New Jersey to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour
The new plan would raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour on July 1, $11 an hour in 2020, $12 an hour in 2021, $13 in 2022, $14 in 2023 and $15 in 2024.
States & provinces
New York passes trans rights bill, conversion therapy ban
New York State made history today, with both houses of the legislature passing bills to ban discrimination based on gender identity and to prohibit the use of conversion therapy on minors. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign both.
New York legislators pass sweeping overhaul of restrictive voting laws
The measures, planned by Democrats who reclaimed control of all levers of state government for the first time in modern memory, would allow voters to cast their ballots early or by mail for the first time in state history.
New York’s Solar For All program will award no-cost community solar to 10,000 low-income residents
In a bid to reduce the energy costs for low income New York households, while also helping to increase access to renewable energy for both renters and homeowners alike, the state is enabling no-cost community solar for up to 10,000 residents.
All new public buses in California have to be electric by 2029
By the year 2029, all new mass transit buses in the whole state will have to be fully electric, according to a new rule adopted unanimously by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Michigan becomes first state in Midwest to allow recreational cannabis
Michigan is now the first Midwestern state to legally allow recreational cannabis. It’s the 10th state to legalize recreational pot.
Colorado elects nation’s first openly gay governor
Colorado Democratic US Rep. Jared Polis will be his state’s next governor, becoming the nation’s first openly gay man elected to a governor’s mansion.
Florida restores voting rights to more than 1 million former felons
Amendment 4 automatically reinstates voting rights for people with felony convictions upon completion of their sentences, including prison, parole and probation.
New Kansas governor will reinstate protections for LGBT state workers
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state employees across Kansas will again have protections from on-the-job discrimination once Democrat Laura Kelly becomes governor.
7 U.S. states set to double their wind power capacity
Arkansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming, Maryland, and Massachusetts have enough wind energy currently under construction that it will more than double their capacity upon completion.