Poli Alert Political & Civics

Jennifer Shutt, Georgia Recorder Conservative Republicans gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday to commit to bringing legislation to the floor that would make it a felony to perform gender-affirming care on transgender youth, should the GOP take control of the U.S. House following the November midterm elections. “How on …

Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer Federal criminal charges were filed Tuesday against 47 people who allegedly participated in a $250 million scheme to exploit a federal child nutrition program during the pandemic. Over the course of about 20 months, the defendants falsely claimed to serve more than 125 million meals, with …

Stephen Neukam, The Texas Tribune Three Venezuelan migrants flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard last week filed a federal class action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials Tuesday after the firebrand Republican’s move to transport migrants to a Democrat-controlled state sparked national controversy and a …

Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder Even with a wave of new state-level abortion restrictions passing or taking effect this summer, Georgia’s law stood out because of its so-called personhood provisions that accompanied the better known six-week ban on the procedure. One particular change that drew national attention was a new tax …

Issac Morgan, Florida Phoenix Florida Democrats in the state House on Monday questioned the legality of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent move that transported about 50 asylum seekers from Florida to Martha’s Vineyard and urged GOP leaders to stop using “inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars” for the operation that has sparked …

Ariana Figueroa, Iowa Capital Dispatch More than 1,600 book titles across 32 states were banned from public schools during the 2021-22 school year, with the bulk of the ban requests coming from a handful of right-wing groups pushing for censorship of books that feature LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color, …

Shefali Luthra, The 19th This story was originally published by the 19th. Roe v. Wade’s overturn may have meaningfully shifted public opinion on abortion for the first time in years, a change that could affect what kinds of bans or restrictions abortion rights opponents can safely consider. Polling on abortion, …

Jesus Vidales, The Texas Tribune A Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning users’ posts based on their political viewpoints will go into effect after a federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block placed on the statute. NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association sued Texas …

Lawmakers in both chambers on Friday announced plans to take up bills that overhaul a 135-year-old law governing the counting of presidential electoral votes. The House Rules Committee will take up a still-unseen bill Tuesday dubbed the Presidential Election Reform Act, and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said on Thursday …

President Joe Biden on Friday signed a bill removing the statute of limitations for reporting child sexual abuse. This new legislation will update current federal laws, which set the statute of limitation for child sexual abuse claims until the victim reaches the age of 28 or until ten years from …

James Dawson, Idaho Capital Sun This story is from Boise State Public Radio, published Sept. 16. The original version is located at this link.  Two Republican state lawmakers sent letters of support for one of their former colleagues convicted of raping a teenage legislative intern prior to his sentencing late last month. Reps. …

Matthew Watkins, The Texas Tribune A second bus of migrants sent from Texas arrived outside the residency of Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday, continuing Gov. Greg Abbott’s policy of sending migrants from his state to target the Biden administration over its immigration policies. The bus arrived before daylight outside …

Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration quietly released a document Friday overhauling Virginia’s policy on the treatment of transgender students, citing “parental rights.” The “Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for all Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools” published by the Virginia Department of …

Jennifer Shutt, Florida Phoenix A small group of U.S. Senate Republicans are seeking to draw attention to U.S. crime rates, saying they plan to introduce a bill that would direct more resources to state and local police departments as well as require the Government Accountability Office to study the amount …

Stephen Neukam, The Texas Tribune Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-funded program to bus migrants to cities run by Democrats reached a national fever pitch on Thursday, with buses dropping people off outside of Vice President Kamala Harris’ D.C. residence. What started in the spring as a publicity stunt to draw the …