State Legislature Bills

Contingent on voter approval of the expanded homestead exemption, the bill automatically grants homeowners the new relief while restricting local governments from offsetting savings through higher millage rates, fees, or assessments. It also requires public votes, detailed tax notices, statewide reporting, and protections for essential services.

The bill offers performance-based property tax abatements of up to $20 million, repayable infrastructure support, and expedited permitting for major Texas projects. It includes independent reviews, clawbacks, annual reporting, and a five-year sunset.

The bill creates an affordability office, mandates transparent pricing, strengthens emergency price-gouging enforcement, promotes utility and housing-cost reforms, reviews burdensome regulations, and authorizes targeted grants and rebates subject to funding and fiscal review.

The bill funds broadband expansion, smart infrastructure upgrades, stronger cybersecurity and emergency communications, digital government services, workforce training, and public technology access, prioritizing underserved Pennsylvania communities.

Creates a grant and technical-assistance program for resilient affordable housing in flood- and erosion-prone coastal communities, with protections for year-round residents, fishing families, and working waterfront access. Funding requires legislative appropriation and projects must follow coastal regulations.

The bill lowers selected licensing, inspection, and registration fees for qualifying locally owned Nebraska businesses with up to 50 employees. It also streamlines renewals and compliance information while retaining health, safety, and consumer protections.

Requires North Dakota employers to federally verify new hires’ work authorization, retain records, and report unresolved mismatches. It bars discriminatory screening, allows penalties for knowing violations, and provides a safe harbor for first-time good-faith errors.

This bill would try to boost affordable housing in California by speeding up approvals for qualifying infill and mixed-income projects, while offering tax credits and low-interest financing to convert vacant commercial and public buildings into housing. It also gives grants to local governments that adopt anti-displacement policies like emergency rental assistance, eviction right-to-counsel, and tenant preservation plans in high-rent areas.

This bill would authorize a massive energy and infrastructure project near Richmond, Indiana, including underground utility relocation, a new reservoir, an underwater dual-reactor nuclear facility, and upgrades for five nearby fire departments. It promises resilience and power reliability, but would likely raise major questions about cost, land use, environmental risk, and the unusual underwater reactor concept.

This bill would raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $20 per hour starting January 1, 2027. It offers a large pay increase for low-wage workers but could also raise labor costs for employers.