This is Sarah Stewart Holland. This is Beth Silver's. You're listening to Pantsu Politics, where we take a different

approach to the news very seriously. So today we're going to step back from the presidential

race. We're going to step back from Congress. We're going to step back from all of the

amorphous foreign policy things that are in the news to talk about what state

legislatures have been up to. A bunch of new laws went into effect across the country

this year and we're going to talk about those

laws because they are going to affect people's lives in very real concrete ways.

We're going to discuss everything from minimum wage laws to laws about books and guns and then outside of politics.

I'm really excited about this. We're going to talk about California's law on

cursive handwriting because I know so many people who are very passionate

about cursive handwriting. So I'm excited for this discussion and to learn about all

these very like tangible things because so much of what we've been discussing lately

feels way out there in the ether to mean.

Well and I just think it's important to call out state legislators who are actually

doing their work because while we talk about state legislators that are passing laws and trying to address problems,

there are some that are just at a stalemate looking at you, Oregon.

We're not going to be talking about Oregon today because they didn't get a lot done because they're just at stalemates, they've just shut down.

And so it feels even more important to talk about places that are really working towards solutions

for their constituents and their citizens.

Before we start that conversation,

we want to wish a very happy birthday to our director of community engagement

and executive producer Maggie Pitton.

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