This week Hawaii became the first state in the country to bar corporations from spending money to influence elections — a law its own sponsors wrote as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Governor Josh Green signed it; it takes effect in July 2027, and the state expects a court fight. That set the texture for the whole week: state legislatures building backstops — the catch that stops a harm from getting through when the bigger system won't.

In the same seven days, Delaware advanced its own John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HB444, 29-11 in one chamber), Vermont became the 23rd state with a comprehensive consumer privacy law as Governor Phil Scott reversed his own prior veto (S71, passed 129-3 / 29-0), Virginia gave mobile-home-park residents first claim on the land under their homes (HB375), and Maryland cleared the way for more than 7,000 homes near transit, overriding local zoning (HB894, 100-32 / 42-4, signed by Governor Wes Moore). Three states moved to widen what insurance has to cover: Michigan passed needle-free epinephrine in schools 103-0 (HB5054), Massachusetts weighed cleft-palate coverage past age 18 (H5477), and New Jersey took up Medicaid fertility coverage (A1207). Plus a lightning round: Pennsylvania crypto-ATM licensing (HB2643), Illinois NICU leave now in effect (HB2978), California's AI-altered-listing disclosure (AB2025), and a Massachusetts crumbling-foundations fund (S3091).

A week of backstops — fifty laboratories, each deciding what it won't let get past. 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:

• Hawaii corporate election-spending ban (SB2471)
• Delaware John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HB444)
• Vermont consumer privacy law (S71)
• Virginia mobile-home-park right of first refusal (HB375)
• Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act (HB894)
• Michigan needle-free epinephrine in schools (HB5054)
• Massachusetts cleft-palate coverage (H5477)
• New Jersey Medicaid fertility coverage (A1207)
• Pennsylvania crypto-ATM licensing (HB2643)
• Illinois Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act (HB2978)
• California altered-listing-photo disclosure (AB2025)
• Massachusetts crumbling-foundations fund (S3091)