Anyone want to play “guess the state”?
(_____________) Republican introduced a bill that would make it easier for religious people to sue those who call them out as homophobic or transphobic, a bill built on a suggestion from Gov. (___________) (R).
State Rep. (________) (R) filed H.B. 991 on Tuesday. The bill would make it easier to sue journalists, publications, or social media users for defamation if they accuse someone of racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia.
The bill specifically says that publications can’t use truth as a defense when it comes to reporting on people’s anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments by citing the person’s “constitutionally protected religious expression or beliefs” or “a plaintiff’s scientific beliefs.”
Transgender Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo called the bill “absolutely chilling.”
“If someone calls you a fa***t or tra**y and you say they discriminated against you, they can now sue you for at least $35k and cite their religious beliefs,” she noted on Twitter. “This would apply to the internet as well. This would empower bigots to target the LGBTQ community with impunity.”
(This State) is so well off, it passed a 21 percent income tax cut with the goal of eliminating all income taxes
Senators introduced and passed a compromise version of a tax cut bill, spotlighted by a personal income tax cut of a little more than 21 percent.
The Senate Finance Committee introduced the concept and approved the bill at a Saturday afternoon committee meeting that lasted only a few minutes. There was no discussion of an overall revenue impact, although a statement by the governor characterized it as $750 million.
Later in the afternoon, the full Senate suspended constitutional rules requiring bills to be read three consecutive days and voted overwhelmingly, 32-1, to pass the tax bill. The only vote against the bill was by Senator (_________) , D. Again, there was hardly any discussion except for a basic explanation of how the tax cut would work.