State of the States


CALIFORNIA A California state senator


has rescinded her bill to expand medically assisted suicide following opposition from multiple sides. Sen. Catherine Blakespear,


BLAKESPEAR


D-San Diego, removed Senate Bill 1196 before it ever had a hearing. It would have expanded California’s End of Life Options Act to allow patients to request life- ending drugs


if they have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition” even without a prognosis of six months to live, as the current law requires.


Her plan also would have added dementia to the list of qualifying conditions.


TENNESSEE


BIBLE NAMED A STATE BOOK Republican Gov. Bill


Lee signed a law making the Aitken Bible one of 10 new oficial state books of Tennessee. It was the first Bible to be published in the United States during the Revolutionary War. The state legislature


passed the bill, with Democrats and Republicans voting along party lines. Democrats voted against the bill, citing concerns over constitutionality. Other works on the list include George Washington’s farewell address (1796); Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville


(1835 and 1840); The Papers of


AITKEN BIBLE 24 NEWSMAX | JUNE 2024


Andrew Jackson; Roots by Alex Haley (1977); American Lion by Jon Meacham (2009); and Coat of Many Colors by Dolly Parton (2016).


OKLAHOMA


ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION STATE CRIME


The Oklahoma House of


Representatives passed a bill making illegal immigration a crime.


The bill says that it is a criminal act to enter and remain in Oklahoma without first having legal authorization to enter the United States. The legslation also passed the Senate and is headed to the governor for approval. If Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signs the bill, it would make illegal immigration a misdemeanor, with a penalty of one year in prison and/or a $500 fine. Rep. Arturo Alonso-


Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, blasted the bill as being unfair to illegal immigrants who already live in the state.


Abbott Warns Trans Teachers


Gov. Greg Abbott wants to stop trans and gender nonconforming teachers from dressing outside their birth gender while working in Texas schools. At the Young


Conservatives of Texas convention, Abbott talked about a report of a teacher who “was a man who would go to school dressed as a woman in a dress, high heels, and makeup.”


“This person, a man “These are


people who have been here


for decades and have contributed millions in tax dollars,” he said.


NEW JERSEY


TOWN LOWERS PRIDE FLAG By a vote of 6 to 3, the


town council of Boonton has reversed an ordinance that allowed Pride flags to be flown from the town hall’s flagpoles. Now, only town-owned flags will be allowed to fly on town-owned flagpoles. Mayor James Lynch said


that reversing the ordinance “mitigates the unintended consequences and risk of allowing the town’s flagpoles to be public forums that would be open to all flags and even some flags that could


be considered undesirable to people.” As a result, Boonton


TEXAS


GUN BUYBACK EVENT Maryland residents


exchanged 150 firearms and explosives for grocery store gift cards.


A buyback program,


organized by the United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley, was part of the Interfaith Gun Violence Prevention Network in Washington, D.C. It was held in conjunction with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Ofice and the state attorney’s ofice. Those turning in weapons


were paid $100 or $200, depending on the type. Each firearm was zip-tied and loaded into police vans.


Pride won’t be able to fly a flag at the town hall or in Grace Lord Park during Pride Fest.


MARYLAND


dressing as a woman in a public high school in the state of Texas, he’s trying to normalize the concept that this type of behavior


is OK,” Abbott said, adding, “This type of behavior is not OK, and this is not the behavior that we want” in the state of Texas.


ABBOTT/GREGABBOTT_TX/X / BLAKESPEAR/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / PRIDE/LAZYLLAMA/SHUTTERSTOCK / MARYLAND/KATVNEWS/X / BIBLE/MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE/FACEBOOK


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