The Tenth

Amendment
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Congress writes roughly 300 laws a year. State legislatures write 25,000. The Tenth is a weekly briefing on the bills passing in America's 50 statehouses — what they do, who they affect, and what actually changes for the people who live under them. Non-partisan, bill-first, plain English. Named for the 10th Amendment. From amendment.app.

  1. 5d ago

    The Yes That Expires: A Week Run by Deadlines, Not Votes

    You were approved. Sometime in the spring a doctor said you needed a course of treatment, your insurer reviewed it, and the answer came back yes. Then, partway through — same condition, same prescription, same doctor — an envelope arrives saying it has to be reviewed again. Congress was in August recess and most legislatures went home months ago, so this was a week when deadlines and calendar dates moved as much law as votes did. On Thursday, August 13, California's fiscal committees cleared their suspense files against a next-day deadline, and two health-adjacent bills went opposite ways: SB951, which would require employers to report jobs they permanently stop hiring for because of technology — down to the vendor that sold the system — advanced 10-3, while AB2651, the Informed Parents, Healthy Schools Act, did not advance and no roll call was recorded on the action that ended it. AB539 came off suspense 5-0, fifteen months after the Assembly passed it 64-2. In Colorado nobody voted at all: ninety days after sine die, every 2026 bill without a safety clause took effect at 12:01 a.m. on August 12, including SB011 (a staffed hotline for law enforcement, warrants acknowledged within 8 hours and answered within 72) and SB032 (pharmacists may now prescribe vaccines on their own). California's Senate passed SCA5 27-9 — exactly the two-thirds required — to address a per-pupil gap of $29,876 in Palo Alto Unified against $16,504 in Milpitas Unified, fifteen minutes apart in the same county. Plus a federal data-center electricity excise tax (HR10102), and Governor Healey's August 10 signature on Massachusetts H5595. Back to that envelope: somebody in the middle of a course of treatment, already approved, opening a letter that asks the same question a second time. Nothing about them changed — only the calendar did. 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. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: California technological-displacement notice (SB951)California Informed Parents, Healthy Schools Act (AB2651)California prior-authorization duration (AB539)Colorado search warrants to online platforms (SB011)Colorado Promoting Immunization Access (SB032)California Education Equalization Act (SCA5)Data Center Community Reinvestment Act (HR10102)Massachusetts Prioritizing Patient Access to Care (H5595)

  2. Aug 9

    612,000 Voters and 415 Bills: Two Ways a Statehouse Decides

    On Tuesday, Kansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have abolished the state's judicial nominating commission and elected Supreme Court justices directly — 375,347 to 236,764, about 61 percent to 39, out of 612,111 ballots. The measure had reached the ballot by clearing both chambers of the Kansas legislature at exactly the two-thirds minimum and not one vote more. The day before, in Sacramento, the California Senate Appropriations Committee heard 563 measures and placed 415 of them on the suspense file, each on a 7-0 vote — the mechanism that lets a bill die without a single recorded vote against it. In the same seven days, three governors signed. Illinois became the fourth state, and the first in the Midwest, to bar employers from requiring a driver's license for jobs that don't involve driving (HB4758, House 82-30, Senate 41-15, effective January 1, 2027) — a bill that came out of the Chicago disability-rights organization Access Living, and that reaches hiring, promotion, training, and discipline, not just the posting. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the PROTECT Act (H5620, House enacted 135-21), barring warrantless immigration arrests at courthouses, schools, child care centers, and health care facilities, blocking new 287(g) agreements, and letting people sue in state court. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed S10113 (Senate 47-13, Assembly 88-53), which lets a cannabis microbusiness count as all three of the licensees a showcase event permit requires. And in Washington, the Senate Agriculture Committee's farm bill failed to advance on a 10-11 vote over a SNAP cost share shifted to states; the Save Our Bacon Act (HR4673), which would make California's Proposition 12 unenforceable against out-of-state pork, was left out of the Senate base text and never came up. We close where we opened: on a job posting for work you do at a desk, with a headset, without ever leaving the building — and the third line down asking for a driver's license. Starting January 1 in Illinois, that line comes off. The application goes through. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor audio: Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Senate Agriculture Committee markup, August 6, 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: Illinois driver's license job-posting ban (HB4758)Kansas Supreme Court elections amendment (SCR1611)California abortion and gender-affirming care records shield (AB1930)California protective orders: firearm and ammunition surrender (AB1753)Massachusetts PROTECT Act (H5620)New York cannabis microbusiness showcase permits (S10113)Save Our Bacon Act (HR4673)

  3. Aug 2

    Four Laws in Seven Days — and the Machine That Only Takes Money In

    A man in his seventies stands at a machine in a gas station just off a state highway, feeding it hundred-dollar bills while a voice on the phone calls itself a fraud investigator. Machines like that one were used in scams that took more than $389 million from Americans last year — and where investigators knew the victim's age, people 60 and older accounted for 86% of the money lost. As of August 1, those machines are illegal in Minnesota. This week was less about bills being introduced than about laws switching on — four of them, in four states, inside seven days. Massachusetts got House Bill 5595 through the Senate on July 31, the last day of formal sessions, striking the list of circumstances that currently governs abortion at 24 weeks or later and leaving the decision to the physician's professional judgment; the House passed it 119-33 and it now sits unsigned with Gov. Maura Healey. Minnesota's Senate File 3868 bans virtual currency kiosks outright — after the state became the first in the country to try regulating them in 2024, and scammers routed around every rule. Maine's LD 2176 took effect July 29, barring landlords from handing over a tenant's personal information, immigration status included, to force them out; it survived the House 76-73. Louisiana's Senate Bill 93 took effect August 1 with minimum bail floors for child sexual abuse material offenses — 38-0, 96-0, and 34-0, not a single no. And the Senate HELP Committee reported ten bills in one Thursday morning, including S. 5046 (Kaine, Collins, Murkowski) to stop the Education Department from moving four of its offices to other agencies, and the RISE Act. Two laws took effect 72 hours apart — one by three votes, one without a single member against. Both are equally in force. 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. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Massachusetts post-24-week abortion standard (H5595)Minnesota crypto kiosk ban (SF3868)Maine tenant information protections (LD2176)Louisiana minimum bail floors (SB93)Education Department office transfer ban (S5046)RISE Act, college disability documentation (S3589)21st Century Dyslexia Act (S3010)Emergency Savings Enhancement Act (S3333)

  4. Jul 26

    Two War Powers Votes in One Day — and the Tow Truck Nobody Called

    On Thursday, July 23, the House voted 214-208 to pull American forces out of hostilities with Iran — four Republicans crossing over. The same day, the Senate voted 47-49 against its own version. Both chambers were answering the same question, and the split had less to do with the answer than with the paperwork: the House passed a concurrent resolution, which never reaches the President and carries no force of law, while the Senate measure that would have had force of law never got out of the Foreign Relations Committee. Almost everything else that moved this week was about the same thing — the distance between a rule and a rule somebody can enforce. Pennsylvania made predatory towing a crime (SB779, signed July 20, House 193-9): no more unsolicited tows, no holding a car past 24 hours, no cash-only demands, and on a third violation police can impound the tow truck itself. Michigan barred investment funds that own 100-plus properties and are worth at least $375 million from buying more single-family homes (HB6074, signed July 21, House 105-1) — written entirely by Republicans, signed by a Democratic governor, with a loophole the sponsor concedes. Delaware restored state protection to roughly 75,000 acres of wetlands the Supreme Court stripped from federal coverage in 2023, and built a parcel lookup tool so the no-net-loss standard can actually be checked before you buy (SB9, signed July 21, Senate 20-0). New Jersey's e-bike law finally bit on July 19, making it the first state to treat an everyday e-bike more like a motor vehicle than a bicycle (S4834). And a bipartisan screwworm bill got a subcommittee markup in Washington (HR7466). It ends where it started: a person on the shoulder of the road, a tow truck pulling away, a booster seat locked in a car they own. None of that was new this week. What was new is that somebody finally attached a consequence to it. For the full text, status, and plain-English breakdown of any bill we mentioned, head to 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. Any floor audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Iran war powers resolution, House (H.Con.Res.89)Iran war powers resolution, Senate (S.J.Res.180)Pennsylvania predatory towing crime (SB779)Michigan institutional investor home-buying ban (HB6074)Delaware freshwater wetlands protection (SB9)New Jersey e-bike licensing and registration (S4834)SAFE CATTLE Act, New World screwworm (HR7466)

  5. Jul 19

    Two Planes Older Than the Pilots: Washington's Quiet Committee Week

    The two aircraft the United States flies into the eyewall of a hurricane were built in the mid-1970s — older than most of the crews aboard — and the entire hurricane-hunter fleet is just three planes. This week, with most statehouses gone for the summer, the busiest rooms in the country were Washington's committee rooms, and that aging fleet was on the agenda. The Senate took up the Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Recapitalization Act (S4802), a bipartisan bill authorizing $2.5 billion for up to six new planes. Hawaii enacted Act 236 (HB2296), cutting what the state can charge full-price students for a school lunch from at least half the cost of a meal to no more than a quarter. Two health bills rhymed in committee: the Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act (S3014), which lets the FDA throw out sham petitions used to stall a cheaper drug, and the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act (HR3514), which speeds up Medicare Advantage prior authorization. Eight senators — four from each party — moved the Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act (S380) to ready rural ERs for childbirth emergencies. A House subcommittee took up a bill to reopen pre-2008 polar-bear trophy imports from Canada (HR6251). And Pennsylvania introduced HB2700, which would make job listings disclose what your health plan will actually cost you. Plus a follow-up: a week after New Jersey moved to make AI data centers pay for the power they pull, New York's governor signed the first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers. Go back to that fifty-year-old turboprop in the eyewall — a crew dropping instruments into the storm so a family three counties away knows whether to leave. That's what most of this week actually was: the quiet machinery, and a handful of people in committee rooms deciding whether it holds. For the full text, status, and plain-English breakdown of every bill we mentioned, head to 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: Hurricane Hunter Aircraft Recapitalization Act (S4802)Hawaii school-meal price cut, Act 236 (HB2296)Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act (S3014)Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act (HR3514)Rural Obstetrics Readiness Act (S380)Polar-bear trophy import bill (HR6251)Pennsylvania health-cost transparency bill (HB2700)

  6. Jul 12

    After Two Years, a Budget — and a Record That Clears Itself

    After more than two years — an entire fiscal year with no spending plan at all, the only state in the country in that spot — North Carolina finally passed a full budget this week. Governor Josh Stein signed the $34.4 billion plan on July 7, and it lands where people feel it: an average 8% raise for teachers, with beginning salaries jumping from $41,000 to $48,000, plus $700 million more for Hurricane Helene recovery in the western mountains and over $1 billion to fully fund Medicaid. The Tenth's July 12 briefing covers that budget (S257, passed 35-10 in the Senate and 86-21 in the House) and the quieter signings that shaped the week: Missouri's Clean Slate law (SB1421), which makes expungement of eligible misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies automatic — no lawyer, no petition, no fee, run by the state Highway Patrol; New Jersey's energy package tying the cost of AI data centers to the companies that strain the grid rather than to household bills (including A2757, projected to save ratepayers about $60 million a year); and two of the 34 bills Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed July 10 — the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Young Voter Empowerment Law (HB4339) and a new courtroom defense for survivors of coerced debt (HB4659). Plus a look at the week ahead in Washington, where three committees take up permanent daylight saving time (HR139), a ban on China- and Russia-controlled connected cars (S4429), and a fix to a 72-hour paperwork trap in Native health coverage (HR8658). It comes back to a man at a kitchen table in Missouri, checking the same box on every job application for a decade — and a state that just decided that box will eventually clear itself. For the full text, status, and plain-English breakdown of any bill we mentioned, head to 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: North Carolina 2026 state budget (S257)Missouri Clean Slate automatic expungement (SB1421)New Jersey grid / PJM ratepayer savings (A2757)Illinois Young Voter Empowerment Law (HB4339)Illinois coerced-debt survivor defense (HB4659)Sunshine Protection Act — permanent daylight saving (HR139)Ban on China/Russia connected cars (S4429)Indian Health Service notification-window fix (HR8658)

  7. Jul 5

    The July 1 Wave: A Speed Limiter, a Heat-Index Rule, and a 5-4 on Ballots

    July 1st is the day a year of legislation stops being paper and starts governing. This week a wave of new state laws took effect across the country — and in Indiana, one of them meant a household behind on its electric bill could no longer have the power, and the air conditioning, shut off on a day the heat index is forecast to hit 95 degrees. That's House Bill 1002, and it passed with 24 bipartisan sponsors, 94-2 in the House and 46-0 in the Senate. In the same seven days, Virginia became the first state in the nation to let a judge order a speed limiter installed in a reckless driver's car instead of suspending their license (HB2096, House 81-16 / Senate 33-3, effective July 1); California became the first state to require chain restaurants to print the "Big Nine" allergens on their menus (SB68); and Georgia opened portable benefit accounts to gig workers, letting companies contribute without turning contractors into employees (HB987, 108-52 / 44-1). Then the Supreme Court, in Watson v. Republican National Committee, ruled 5-4 that a state may count mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward — upholding Mississippi's law and the grace periods in roughly 15 states and D.C. We also check in on a House hearing for the bipartisan Veterans STAND Act (HR6835). Then back to that Indiana kitchen, where the power stays on because a law that took effect this month says it has to. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Argument audio: Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Watson v. Republican National Committee, via Oyez (Supreme Court of the United States). 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 argument audio is the genuine recording of the named official. Bills in this episode: Virginia speed-limiter program (HB2096)Indiana electric-utility affordability, heat-shutoff ban (HB1002)California restaurant allergen-menu law (SB68)Georgia portable benefits for gig workers (HB987)Veterans STAND Act (HR6835)

  8. Jun 28

    95-0: Ohio's Joshua Alert, and a Vote to End a War

    This week the U.S. Senate passed a war powers resolution ordering American forces out of hostilities with Iran, fifty to forty-eight, with four Republicans crossing the aisle. It's the first time such a resolution has cleared the chamber after earlier attempts were voted down. But it's a concurrent resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 86, the kind that passes both chambers without going to the President's desk, so it's a formal rebuke, not a binding order. What it changes is the record, not the deployment. That set the texture for a week of governments drawing lines around things that are hard to take back. Ohio created the Joshua Alert (HB359, 95-0 in the House and 31-0 in the Senate), a statewide emergency broadcast for missing autistic and developmentally disabled children who fall outside the AMBER Alert's abduction rules. Massachusetts struck the R-word and outdated terms from hundreds of references in state law (S2563, unanimous). Virginia banned the sale and transfer of assault firearms and large-capacity magazines, grandfathering current owners (HB217, House 60-35, Senate 21-19, effective July 1). Rhode Island made it illegal for an algorithm to pose as a licensed therapist (H7349, 69-2), while New York's FAIR News Act would require news organizations to label AI-generated content (S08451, Senate 53-7, Assembly 130-1). And the Senate passed the most sweeping federal housing bill since the financial crisis, 85-5 (HR6644), only for the President to hold its signing until Congress passes the SAVE Act (HR7296), an unrelated bill requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Go back to the parent in the doorway, and the child who wandered: that's what Ohio's ninety-five-to-nothing was actually about. Not a procedure, a family. Follow every bill at amendment.app. Floor and hearing audio: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sec. of State Marco Rubio, 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: Iran war powers resolution (HCONRES86)Ohio Joshua Alert (HB359)Massachusetts disability-language update (S2563)Virginia assault-firearms ban (HB217)Rhode Island AI mental-health ban (H7349)New York FAIR News Act (S08451)21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (HR6644)SAVE Act (HR7296)

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Congress writes roughly 300 laws a year. State legislatures write 25,000. The Tenth is a weekly briefing on the bills passing in America's 50 statehouses — what they do, who they affect, and what actually changes for the people who live under them. Non-partisan, bill-first, plain English. Named for the 10th Amendment. From amendment.app.

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  • Creator
    Amendment
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Show Website
    The Tenth