Two bills aimed at adding caste as a protected category in New York's anti-discrimination laws did not advance in the current legislative session. The Coalition of Hindus of North America celebrated the outcome, arguing that the legislation would stereotype Hindus, Indians, and South Asians and that ancestry should be added to human rights law instead.
After his party’s stunning conquest of West Bengal, Narendra Modi stands at a juncture that would have seemed implausible mere months ago. The prime minister who lost his parliamentary majority in 2024, briefly inviting talk of a weakened leader, now controls roughly 70 per cent of India’s state legislatures through his ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) sweep of West Bengal, winning 207 of 294 assembly seats and ending three consecutive terms...
State lawmakers in Iowa, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania are proposing legislation to ban insurers from using consumers' credit history to set homeowners or auto insurance premiums. Consumer advocates argue credit-based insurance scores are unfair as they penalize people for financial hardships beyond their control, while the insurance industry argues the practice helps keep premiums low for many consumers. Currently, only California, Hawaii and Massachusetts ban the practice for auto insurance, with California, Massachusetts and Maryland banning it for homeowners insurance.
