Here is our weekly round-up on election-related legislation. In it, you’ll find the following information: 

• Noteworthy bills: Here, we identify and report on the contents and legislative status of noteworthy bills. 
• Recent activity: Here, we report on the number of bills acted on within the past week. 
• The big picture: Here, we look at the bills in the aggregate. 
  • Legislative status: How many bills have been introduced, voted upon, or enacted into law?
  • Concentration of activity: What states have seen the highest concentration of legislative activity?
  • Partisan affiliation of sponsorship: How many bills have been sponsored by Democrats vs. Republicans? 
  • Subject: What subjects are most commonly addressed in the bills? 

Noteworthy bills

This part of our report highlights recent activity on specific noteworthy bills. A bill is noteworthy if it meets one or more of the following criteria: 

• It has been enacted into law. 
• It is poised to be enacted into law. 
• It is the subject of significant debate in the legislature. 
• It is the subject of significant commentary by activists, journalists, etc. 

Pennsylvania SB982: This bill provides that only federal, state, and local government funding can be used to finance the administration of elections. It bars state and local officials from seeking or accepting funding from private, non-governmental sources. This bill also establishes the Election Integrity Grant Program, under which counties can apply for grants and use the money awarded for the following purposes: (1) payment of staff needed to pre-canvas and canvass absentee/mail-in ballots; (2) physical security and transparency costs associated with centralized pre-canvassing and canvassing; (3) post-election procedures; (4) voter list maintenance activities; (5) printing of ballots; (6) training costs for election officials; (7) payment of Election Day workers; (8) secure preparation, transportation, and storage of election equipment; and (9) costs associated with processing voter registration applications. 

Legislative history and status: The state Senate approved the bill on July 7 by a vote of 46-4, with 28 Republicans and 17 Democrats voting in favor and four Democrats in opposition. The state House approved the bill on July 8 by a vote of 103-96, with 86 Republicans and 17 Democrats voting in favor and 72 Democrats and 24 Republicans in opposition. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed the bill into law on July 11.

Political context: Pennsylvania has a divided government. Republicans control majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. The governor is a Democrat. 

Recent activity

Since July 8, 16 bills have been acted on in some way (a 14.3 percent increase as compared to last week’s total of 14 bills). These 16 bills represent 0.6 percent of the 2,525 bills we are tracking. Of these 16 bills, 12 (75.0 percent) are from states with Democratic trifectas and 4 (25.0 percent) are from states with divided governments. 

The bar chart below compares recent activity on a week-to-week basis over the last eight weeks. 

• 1 bill was either introduced or saw pre-committee action (e.g., new sponsor added, subcommittee hearing scheduled, etc.). 
  • Democratic trifectas: 1.
• 10 bills passed one chamber (or saw pre-adoption action in the second chamber). 
  • Democratic trifectas: 10.
• 2 bills passed both chambers (or were acted on in some way after passing both chambers). 
  • Democratic trifectas: 1.   
    • CA AB1619: Elections: voter registration and signature comparison.
  • Divided governments: 1.
    • PA SB106: A Joint Resolution proposing separate and distinct amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, providing that there is no constitutional right to taxpayer-funded abortion or other right relating to abortion; further providing for action on concurrent orders and resolutions, for Lieutenant Governor and for qualifications of electors; and providing for election audits.
• 2 bills were enacted. 
  • Divided governments: 2.
    • PA HB1614: In ballots, further providing for number of ballots to be printed and specimen ballots.
    • PA SB982: In preliminary provisions, providing for public funding of elections.
• 1 bill was vetoed. 
  • Divided governments: 1.

The map below visualizes the concentration of this recent activity across the nation. A darker shade of yellow indicates a higher number of relevant bills that have been acted upon in the last week. A lighter shade of yellow indicates a lower number of bills that have been acted upon in the last week.

 

The big picture

To date, we have tracked 2,525 election-related bills. This is the same number of bills we were tracking last week. These bills were either introduced this year or crossed over from last year’s legislative sessions. 

Legislative status 

The pie charts below visualize the legislative status of the bills we are tracking. The following status indicators are used: 

• Introduced: The bill has been pre-filed, introduced, or referred to committee but has not otherwise been acted upon.
• Advanced from committee: The bill has received a favorable vote in committee. It has either advanced to another committee or to the floor for a vote. 
• Passed one chamber: The bill has been approved by one legislative chamber.
• Conference committee: Differing versions of the bill have been approved by their respective chambers and a conference committee has been appointed to reconcile the differences. 
• Passed both chambers: The bill has cleared both chambers of the legislature. 
• Enacted: The bill has been enacted into law, by gubernatorial action or inaction or veto override. 
• Vetoed: The bill has been vetoed. 
• Dead: The bill has been defeated in committee or by floor vote. 

The pie charts below visualize the legislative status of bills in Democratic and Republican trifectas, respectively. 

Concentration of activity

The map below visualizes the concentration of legislative activity across the nation. A darker shade of yellow indicates a higher number of relevant bills that have been introduced. A lighter shade of yellow indicates a lower number of relevant bills. 

Partisan affiliation of sponsor(s)

The pie chart below visualizes the partisan affiliation of bill sponsors.

The bar chart below visualizes the correlation between the partisan affiliation of bill sponsors and trifecta status (e.g., how many Democratic-sponsored bills were introduced in Democratic trifectas vs. Republican trifectas).

Bills by topic

The chart below presents information on the total number of bills dealing with particular topics. The number listed on the blue portion of each bar indicates the number of Democratic-sponsored bills dealing with the subject in question. The number listed on the red portion of the bar indicates the number of Republican-sponsored bills. The purple and gray portions of the bar indicate the number of bipartisan-sponsored bills and bills with unspecified sponsorship, respectively. Note that the numbers listed here will not, when summed, equal the total number of bills because some bills deal with multiple topics.