Category: State
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State supreme court vacancy count for March 2025
In this month’s state supreme court vacancy update, Ballotpedia tracked announced retirements, nominations, appointments, confirmations, and the swearing-in of justices from March 1, 2025, to March 30, 2025. Ballotpedia tracks court vacancies in all 52 state supreme courts. Announced retirements: During March 2025, one justice announced her retirement from her seat. Candidates nominated, appointed, and…
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Two Pennsylvania legislative districts swing toward Democrats, continuing 2025 trend
In two Pennsylvania state legislative special elections on March 25, Democrats continued a trend of winning a larger share of the vote than compared to the 2024 presidential election in several districts. The party has improved in 12 of the 14 contested partisan special elections for state legislature nationwide this year. Democrats won Pennsylvania State…
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With new Utah legislation, a look back at four 1970s ballot measures on water fluoridation
Utah is the first state to enact a statewide prohibition on drinking water fluoridation. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed the legislation, House Bill 81 (HB 81), on March 27, 2025. While Utah is the first state to enact a statewide ban, voters in four states—Utah, South Dakota, Oregon, and Washington—considered ballot measures related to water…
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Oregon Senate passes bill to extend unemployment benefits to striking public workers
The Oregon Senate passed legislation on March 21, 2025, that would make Oregon the first state to offer unemployment insurance (UI) compensation to strikers in both the public and private sectors. If SB 916 is passed by the House and signed by Governor Tina Kotek (D), workers like teachers and nurses would become eligible for…
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District judge blocks Iowa law requiring school districts to remove books depicting sex acts
What’s the story? On March 25, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher blocked a portion of Iowa state law requiring school districts to remove all books from public school libraries that contain descriptions of sex acts, as defined by the law. Locher ruled that the law — Senate File (SF) 496 passed in 2023 — was…
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Florida attorney general investigates proxy advisors
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) announced last week that his office is launching an antitrust investigation into Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the two largest proxy advisory firms. ISS and Glass Lewis control over 90% of the proxy advisory market and can influence how institutional investors, including pension funds, vote in corporate…
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Kansas voters will decide on citizenship voting requirement amendment in 2026—similar measures were approved in eight states in 2024
Kansas voters will decide on a constitutional amendment on Nov. 3, 2026, to state that “No person shall be deemed a qualified elector unless such person: (1) Is a citizen of the United States…” Similar measures were approved in eight states in 2024, and South Dakota voters will also be deciding on such an amendment…
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Idaho will be first state to vote on English as official language ballot measure since 2010
The Idaho State Legislature voted on March 25, 2025, to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would make English the official language of the state. Voters will decide on the proposal at the general election on Nov. 3, 2026. Idaho will be the 12th state to vote on such a ballot measure. Currently, English…
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Georgia voters to decide 2026 constitutional amendment to increase acreage limit for conservation use property tax classification
Georgia voters will decide in 2026 on a constitutional amendment to increase the maximum acreage of agricultural and timber property that can be classified as bona fide conservation use property. Under the amendment, the maximum acreage would be increased from 2,000 acres to 4,000 acres. Bona fide conservation use property, under the state’s Conservation Use…
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Kansas voters to decide on amendment for direct election of state Supreme Court justices in August 2026
The Kansas State Legislature voted to send a constitutional amendment to voters that would provide for direct election of state Supreme Court justices and abolish the existing Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission. The amendment states that the seven justices would be elected at staggered general elections with positions 1, 2, and 3 elected in November…