Issues to Watch This Year (2024 State Policy Outlook)

While it is still early in the year to anticipate every issue that may be considered by state lawmakers in 2024, based on observations from 2023, we can make some reasonable predictions. To help you keep track, we’ve put together a new resource: MultiState’s 2024 State Legislative Outlook: Issues to Watch report. In this report, we outline key policy areas that our team of experts predict will be major players during the 2024 state sessions. We’ve also included recaps of the policy activity surrounding these issues during the previous legislative session so you have the context you need. You can download the full report by clicking here, but here are some highlights.

Energy and Environment

As was the case last year, issues related to energy and the environment will likely take up a significant amount of lawmakers’ time in 2024. In particular, we expect to see legislation in a myriad of areas that aim to reduce environmental impact, including regulating business activity via ESG requirements, restricting or prohibiting the use of PFAS chemicals in consumer products, regulating plastic recycling, and reducing packaging waste with EPR mandates. We’ll also likely see states pursue sweeping plans to reduce overall carbon footprints with legislation aiming to decarbonize energy portfolios and transition grids to cleaner energy sources. Finally, we expect to see states continue to push for the expansion of electric vehicle use for both businesses and consumers. To give you a sense of the volume of bills we’ve seen in this space, during the 2023 sessions we saw lawmakers in 47 states introduce over 500 bills related to electric vehicles. Similarly, ESG investment bills were considered in 46 states, advanced recycling legislation was considered in 23 states, and EPR bills were considered in 14 states. For those lawmakers whose efforts were unsuccessful in 2023, expect them to try again.

Technology and Privacy

In the technology and privacy space, state lawmakers were busy in 2023 and we expect the same for 2024. Comprehensive privacy legislation continues to be a key focus of state policymakers, with an additional eight states passing comprehensive laws during the 2023 sessions (this includes New Jersey, which enacted the bill in early January before the 2024 session officially began). That brings the total number of states to 13, and that number will most certainly grow after the 2024 sessions adjourn given the lack of federal action in this area. These laws give consumers rights concerning the information that businesses collect about them. Artificial intelligence is shaping up to be one of the most significant issues faced by lawmakers in recent memory, as new use cases for the technology emerge every day. AI legislation thus far has fallen into a few main categories: facial recognition technology, bias protection, deepfakes, social media, and government use. We’ve also seen many states create study committees and working groups focusing on AI regulation. If you’d like to keep a close eye on AI policy, subscribe to our newest resource: multistate.ai. 

Health Care

Health care will again dominate the legislative sessions in many states — in particular, bills related to reproductive health care and gender-affirming care. Legislation protecting or restricting abortion access played out in numerous states during 2022. The courts play a major role in this debate, and depending on how they rule in several key cases, we’ll likely see states enact legislation in response to these rulings. The ballot will also play a role, with abortion protection measures already initiated in several states. Similarly, gender-affirming health care legislation was prevalent, with at least 19 states enacting bills that restricted or banned gender-affirming care treatments for children under 18.