Year: 2025

  • Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #153

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    Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving  school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy.  In today’s edition, you’ll find: Reply to this email to share reactions or story ideas! On the issues: The debate over Kentucky HB 622 In this section, we curate reporting,…

  • Arkansas enacts ballot title readability law, joining five other states since 2018

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    A new Arkansas law requires initiative ballot titles to be written at or below an eighth-grade reading level. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed House Bill 1713 (HB 1713) into law on April 14, 2025. The law is one of six enacted since 2018 that address the readability of ballot language. The House approved the…

  • Texas Legislature passes state DOGE and judicial nondeference bill

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    On April 14, 2025, the Texas Legislature approved Senate Bill 14 and sent it to the governor’s office. SB 14 was designed to create a new department tasked with promoting efficiency in the Texas state government and prohibit judicial deference to state agencies. If signed into law, the bill would establish a Texas Regulatory Efficiency…

  • States have passed 15 bills either supporting or opposing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in 2025

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    Welcome to the Wednesday, April 23, 2025, Brew.  By: Lara Bonatesta Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: States have passed 15 bills either supporting or opposing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in 2025  As part of Ballotpedia’s commitment to providing comprehensive, up-to-date political information beyond election coverage, today, we’re…

  • SEC approves new stock exchange with environmental standards

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    In this week’s edition of Economy and Society: In Washington, D.C., and around the world SEC approves new stock exchange with environmental standards What’s the story? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the nation’s first environmentally focused stock exchange, the Global Impact Exchange (GIX), on Apr. 11. The exchange is expected to begin trading…

  • Montana Republican Party censures nine Republican state senators who formed a coalition with Senate Democrats

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    Welcome to the Tuesday, April 22, Brew.  By: Briana Ryan Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Montana Republican Party censures nine Republican state senators who formed a coalition with Senate Democrats On April 4, the Montana Republican Party censured nine Republican members of the Montana Senate. The party wrote in…

  • Robe & Gavel: SCOTUS begins April 2025 sitting

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    Welcome to the April 21 edition of Robe & Gavel, Ballotpedia’s newsletter about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and other judicial happenings around the U.S. Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden…

  • How Wisconsin’s partial veto power has evolved through 95 years of ballot measures

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    The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Gov. Tony Evers’ (D) use of a partial veto in the state’s biennial budget on April 18, 2025. His partial veto extended a two-year school funding increase into a 402-year provision. At the center of the case were constitutional provisions that had been added or amended through three ballot measures…

  • Sen. Chuck Schumer blocks Trump federal prosecutor nominees via blue slips—what are they?

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    Welcome to the Monday, April 21, Brew.  By: Lara Bonatesta Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Sen. Chuck Schumer blocks Trump federal prosecutor nominees via blue slips—what are they? On April 16, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that he would not return blue slips for two of President Donald Trump’s…

  • West Virginia becomes 25th state with a Parents’ Bill of Rights

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    What’s the story? West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) signed House Bill (HB) 2129 on Apr. 12, 2025, establishing a Parents’ Bill of Rights in state law. The bill states that parents have a fundamental right to direct their minor children’s upbringing in the following specific areas: The bill also stated that it did not…