The Tenth

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The Tenth is a non-partisan briefing on what state legislatures and Congress actually did each week. Every Sunday morning, in about fifteen minutes of plain English, we go bill first: what each one does, who it touches, and what changes for the people living under it. When there’s floor tape, you hear it—the sponsor, the opposition, often the vote. No panel, no pundits, no side. Named for the 10th Amendment, from Amendment; read the bills yourself at amendment.app.

  1. 6d ago

    A Doctor Who Was Never Real: Pennsylvania Makes Misleading AI Ads Say So

    Picture an ad with a smiling doctor vouching for a supplement, except the doctor was never real. On Thursday, October 22, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania’s Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act (Senate Bill 806, Act 99 of 2026). Starting 60 days after signing, an ad that uses AI-made content to mislead people about what’s being sold has to say so, clearly and in the same medium. Parody, satire, obvious fiction and text-only content are exempt, and a court can impose a fine of up to $3,000. In the same seven days, a New Jersey Assembly committee advanced a chatbot privacy bill (A5607) that would bar providers from selling your chat logs, cap how long they keep them at two years, and treat a chatbot as a product in liability lawsuits. New Jersey’s Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 13–0 for the Hope Card Program (A5040), a free wallet card or phone record for people protected by a final domestic violence restraining order, which officers would check against the state’s central registry. And the Pennsylvania House voted 190–13 for a bill (HB2771) that would limit license plate reader cameras to listed purposes and require plate reads collected for government agencies to be deleted after 72 hours, with exceptions. We also cover three federal asks people are putting to 2026 candidates, on Supreme Court ethics and term limits, science funding, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We close where we opened: the doctor who was never real, and the label Pennsylvania’s new law will require. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Committee audio: Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D), New Jersey Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee, October 19, via the New Jersey Legislature. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any legislative audio is a genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Pennsylvania AI Deceptive Advertising Act (SB806)New Jersey chatbot privacy bill (A5607)New Jersey Hope Card Program (A5040)Pennsylvania license plate reader bill (HB2771)

  2. Oct 18

    Four to Nothing on the Clocks: New Jersey's Bid to Stop Falling Back

    Two weeks from today, New Jersey sets its clocks back an hour. On Thursday, a New Jersey Senate committee voted four to nothing for a bill that would make that the last time, by putting the state on daylight saving time all year. The catch: federal law lets a state stay on standard time year-round but not on daylight time, so the bill only takes effect if Congress changes that. Congress, meanwhile, held no recorded votes all week. The Tenth covers what the committee heard: an Orthodox Jewish organization worried about winter prayer times and a latest winter sunrise near 8:20, and a group that wants year-round standard time instead. The same day, New Jersey's Assembly Education Committee voted 4–1 for a bill that would mail a free book every month to any enrolled child under five (Assembly Bill 5518), over objections to its $2 million price tag outside the budget. Governor Hochul signed a bill quadrupling New York's tax credit for volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, to $800 (A6790/S6233, passed 133–0 and 60–0). The Massachusetts Senate passed cancer screenings every three years for full-time firefighters (H5631). Ohio senators introduced a ban on betting on elections, including prediction-market contracts (SB 479). And a Michigan bill would keep the state's National Guard out of combat unless Congress declares war or formally calls up the militia, but only once 25 states pass a similar law (SB 1209). The clocks go back on November 1. Whether that hour lands on a New Jersey morning or evening in January depends on Trenton first, and in the end on Washington. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Committee audio: Sen. James Beach (D), Asw. Dawn Fantasia (R) and Asw. Rosy Bagolie (D), via the New Jersey Legislature's committee archive (Oct. 15). Signing audio: Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), via the Office of the Governor (Oct. 17). The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor or committee audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: New Jersey permanent daylight saving time (S3236)New Jersey Imagination Library Program (A5518)New York volunteer firefighter and ambulance worker tax credit (A6790)Massachusetts firefighter cancer screenings (H5631)Ohio election betting ban (SB479)Michigan Defend the Guard Act (SB1209)

  3. Oct 11

    One Colorado County, Two Oil Companies: The Court’s First Case

    The Supreme Court opened its new term on Monday with a case that started in Colorado. In 2018, Boulder County and the City of Boulder sued Suncor Energy and ExxonMobil under Colorado law over local costs they tie to climate change. The Colorado Supreme Court let the suit go forward; now eight justices, with Justice Alito recused, will decide whether they can hear it now and whether federal law shuts it down. In the same seven days, Ohio’s Senate Bill 315 took effect, starting the switch to chip-enabled SNAP cards to fight skimming. A Pennsylvania House committee advanced Senate Bill 730, which writes end-of-life POLST orders into state law, 14-12 after a 49-0 Senate vote. Another Pennsylvania committee voted 26-0 to bar schools from using AI for student counseling (House Bill 2787). In New Jersey, Assembly Bill 3592 would let Medicaid pay for more than one specialist visit at a health center on the same day, Senate Bill 4291 would let a court appoint a receiver for a hospital that closes without state approval, and Senate President Nicholas Scutari introduced Senate Bill 4750 to end Tesla’s direct-sales exception. And Governor Whitmer signed Michigan’s House Bill 5514, limiting restraints on kids taken to youth treatment programs. Boulder County filed its suit eight years ago; the answer should come by next summer. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Audio: oral argument by Kannon Shanmugam and Kevin Russell in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, Supreme Court of the United States, Oct. 5, 2026. Floor audio: Sen. Tim Schaffer (R), Ohio Senate, June 10, 2026, via The Ohio Channel. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor or courtroom audio is the genuine recording of the named speaker. Bills in this episode: Ohio chip SNAP cards (SB315)Pennsylvania POLST end-of-life orders (SB730)Pennsylvania no AI for school counseling (HB2787)New Jersey same-day specialist visits in FamilyCare (A3592)New Jersey receivers for closed hospitals (S4291)New Jersey FAIR Sales Act (S4750)Michigan youth transport restraints (HB5514)

  4. Oct 4

    Thirty Days, Then a Veto: California’s Fire Insurance Bills

    California lawmakers sent Governor Newsom two bills about the wait Los Angeles fire survivors face on their insurance claims, and not one lawmaker voted no on final passage. Senate Bill 877 would have spelled out that the claim documents insurers must hand over within 15 days include every valuation and loss calculation, preliminary or final. Senate Bill 878 would have put a 30-day clock, with interest, on payments after a total loss. On Sunday, September 27, Newsom vetoed both, writing that codifying the insurance department’s existing regulations is “unnecessary at this time.” In the same seven days, the U.S. Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act (S. 4668), one national rulebook for college athletes’ name, image and likeness pay that overrides state NIL laws, 77–22, with Senators Ted Cruz and Cory Booker making each side’s case on the floor. Ohio suspended its 38.5-cent gas tax for 90 days (House Bill 519, 26–5 and 78–16), signed by Governor DeWine, who had called the idea “a very grave disservice” in May. A Pennsylvania House committee advanced pelvic floor therapy coverage 22–4 (House Bill 1244). California barred state and local officials from issuing meme coins (Assembly Bill 2409). The Supreme Court declined to block Delaware’s donor-disclosure law. And the Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340), which passed the House 417–3, fell three votes short of starting debate in the Senate, 57–43. Back to those fire survivors: the insurance department’s rules on claim documents and payment deadlines still exist as regulations, but the bills that would have written them into state law, along with SB 878’s new total-loss payment clock and interest, were vetoed. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor audio: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on S. 4668, and Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) on H.R. 9340, U.S. Senate, via C-SPAN; Rep. Jim Thomas (R), Ohio House, via The Ohio Channel. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Protect College Sports Act (S4668)California fire-claim loss estimate transparency (SB877)California fire-claim payment deadlines (SB878)California fire and residential property insurance (SB876)Ohio gas-tax holiday (HB519)Pennsylvania pelvic floor therapy coverage (HB1244)California official meme coin ban (AB2409)Ratepayer Protection Act (HR9340)

  5. Sep 27

    No Knock Before Six: Michigan Moves to Ban Pre-Dawn Youth Pickups

    Before dawn, two strangers at a teenager’s bedroom door, hired to drive the kid to a residential treatment program, sometimes in handcuffs or a hood. On Tuesday, a Michigan Senate committee sent a bill to the full Senate that would ban the restraints and the middle-of-the-night pickup. Two days later, the U.S. Senate rejected the Iran war powers resolution the House passed in July, 49–50. In the same seven days, Michigan’s House Bill 5514 (passed the House 104–1) cleared the Senate Housing and Human Services Committee without amendment. Governor Newsom signed seven data-center bills, including Assemblymember Diane Papan’s AB 2619 and AB 2469 on water, a year after vetoing her AB 93. Pennsylvania’s House Judiciary Committee sent the Beagle Bill (SB 381) forward 26–0 and a polling-place distance bill for law enforcement (HB 2758) forward 14–12, in the same meeting. The Supreme Court’s 6–3 emergency order in DHS v. League of Women Voters lets election officials keep using the overhauled SAVE system to check voter citizenship while the case continues. California added its Legislature and courts to the state’s apology to Native Americans (AB 2115) on Native American Day. Go back to that bedroom door: under HB 5514, nobody knocks before six in the morning, and nobody arrives with a hood or handcuffs. The full Michigan Senate is next. Follow every bill at amendment.app. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Bills in this episode: Iran war powers resolution (H.Con.Res. 89)Michigan youth transport restraints ban (HB5514)California data center water reporting (AB2619)California data center water costs (AB2469)Pennsylvania Beagle Bill (SB381)Pennsylvania officers at polling places (HB2758)California Native American apology (AB2115)California Native American Day holiday (AB1841)

  6. Sep 20

    Two Votes and an Empty Chamber: What the House Did Before It Left

    The House of Representatives cast its last votes before the November election on Wednesday evening. At 6:28 it sent a Russia sanctions bill to the President's desk, 262-159. Twenty-five minutes later it passed a data-center electricity bill 417-3. The next day's votes were cancelled, and the chamber emptied one day early into a seven-week recess. This week's episode is about what those two lopsided votes actually do — and about the decisions that reached people somewhere else entirely. H.R. 5334, the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act — named for the South Carolina senator who died in July — was signed into law Friday, September 18. It sanctions Russian officials, banks and energy firms, bans new American investment in Russia, extends the Iran Sanctions Act through 2031, and requires the President within 30 days to raise duties of up to 100% on the five largest importers of Russian oil and gas. In California, Governor Newsom signed AB 2161, which is not a work requirement but a set of limits on how the federal one gets implemented: counties must check the wage and claims data they already hold before demanding a document, and must contact you when records conflict rather than cutting off coverage. He signed SB 936, banning flavored nitrous oxide canisters, 78-0 and 39-0, and vetoed SB 1077 on CalFresh shutdown notices, which nobody in either chamber had voted against. The Supreme Court declined to let the USPS mail-ballot rule take effect. And the Senate finished eleven votes short of the sixty needed to begin debating H.R. 3633, the CLARITY Act. Go back to that Wednesday evening: 262-159, then 417-3, then a room with nobody in it until after the election. One of those bills is law. The other is a recommendation sitting in the Senate. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor audio: the U.S. House presiding officer on the H.R. 5334 vote, September 16, 2026, via the Office of the Clerk; Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and the Senate presiding officer on the H.R. 3633 cloture vote, September 15, 2026, via C-SPAN. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (HR5334)California Medi-Cal work requirement implementation limits (AB2161)Ratepayer Protection Act, data-center grid costs (HR9340)California flavored nitrous oxide ban (SB936)California CalFresh federal shutdown notices, vetoed (SB1077)CLARITY Act, crypto market structure (HR3633)

  7. Sep 13

    Two Hours a Day: California Writes the Default for a Child's Chatbot

    If a California child opens a companion chatbot now, the product starts with persistent memory off, push notifications off, one hour per sitting and two hours a day. Those are the defaults Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on September 10 as SB1119 — known in the statute itself as Adam's Law, for Adam Raine, whose parents sued OpenAI after his death. It was one of thirteen child online safety bills signed in a single ceremony, landing in the code as Chapters 180 through 192, consecutive, with no gaps. Congress, meanwhile, met for about three minutes all week. In the same seven days, the Supreme Court stayed a federal district judge's order on its emergency docket and left Missouri voting in November under the congressional map drawn in 2022, a week after Missouri's own Supreme Court held that a veto referendum on redistricting was constitutional. Michigan's Senate discharged a debt-collection bill from committee and passed it the same afternoon, 21-14 (SB1137) — raising the state's homestead exemption from $3,500 to $125,000 and capping wage garnishment at the lesser of 15% or the amount above 35 times the minimum wage. New York banned falsely impersonating a union or a union representative, 138-0 in the Assembly and 60-0 in the Senate (A10835). Delaware barred reverse-keyword court orders — the kind that name a search term and ask who typed it — except in a 26-crime felony list, and only when the query returns five or fewer hits. And in the separate fight over the Postal Service's mail ballot rule, the First Circuit denied the administration a stay; the Supreme Court has not ruled on its application. Seventy-two percent of teenagers have used an AI companion chatbot — a Common Sense Media figure from July 2025, for thirteen- to seventeen-year-olds. It was read aloud on a chamber floor on California's last night to pass bills, and ten days later it had a chapter number attached to it: Chapter 190. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor audio: Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D) and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D), California State Assembly, August 31, 2026. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: California age verification signals in operating systems (AB1856)California platform age restriction and e-Safety Advisory Commission (AB1709)California companion chatbots and children's safety, "Adam's Law" (SB1119)Michigan garnishment exemptions and homestead exemption (SB1137)New York ban on impersonating a union representative (A10835)Delaware reverse-keyword warrant ban (HB145)Delaware criminal fines and fees waiver (HB133)Delaware reentry housing discharge plans, the Grace Peterson Act (SB292)California moratorium on companion chatbots in children's toys (SB867)California AI mass-layoff disclosure (SB951)

  8. Sep 6

    112-0, Then $350 Million: The Bill That Replaced Itself

    In March 2025 the South Carolina House passed the Public Expression Protection Act 112-0 — an anti-SLAPP bill that would have let people sued for speaking at a county council meeting get the case thrown out early. Seventeen months later the same bill number came back from the Senate with the free-speech text gone and roughly $350 million in local projects in its place. Governor Henry McMaster signed it Tuesday, September 1 as Act 261. South Carolina still has no anti-SLAPP law. In the same seven days, California sent Governor Newsom a four-year moratorium on AI companion chatbots built into toys for children under 16 (SB867), passing 74-1 in the Assembly and 40-0 in the Senate — one no vote across both chambers — and banned speculative ticket listings with a remedy of double the ticket price plus nonrefundable travel and attorney's fees (AB1349, 67-0 on concurrence). Delaware's governor signed on two consecutive days: HB380 struck the single word "solely" from its privacy law, so a company can no longer defeat your opt-out by having a human rubber-stamp an automated profiling decision; SB300 created a state license for gun dealers moving more than 10 firearms a year, phasing in through January 2029. Texas's right-to-repair law took effect September 1, requiring manufacturers to sell parts, tools and manuals to independent shops. And in Washington, the House voted 212-206 for a constitutional amendment fixing the Supreme Court at nine justices — and it failed, because amendments need two-thirds, not a majority. House Bill 3305 passed the South Carolina House 112-0 as a free-speech bill and was signed into law as a $350 million appropriations act. Both sentences are true about the same four digits. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor audio: Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D), California State Assembly, August 31; Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), U.S. House floor, September 2, via C-SPAN. The Tenth is produced with AI-generated hosts working from human-edited, fact-checked briefings; every bill, vote, and quote is real and sourced. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: South Carolina supplemental appropriations, formerly the Public Expression Protection Act (H3305)California AI companion chatbots in children's toys (SB867)Delaware automated-decision opt-out (HB380)Delaware gun dealer licensing (SB300)Texas right to repair (HB2963)California speculative ticket listings (AB1349)Constitutional amendment to fix the Supreme Court at nine justices (HJR1)

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The Tenth is a non-partisan briefing on what state legislatures and Congress actually did each week. Every Sunday morning, in about fifteen minutes of plain English, we go bill first: what each one does, who it touches, and what changes for the people living under it. When there’s floor tape, you hear it—the sponsor, the opposition, often the vote. No panel, no pundits, no side. Named for the 10th Amendment, from Amendment; read the bills yourself at amendment.app.

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  • Creator
    Amendment
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    29
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    The Tenth