Year: 2025
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On this day in 1956, Alaska voters passed the Tennessee Plan to gain statehood. How is that plan being used today?
On April 24, 1956, Alaska voters passed Proposition 2, otherwise known as the Tennessee Plan Measure, which led to Alaska’s statehood. The measure was approved with 61% of voters supporting the proposition and 39% of voters rejecting it. The Tennessee Plan refers to the strategy of a territory electing senators and representatives to send to…
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Sen. Dick Durbin announces he will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2026
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced on April 23, 2025, that he will not seek re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2026. On his retirement, Durbin said, “The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States Senator. But in my heart, I know…
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Republican party committees lead in cumulative fundraising as of third campaign finance deadline of the 2026 election cycle
As of March 31, 2025, the end of the most recent party committee campaign finance filing period, the three committees associated with the Democratic Party have raised a cumulative $96 million and spent $89 million in the 2026 election cycle, while the three committees associated with the Republican Party have raised $113 million and spent…
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Fifteen state AGs ask Business Roundtable to stop DEI
Fifteen state attorneys general sent a letter to Business Roundtable, an organization of chief executive officers (CEOs), urging the organization and its member companies to withdraw their support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The Republican state attorneys general are asking the business group to reverse its perceived support of ESG issues. The group…
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Tennessee legislators advance constitutional amendments on crime victims’ rights, bail, and property taxes to 2026 ballot
The Tennessee General Assembly approved three constitutional amendments for the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot on April 21. The amendments address three issues: crime victims’ rights, bail eligibility for criminal offenses, and a ban on state property taxes. Legislators needed to approve the amendments in two consecutive sessions to place them on the ballot. The votes…
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Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #153
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,…
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Arkansas enacts ballot title readability law, joining five other states since 2018
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…
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Texas Legislature passes state DOGE and judicial nondeference bill
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…