Texas Gov. Greg Abbot signs state DOGE and judicial nondeference bill
On April 23, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott (R) signed Senate Bill 14 (SB14) into law. SB14 seeks to create a new department that promotes efficiency in the state’s government and prohibits judicial deference to state agencies.
The bill will establish a Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office under the governor’s office to identify inefficiencies in the agency rulemaking process and create informational materials on efficient governance. A Regulatory Efficiency Advisory Panel will advise the office. The bill also sets regulatory reduction goals for other state agencies. SB14 also prohibited courts from “giving deference to any legal determination by a state agency.”
SB14 is one of several state-level bills introduced in 2025 modeled on President Donald Trump’s (R) federal-level Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
States have passed 15 bills either supporting or opposing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing in 2025
As part of Ballotpedia’s commitment to providing comprehensive, up-to-date political information beyond election coverage, on Wednesday, April 23, we announced the launch of our new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Legislation Tracker.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, ESG investing is an asset management approach that considers environment, social issues, and corporate governance practices. Among the thousands of bills that lawmakers consider every year, Ballotpedia highlights ESG legislation because it has become increasingly relevant to voters and policy discussions across the political spectrum.
So far this year, states have enacted 15 bills on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. States approved 34 such laws in 2024, 45 in 2023, 17 in 2022, 13 in 2021, and three in 2020.
An early look at Arkansas’s 2026 ballot measures
Arkansas voters will decide on three legislatively-referred constitutional amendments on Nov. 3, 2026. The amendments would expand the constitutional right to bear arms, require citizenship to vote, and allow the creation of economic development districts.
In Arkansas, a simple majority vote is required in a single legislative session to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. This amounts to at least 51 votes in the House and 18 in the Senate, assuming no vacancies.
Why do some states count and report election results faster than others?
If you’ve followed results on election night, you’ve probably noticed that some states seem to count their ballots faster than others. This is because the United States has a decentralized election system, meaning every state has different election administration methods, policies, and priorities. There are also many differences at the local level, with more than 10,000 election administration jurisdictions in the country.
Ballotpedia covers election administration extensively because it helps readers understand the nuts and bolts of democracy. That’s why, in Friday’s Daily Brew, we introduced our new report on policies affecting when states count and report ballots, including a case study of Florida and California’s election administration practices.