proposal to limit young adults’ access to some firearms. Lawmakers have largely prioritized school safety measures, but there was still progress for some gun-related legislation.

The political divide affecting the United States is hitting Oregon hard.

California legislative committees in the Assembly and Senate blocked two big climate bills Thursday.

Two Republicans and an Independent in the Oregon Senate are now disqualified from reelection as a walkout has stalled hundreds of bills and triggered a constitutional amendment aimed at stopping the boycotts.

Kansas’ governor and top state lawmakers plan to consider a proposed legal settlement between the state and the owner of a Wichita fitness studio forced to shut down during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and then operate under restrictions.

Texas’ abortion laws look likely to remain about where they were at the beginning of the legislative session, as key deadlines pass without any movement on abortion-related bills.

Rare momentum in the Texas Capitol for a tougher gun law has flickered out, days after a mass shooting near Dallas left eight people dead.

Republican state representatives' head-turning votes are helping advance a bill in the Texas House that proposes raising the purchase age for AR-style rifles.

In this week’s episode, we discuss the final three weeks of the Legislature and Colin Allred’s bid for U.S. Senate.

The Michigan House has further advanced legislation that would outlaw companies from retaliating against employees for receiving abortions following its passage in the state Senate in March.

Two decades after New Hampshire’s famous Old Man of the Mountain crumbled, the state is paying tribute to the granite profile that symbolizes its independence with new geological research, poetry, a song, and a scavenger hunt.

The 150 districts didn’t change, but the vote ensured the House met its constitutional requirement to approve new maps in the first regular session following formal publication of the 2020 census results.

A state lawmaker in Tennessee has resigned suddenly for an ethics violation.

Abortion-rights supporters in Republican-leaning Kentucky thought they had finally achieved a breakthrough when voters in November defeated a measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion.

Two bills that advanced in House and Senate committees on Wednesday both exempt any lawmaker who has already taken advantage of the benefit.

Some local district and county attorneys have said they will not pursue abortion-related cases, or prioritize certain drug, property and election crimes.

GOP lawmakers in states with abortion bans already in place are pushing to make them more restrictive, while blue state officials are trying to expand abortion access.

For exactly 50 years, Oregon’s farms and forests have been protected from urban sprawl by the nation’s first statewide law creating urban growth boundaries.

The tax-cutting trend is going full force in states even as some are raising concerns about a slowing economy.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he wants state regulators to decide whether to impose the nation's first penalty on oil companies for price gouging.

State officials plan to offer free day access to the property as they consider how to acquire the land before its sale.

A lack of lawmaker support jeopardizes the attorney general’s $3.3 million settlement, which would resolve a lawsuit alleging Paxton fired high-ranking deputies who accused him of misconduct.

Lawyers for four former employees who accused the attorney general of firing them for reporting alleged crimes to authorities say Paxton won’t agree to finalizing the deadline by the end of this legislative session.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, has proposed an amendment to the state constitution to raise legislator pay and tie it to teachers’ pay, saying it would give lawmakers a living wage and allow a broader range of Texans to serve.

In a statement, the attorneys for the four former top deputies who accused Attorney General Ken Paxton of crimes said state employees “cannot be expected to report government corruption in the future if they know the Legislature won’t back their rights.”

Oregon's Legislature is considering a bill that experts say would create the nation’s most comprehensive law against paramilitary activity.

A 2019 law says a former lawmaker cannot register to lobby until two years after they last used campaign funds to donate to another politician. Paddie, R-Marshall, sought to get around that earlier this year by reimbursing his campaign account with personal money.

This comes two days after Gov. Greg Abbott voiced his most explicit support yet of a new school choice policy at a Parent Empowerment Night event in Corpus Christi.

The future of the nation's nearly $900 billion trucking industry could be shaped in California.

The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and burnout have pummeled teachers in the last few years. Lawmakers from both parties agree they should get a pay bump — but it won’t happen without some negotiation.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has announced a series of proposed gun laws in a state already considered one of the strictest for firearms ownership.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling for new gun control laws and greater accountability for firearm manufacturers while denouncing recent drive-by shootings against politicians in Albuquerque and what she called a national scourge of violence.

In this week’s episode, Matthew speaks with James and Patrick about the fight over Democrats chairing committees in the Texas House and other highlights of the first week of the legislative session.

The redistricting process this year is mostly procedural and is not expected to produce very different results from the most recent process completed in 2021.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been sworn in as Arkansas' 47th governor and the first woman to hold the office her father once held.

The pay raise plan that gives Illinois lawmakers an 18% annual salary hike started in the governor's office.

Newly released documents from the House Jan. 6 committee show that the former Wisconsin Republican Party chairman testified that U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz is pledging to make the largest investments in public education in Minnesota history as he begins his second term.

The election contests of 2022 may have been held and decided, but Ohio’s political maps remain far from settled.

Uvalde's only pediatrician has taken on a new role as an advocate for gun legislation changes.

Federal proposals that would have significantly boosted security funding for election offices and heightened penalties for threatening their staff failed to advance this year.

The committee urged lawmakers to pay special attention to rural areas. But its lone proposal on guns would not have made a difference in the Robb Elementary shooting.

Hundreds of businesses have sought tax savings from the state before the Chapter 313 program expires. Two companies say they are missing out despite being eligible.

A Texas Democrat is proposing a constitutional amendment stopping future abortion restrictions. Voters would have to approve it — but Republican lawmakers aren’t likely to put it in front of them.

California could become the first state to fine big oil companies for making too much money.

Florida’s top lawmakers are considering changes to a law to clear the path for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president without giving up his post.

Election wins for abortion rights and Democrats could translate into abortion protections in some states.

Two Republicans who control the board in a rural southeastern Arizona county have decided to withdraw a lawsuit they filed early this week seeking to force their own elections director to hand-count all the ballots cast in-person on Election Day.

Illinois voters have approved an amendment to their state constitution that guarantees the right to bargain collectively.

As public debate intensifies over how the state will divvy up billions in new money, community groups that treat children for mental illness fear they’re not a priority.

Abortion rights supporters won in the four states where access was on the ballot.

Voters in reliably red Kentucky rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any state constitutional protections for abortion while voters in battleground Michigan enshrined abortion rights in their state’s constitution.

Oregon voters are being asked to decide whether the state should be the first in the nation to amend its constitution to explicitly declare that affordable health care is a fundamental human right.

In some battleground state legislative races, Republicans have been making overtures to those who believe the ban as too extreme. They have said they are open to revising the ban to include the exceptions — and even voiced confidence that the Legislature will do so when it reconvenes in January.

Residential treatment centers are meant to be a last resort for children in the state’s care, reserved for those with histories of severe trauma caused by neglect or abuse.

Local election officials across the United States are bracing for a wave of confrontations on Election Day in November.

Years before he became Mississippi governor, Tate Reeves served as the state's treasurer and had a hand in delaying funds for water system repairs in the capital city of Jackson.

Public school advocates who oppose a massive expansion of Arizona’s private school voucher system have filed enough signatures to block it from taking effect.

A federal judge in Phoenix has blocked enforcement of a new Arizona law restricting the filming of police.

Seventeen states that tie their vehicle emission standards to rules established in California must decide whether to follow that state’s strict new rules.

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed initiative petitions for ballot measures in several states that would expand voting access, ensure abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana.

The utility that oversees California’s last operating nuclear power plant is taking steps to seek federal approval for an extended lifespan, just hours after the Legislature opened a pathway for a run that could last through 2030.

New Mexico's governor has signed a new executive order that pledges $10 million to build a clinic that would provide abortions and other pregnancy care.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is proposing a $600 million annual tax cut, an election year proposal that Republican legislative leaders are rejecting as a “vote-buying ploy.