This archive collects milestones and progress stories involving U.S. states, Canadian provinces, and subnational governments around the world. From landmark legislation to public health wins and environmental gains, these stories highlight the real-world impact of regional policy and governance.
Governor Newsom signed a new bill into law that will ban single-use plastic produce bags starting in 2025. The law requires that all such bags be replaced by recycled paper bags or compostable ones.
Marine protected areas can do more than guard what’s inside their borders — and Papahānaumokuākea is proving it. This vast Hawaiian reserve, spanning over 580,000 square miles, was created to protect biodiversity and culturally sacred Indigenous sites, not to boost commercial fishing. Yet catch rates for yellowfin tuna in surrounding waters rose 54%, a spillover effect driven by the monument’s sheer scale. The findings strengthen the global case for ambitious ocean protection, arriving just as momentum builds toward safeguarding 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
In a 50 to 16 vote, the largest state in Mexico has legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the 29th of 32 Mexican states to do so.
California has just become the fifth state in the US to legalize the composting of human bodies, a planet-friendly alternative to the toxic process of cremation.
HB 244 bans courts from charging interest or imposing fees for late payments, failing to pay, or paying in installments, among several other changes meant to reduce abusive fines and fees.
The 10,900-acre concession was revoked had been the subject of protests and a lawsuit by Penan, Berawan and Tering Indigenous communities who said it threatened their livelihoods.
When classrooms in California reopen for the fall term, all 6.2 million public school students will have the option to eat school meals for free, regardless of their family’s income.
Trawl nets literally sweep the ocean floor, turning a complex ecosystem into a desert.
Project Bison is slated to swing into action next year and, all going to plan, will scale up its operations by the end of the decade to suck up five million tons of CO2 each year, and safely lock it away underground.
The law will also require California-based companies with more than 100 employees to show their median gender and racial pay gaps — a first for a U.S. state.
