Twenty-six (26) states have laws or policies requiring local school boards to ban or limit cellphone use in K-12 classrooms. Twenty-two (22) of these laws were enacted in 2025, with the most recent put in place in Oregon through an executive order. Three additional states require K-12 public school districts to adopt policies around student…
What’s the story? Gov. Josh Stein (D) vetoed House Bill (HB) 87, titled the Educational Choice for Children Act, on Aug. 6. The bill was designed to opt North Carolina into the federal private school choice tax credit program passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA)…
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from July 1, 2025, to July 31, 2025. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts. Announced retirements: During July 2025, no state supreme court justices announced upcoming retirements. Candidates nominated, appointed, and…
Abigail Spanberger (D) and Winsome Earle-Sears (R) are running in the general election for Governor of Virginia on Nov. 4, 2025. Incumbent Glenn Youngkin (R) is term-limited. As one of only two gubernatorial elections– the other being in New Jersey— that take place in the odd year following a presidential election, media outlets and political…
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) announced on Aug. 4, 2025, that she will run for governor of South Carolina in 2026 rather than another term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster (R) is term-limited. As of July 29, 2025, independent race forecasters The Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have rated the…
On August 3, 2025, Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives left the state to prevent action on Congressional redistricting during a special legislative session. On June 9, 2025, The New York Times’ J. David Goodman and Shane Goldmacher reported that President Donald Trump (R)’s team had reached out to Texas Republicans to add…
On July 29, both houses of the North Carolina legislature voted to override a gubernatorial veto, passing House Bill 402 into law. HB 402 shares features with the proposed federal-level REINS Act, by requiring legislative approval of agency rules that exceed a cost threshold. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) vetoed HB 402 on June…
Consumers’ Research (CR), a nonprofit critical of ESG investing, and the American Energy Institute (AEI), an energy advocacy group, released a report arguing BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is still boycotting Texas energy. The report contradicts BlackRock’s claims and those made by former Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar (R), who earlier this summer removed the…
Ninety-two years ago, on July 21, 1933, Oregon voters decided a veto referendum against legislation proposing a tax on the sale of oleomargarine. Voters repealed the tax. The contested legislation would have created a sales tax of four cents per pound on the sale of all oleomargarine, commonly known as margarine, sold in the state of…