The price of electricity has risen faster than inflation since 2022, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that trend to continue through 2026 . In the past year, the cost of electricity has jumped 5.8%, according to the consumer price...
Seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act , states continue to wrestle with how best to regulate sports betting, an industry that now generates more than $10 billion in revenue annually nationwide. ...
A few months ago we reported on state legislation targeting “predictive pricing,” the use of “data analytics, machine learning and algorithms to anticipate market demand and adjust prices in real time.” Some of those measures are progressing...
In the span of just 36 days this spring and summer, the number of states offering unemployment benefits to striking workers doubled—to four. New Jersey was the first to offer such benefits, beginning in 2018 . New York followed in 2020 . Then Washington...
A couple of years ago, the idea of switching to a four-day workweek seemed to be catching on in state legislatures . As many as six states, including Maryland , Massachusetts and Pennsylvania , considered it, although no state has actually mandated it for all...
With Congress punting on artificial intelligence regulation during budget negotiations this year, states remain key watchdogs of the technology as it continues to be embraced throughout American society. One area of particular concern to the states: insurance...
Child labor may evoke Dickensian images of young children in dirty, oversized clothes laboring in dusty, dangerous workshops. But this year legislators in Florida considered a bill ( SB 918 ) that would have eliminated certain employment restrictions on 16-and...
When the genetic testing company 23andMe announced it had entered the federal bankruptcy process in March, concern quickly turned to what would happen to customers’ genetic data . The California biotech company said the bankruptcy would not change how it...
A year ago, after the passage of a couple of strong data privacy laws in Maryland and Vermont, we wondered if states were starting to get tougher on consumer privacy . Even though this issue remains of high interest to state legislators— with 39 comprehensive...
A nightmare may be coming to life for social media companies in Minnesota. There, Democrats in the state Legislature have embraced a pioneering bill, SB 3197 , which seeks to levy the nation’s first tax on social media apps. The bill would require social...
State Lawmakers Shift from PBMs to PSAOs in Fight Against High Drug Costs For a while now state legislators have targeted pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, for contributing to the high cost of prescription drugs . But recently lawmakers have set their sights...
On April 21 Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) signed into law a bill giving parents the right to sue social media companies for harms caused by their content. The measure, SB 612 , establishes a private right of action for parents to sue social media companies...
In 2022, there were about 22 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the United States. That’s the highest rate of maternal deaths among high-income nations worldwide. That sobering statistic seems to have caught the attention of policymakers across...
Two years ago, California enacted first-of-its-kind legislation allowing residents to demand that data brokers delete the personal information the brokers have collected about them. Known as the California Delete Act, SB 362 , by Sen. Josh Becker (D), provided...
The days of simply setting a price for goods or services and waiting for customers to accept it are gone. Thanks to predictive pricing , businesses of all sorts can now use data analytics, machine learning and algorithms to anticipate market demand and adjust prices...