Welcome to the Monday, April 14, Brew.
By: Briana Ryan
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- As the U.S. House votes to pass the SAVE Act, legislatures nationwide are addressing election administration in their states
- U.S. House of Representatives votes to adopt budget framework
- Did you know Nebraska is the only state that elects its state legislators through nonpartisan elections?
As the U.S. House votes to pass the SAVE Act, legislatures nationwide are addressing election administration in their states
Today, we’ll tell you the latest news on election administration legislative activity nationwide. We’ll also dig into some noteworthy data points from the past week.
Before we examine legislative activity at the state level, let’s review the latest developments in the U.S. Congress.
On April 10, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 220-208 to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R.22). All Republicans and four Democrats—Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), and Ed Case (D-Hawaii)—voted in favor of the bill. Meanwhile, 208 Democrats voted against the bill.
According to the Congressional Research Service‘s (CRS) summary, the bill “prohibits states from accepting and processing an application to register to vote in a federal election unless the applicant presents documentary proof of U.S. citizenship. The bill specifies what documents are considered acceptable proof of U.S. citizenship, such as identification that complies with the REAL ID Act of 2005 that indicates U.S. citizenship.”
Now, let’s shift our focus to news from the state level.
On April 10, the Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) veto of SB5, a bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for election-related activities in the state. Kelly vetoed the bill on March 31.
Kansas was already one of 29 states that restricted the private funding of election administration. Now that the Legislature overrode Kelly’s veto, it is the only state of those 29 to explicitly prohibit using federal funding of election administration without a specific state appropriation.
Kansas is one of four states with a governor of one party and a veto-proof legislative majority of the opposing party. It’s also one of 36 states that require a two-thirds vote from both legislative chambers to override the governor’s veto. Recently, on March 25, the legislature overrode Kelly’s veto of SB4, a bill that changes the deadline for county election officers to receive mail-in ballots.
Moving on to Iowa, the state’s Senate approved HF954 on April 7. This bill would allow poll workers to challenge voters’ citizenship, ban ranked-choice voting (RCV), and require political parties to receive at least 2% of the vote in three consecutive general elections to be considered a major political party. The bill now heads to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ (R) desk. As of April 11, 14 states have banned RCV. Most recently, Kansas banned RCV on April 1.
On April 7, the West Virginia House of Delegates approved a bill requiring municipalities to hold their elections on the same day as state elections. Legislators passed SB50 by a 96 to 2 vote, and the bill now returns to the Senate to consider House amendments.
On April 2, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed 15 bills on election administration. For a closer look at each bill, click here. During the same week, governors vetoed one bill in 2024, four bills in 2023, and none in 2022.
Finally, let’s review some key data from the past week.
- We are currently following 4,234 bills. We were following 2,406 bills at this time in 2023.
- Lawmakers in 43 states acted on 639 bills over the last week, 11 fewer than last week. During the same week, legislators acted on 232 bills in 2024, 134 in 2023, and 140 in 2022.
- States enacted 29 bills over the last week. During the same week, states enacted 26 bills in 2024, 17 in 2023, and nine in 2022.
- Twenty-seven bills passed both chambers of any legislature over the last week.
Click here to see all bills awaiting gubernatorial action and their full summaries. To see all vetoed bills, click here.
A version of this story appeared in our April 11 Ballot Bulletin—our weekly email that follows developments in election policy around the country. Click here to sign up.
You can also click here to see a full list of the bills we’re following in 2025.
U.S. House of Representatives votes to adopt budget framework
Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been bringing you updates on the latest developments in the U.S. Congress‘ effort to adopt a budget for the next fiscal year. Today, we’ll break down Congress’ latest move in the process.
On April 10, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-214 to adopt the Senate-amended version of budget resolution H.Con.Res.14, completing the budget resolution process. The vote breakdown was 216 Republicans voting in favor and 212 Democrats voting against it, along with Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
Earlier in the month, on April 5, the Senate voted 51-48 to adopt the amended version of H.Con.Res.14. You can read more about the amended version in the April 9 Daily Brew.
The final budget resolution’s main policy areas include taxes, the border, defense, energy, and raising the debt limit. The resolution instructs different House and Senate committees to either reduce the deficit by no less than a certain figure or increase the deficit by no more than a certain figure from 2025 to 2034.
The committees tasked with reducing the deficit the most over the next nine years are the House Energy and Commerce Committee ($880 billion) and the House Education and Workforce Committee ($330 billion). The committees whose work will lead to the largest increases in the deficit over the next nine years are the House Ways and Means Committee($4.5 trillion) and the Senate Finance Committee ($1.5 trillion).
How quickly has Congress gotten to this point? From 2001 to the present, this resolution falls in the middle of the pack regarding budget resolutions that Congress passed during a president’s first year. In January 2017, Congress approved a budget resolution before Trump took the oath of office—the quickest any Congress has approved a budget resolution in their first year in office. The longest it took Congress to approve a budget resolution was during George W. Bush’s (R) first year in office when it didn’t pass until May 2001.
Budget resolutions broadly outline spending priorities for a reconciliation bill. The Senate and House adopting identical budget resolutions is the first step in the reconciliation process. Budget reconciliation is a legislative process that can bypass the filibuster and expedite the approval of a package of legislation that changes spending, revenues, or the debt limit. Recent examples of budget reconciliation bills include the American Rescue Plan of 2021 and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018.
Now, the Senate and House committees will start working on budget reconciliation bills. After the committees draft their legislative recommendations, they send their reconciliation bills to the House and Senate Budget Committees, which compile them into an omnibus budget reconciliation bill.
Click here for more information on the budget reconciliation process.
Did you know Nebraska is the only state that elects its state legislators through nonpartisan elections?
There are no formal party alignments or groups within the Nebraska Legislature. However, almost all members are affiliated with the state Democratic or the Republican Party, and both parties explicitly endorse candidates for legislative seats. So, although lawmakers and candidates are officially nonpartisan, they tend to have a direct party affiliation in most cases. Currently, a majority of Nebraska lawmakers are associated with the Republican Party.
Nebraska has the only unicameral legislature in the country, meaning it has only one chamber.
As the U.S. House votes to pass the SAVE Act, legislatures nationwide are addressing election administration in their statesLearn more about the Nebraska Legislature here.