Author: Dave Beaudoin

Welcome to the Monday, May 10, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: COVID-19 policy changes and events one year ago this week Arkansas passes bill with multiple restrictions on the ballot initiative process Previewing the mayoral races in Anchorage and Omaha Happy Monday! We hope it was a lovely…

Republicans lost 187 net state legislative seats during the Trump administration Over the course of Donald Trump’s (R) presidency, Republicans lost 187 net state legislative seats. During all presidencies since 1921, the president’s party has lost a net average of 552 state legislative seats. The net loss of 187 Republican state legislative seats during the…

Virginia Republicans to select statewide nominees via convention Saturday Republicans in Virginia will meet on Saturday—May 8—to select statewide nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. The Republican Party of Virginia chose to hold an unassembled convention rather than a primary, which means that delegates—voters who registered to participate in the convention—will decide the…

Minneapolis group submits signatures for initiative to replace police department with department of public safety A Minneapolis group—Yes 4 Minneapolis—submitted over 20,000 signatures to the city clerk for an initiative to repeal and replace provisions in the city charter governing the police department. In order for the initiative to appear before voters in 2021, 11,906…

Fun facts and finds about state legislative committees   Our staff recently updated our extensive list of state legislative committee information and added current membership information for 2,083 committees. As you may expect, government structures vary widely among the states. For example, we added information for 14 committees in Nebraska and 87 committees in Mississippi. We…

COVID-19 policy changes and events one year ago this week The U.S. Supreme Court wraps up arguments in its 2020-2021 term on May 4. One year ago that day, SCOTUS heard oral arguments by conference call for the first time in history. The court had postponed oral arguments starting in March of 2020 in response…

Texas’ 6th Congressional District special election is tomorrow, May 1 A special election to fill the vacancy in Texas’ 6th Congressional District will be held tomorrow—May 1. Twenty-three candidates—11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, one Libertarian, and one independent—are running to represent this suburban Fort Worth district. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote,…

4 facts about the Senate parliamentarian The U.S. Senate’s parliamentarian—Elizabeth MacDonough—has been in the news this year for rulings she made regarding federal budget reconciliation procedures. If you follow the legislative process in Congress, you may have come across a newsletter or a news story that has mentioned the parliamentarian or Elizabeth MacDonough.  Given this…

Apportionment counts: Results and background On Monday—April 26—the U.S. Census Bureau released apportionment counts based on the 2020 census. Six states—Texas, Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon—gained seats in the U.S. House. Texas gained two, and the rest gained one. Seven states—California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—each lost a seat.…

Florida Supreme Court blocks marijuana legalization initiative from 2022 ballot Last week, I wrote that New Mexico became the third state in a month to enact recreational marijuana legalization, along with New York and Virginia. In related news, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 on April 22 that the state could not include a marijuana…