Thanks to the state courts and legislature, as of May 1, abortion access in Florida is now more restricted than ever under the state’s near-total ban. The impact will resonate throughout the state, harming women and hurting the state economy.
Thanks to the state courts and legislature, as of May 1, abortion access in Florida is now more restricted than ever under the state’s near-total ban. The impact will resonate throughout the state, harming women and hurting the state economy.
As Congress looks to complete work on the must-pass Farm Bill, a critical nutrition assistance program remains in the crosshairs. With many provisions of this legislation set to expire in 2024, it is critical that Congress avoid any new restrictions to food assistance programs that provide crucial support to low-income Americans. The Farm Bill is an omnibus, multi-year law that governs numerous food and agricultural programs. The bill covers commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, [...]
For an off-cycle election year, voters across the country sent some pretty clear messages and delivered a number of convincing wins for abortion access. Even states with deep partisan divides signaled that reproductive health rights rank high among their priorities, which bears critical weight as our country heads into next year’s general election with historically few swing states. All eyes were on Ohio as the ballot referendum on Issue 1 loomed large over the swing state’s reproductive rights landscape. Abortion [...]
While higher education is generally considered to be a driver of upward economic mobility, student debt is one of the biggest hurdles that prevents students from acquiring wealth. People of color experience the burden of student debt more acutely due to historic intergenerational wealth gaps, and IWPR research has shown that some student populations such as student parents are more likely to take out loans and struggle with student debt payments than others. Additionally, Black borrowers have higher student debt [...]
Wisconsin continues to be ground zero for some of the most shameless conservative partisan maneuvering going on in the country right now. Justice Janet Protasiewicz's eleven-point victory in this year’s state Supreme Court election created a liberal majority on the bench, toppling the court’s 15-year conservative majority that nearly overturned Biden’s narrow 2020 victory in the state. It was the most expensive state supreme court race in U.S. history, and Justice Protasiewicz will now serve a ten-year term on the [...]
Seems GOP legislators in North Carolina are fixated on dialing back the rights of women and trans youth in their state. This summer, conservative House and Senate members in the state held several special sessions for the expressed purpose of overriding several vetoes of legislation attacking women and trans youth that had been issued by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, further cementing the state’s reputation for hostility to women and the LGBTQ+ community. In May, the legislature passed a 12-week abortion [...]
Minnesota Democrats made the most of their slim majority in the state legislature this session by enacting a sweeping legislative agenda that included paid family and medical leave, and student parent success initiatives that promote gender equity in the workplace and in higher education institutions. Thanks to their efforts, $670 million from the state’s budget surplus will now go toward a new paid leave program, the first of its kind among Midwestern states. The new law features innovative and inclusive definitions [...]
