States & provinces milestones | Good News for Humankind

New Jersey has erased $1.6 billion in medical debt since 2023

By Peter Schulte / October 6, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Nearly 20,000 more New Jersey residents learned by mail that medical debt relief had erased $90 million of their bills, with no application needed. The nonprofit Undue Medical Debt buys unpaid bills from hospitals and collectors at steep discounts and cancels them. In 2024 C.E., about $550,000 in federal funds cleared $100 million this way. Those one-time funds are now spent, so the state says it will focus on the cost of care itself.

California bans AI workplace surveillance of brain activity and emotions

By Peter Schulte / October 1, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

AI workplace surveillance already extends into territory most employees don’t expect: software that infers how a worker feels, or hardware that reads activity in their nervous system. California just drew a specific line around both, covering neural data and emotion inference wherever AI tools collect it, while leaving safety-related surveillance untouched. Violations carry civil penalties of up to $500 each.

Kentucky erases $250 million in medical debt for 130,000 residents

By Peter Schulte / September 23, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

For tens of thousands of Kentuckians, medical debt just disappeared — no forms, no applications, just a letter in the mail. Governor Andy Beshear directed $2.5 million to a nonprofit that buys medical debt for pennies on the dollar and cancels it. The first wave already erased $103 million for 46,000 people. The money came from a fund originally set aside for housing assistance — a reminder that even well-designed relief still competes for limited dollars.

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Massachusetts requires data centers over 25MW to run on 100% clean energy

By Peter Schulte / September 10, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Massachusetts is raising the bar for how AI infrastructure plugs into the power grid — requiring large data centers to bring clean energy with them, not just draw from whatever’s available. New facilities exceeding 25 megawatts must generate clean power, fund new clean capacity nearby, or pay into a ratepayer protection fund, and towns gain effective veto power before state agencies weigh in. The key question is whether compliance payments will be set high enough to drive real clean generation rather than checkbook compliance. Massachusetts is the third state in three months to move this way — a sign more may soon follow.

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Texas right to repair law takes effect, covering phones and laptops

By Peter Schulte / September 8, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

House Bill 2963 requires manufacturers to supply parts, tools, and repair documentation to independent shops and device owners on the same fair terms their authorized service networks already get. Roughly three in four Texans backed it. Consumer group U.S. PIRG estimates the average Texas household could save roughly $382 a year by fixing electronics rather than replacing them, against a $330 national average — and about 8,700 smartphones are discarded in the state every day. But “fair and reasonable” pricing is not yet defined, and manufacturers have complied narrowly with similar laws before.

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Virginia governor restores voting rights to 66,000 citizens with past convictions

By Peter Schulte / August 19, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Voting rights restoration in Virginia has reached a scale in 2026 that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. A federal court ruled that Virginia’s lifetime voting ban violated an 1870 Reconstruction-era federal law — meaning most Virginians with past convictions are now legally eligible to vote without asking anyone’s permission. Governor Spanberger’s office has also proactively restored full civil rights to more than 66,000 people in just six months. A November ballot measure could make restoration permanent, though a requirement to pay outstanding fines first may still leave some people behind.

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New Jersey declares “functional zero” on veteran homelessness

By Peter Schulte / August 4, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Veteran homelessness in New Jersey is no longer a chronic reality — it’s now rare, brief, and recoverable, meeting the “functional zero” benchmark that only a handful of states have reached. Since launching the Bringing Veterans Home Initiative in 2024, a coordinated network of state, federal, and local agencies has permanently housed more than 2,500 veterans. Officials are candid that sustaining this takes ongoing funding and staffing — and that affordable housing supply remains a real pressure. Still, New Jersey has proven that ending veteran homelessness isn’t idealism. It’s an operational problem that coordination and political will can actually solve.

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California becomes first major economy powered over 50% by solar

By Peter Schulte / August 2, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

For the first five months of 2026, California generated more electricity from the sun than from natural gas — the fuel that dominated its grid for decades. The tipping point came in May, when solar carried clean power across a full month at a scale that dwarfs most national grids. Grid-scale batteries made it possible, storing midday sunshine and releasing it into the evening peak. The shift is real but unfinished — July heat waves pushed gas back up — yet analysts say this could be the first year solar beats gas outright.

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California returns 136 acres of coastline to Indigenous tribes in a state first

By Peter Schulte / July 7, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

Indigenous land return in California just reached a milestone that could open doors for tribes across the state. Three Pomo nations will now steward Blues Beach and its surrounding bluffs in Mendocino County — a stretch of coastline their ancestors lived on, gathered from, and held as sacred. A new state law made this possible, creating the legal pathway for Caltrans to transfer land to tribal governments for the first time. The tribes plan cultural camps, ecological surveys, and careful stewardship on their own terms. This is what land justice can look like when policy catches up with principle.

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New York enacts first-in-nation plan to electrify all state school buses

By Peter Schulte / June 16, 2026 / Good News For Humankind

New York’s commitment to electrifying all 50,000 of its school buses sets a new standard for what statewide climate and children’s health policy can look like together. More than two million students — disproportionately from low-income communities — currently ride to school in diesel buses linked to asthma, reduced lung development, and cognitive harm. At least $500 million in state funding, paired with federal support, gives districts a real financial path forward. For advocates working to make clean air a guarantee rather than a privilege, this is a proof of concept other states can follow.