Category: State
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Kansas enacts legislative district boundaries after state supreme court approves them
Kansas enacted new legislative district boundaries on May 18 when the Kansas Supreme Court unanimously upheld the maps that Gov. Laura Kelly (D) signed into law on April 15. As specified in the state constitution, the state supreme court had to approve or reject the new boundaries within 10 days of Attorney General Derek Schmidt…
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McGrane wins May 17 Republican Party primary for Idaho Secretary of State
Phil McGrane defeated Dorothy Moon and Mary Souza in the May 17 Republican Party primary for Idaho Secretary of State. Incumbent Lawerence Denney(R), who was first elected in 2014, did not file for re-election. McGrane is the Ada County Clerk, a position to which he was first elected in 2018. On his campaign website, McGrane said,…
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Wisconsin Secretary of State raises no money this election cycle
According to the most recent campaign finance reports filed with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette has raised no money between Jan. 1, 2021 and Mar. 21, 2022. La Follette is a member of the Democratic Party and has served in his current office since 1983, with a previous term…
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4.7% of state legislative incumbents who filed for re-election have lost in primaries
So far this year, 44 state legislative incumbents—11 Democrats and 33 Republicans—have lost to primary challengers. Across the nine states that have held primaries, 4.7% of incumbents running for re-election have lost. This is both the largest number and highest incumbent loss rate in these nine states since 2014. So far this year, the loss…
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Kentucky announces plans to launch mobile unemployment insurance office
The Kentucky Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI) announced plans on May 11 to launch a mobile office that aims to help citizens access unemployment insurance services. The office aims to help those in poorer communities complete tasks like filing for unemployment benefits, verifying their identities, and determining their eligibility for benefits. The mobile office will…
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Oklahoma legislature passes unemployment insurance indexing bill
The Oklahoma House of Representatives gave final approval May 17 to House Bill 1933, which would index unemployment insurance benefits, tying the length of benefits to the state’s unemployment rate. The Seante passed the bill April 26. If the governor approves the bill, Oklahoma will provide shorter periods of benefits during times of low unemployment…
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Michigan waives 55,000 pandemic unemployment insurance overpayments
The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency announced May 4 that an additional 55,000 unemployment insurance claimants who received overpayments during the coronavirus pandemic will not have to repay the funds. The agency also said about 400,000 overpayments totalling $4.3 billion had already been forgiven. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a bill Feb. 28 allowing for…
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Colorado legislators pass bill to direct federal funds to repay unemployment insurance debt
Colorado legislators on May 10 passed a bill that would direct $600 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to help pay back the state’s $1 billion unemployment insurance trust fund debt to the federal government. The bill would also forgive certain non-fraud overpayments, meaning some workers who received more unemployment insurance payments…
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U.S. weekly unemployment insurance claims rise to 203,000
New applications for U.S. unemployment insurance benefits rose 1,000 for the week ending May 7 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000. The previous week’s figure was revised up from 200,000 to 202,000. The four-week moving average as of May 7 rose to 192,750 from a revised 188,500 as of the week ending April 30. The number…
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Kansas Supreme Court overturns district court ruling, upholds state’s congressional district map
On May 18, the Kansas Supreme Court overturned a district court’s ruling that found that the state’s enacted congressional district boundaries were unconstitutional. In a two-page order, Justice Caleb Stegall wrote for the court, “A majority of the court holds that, on the record before us, plaintiffs have not prevailed on their claims that Substitute…