Category: State
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Election legislation roundup: New York State Legislature
As of July 2, members of the New York State Legislature, which includes the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate, have passed nine bills related to election administration since the beginning of the year. Of those nine bills, legislators passed one during the week of June 26-July 2. Democrats sponsored the…
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States enact the most new extreme risk protection order laws since 2020
So far this year, two states, Michigan and Minnesota, have enacted extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs). They became the first states to enact new ERPOs since New Mexico and Virginia did so in 2020. The new laws in Michigan and Minnesota raise the total number of states with ERPOs to 21. ERPOs are also commonly…
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State governors issue 53 executive orders from June 19-July 2
Nationally, state governors issued 53 executive orders from June 19-July 2. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) led the field with 34, followed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) with three. Governors in 35 states issued the fewest orders with zero. Governors use executive orders to manage executive branch operations. The last two weeks…
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Ohio could be the fourth state to vote on a state constitutional right to abortion after campaign files signatures for Nov. 2023 ballot
Ohio could be the fourth state, following California, Michigan, and Vermont in 2022, to establish an explicit state constitutional right to abortion. On July 5, the campaign Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom submitted more than 710,131 signatures for a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to provide that “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s…
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Governor Ron DeSantis (R) vetoes four bills from June 26-July 2
Governor Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed four bills from June 26-July 2. The four bills are below: SB 284, which would have “required state agencies to buy vehicles that use ethanol and biodiesel blended fuels, as well as natural gas fuel, when possible.” DeSantis did not provide a reason for the veto. As of July 2,…
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Former North Dakota Rep. Rick Becker to circulate initiative that would prohibit property taxes
Former North Dakota Rep. Rick Becker (R) filed an initiative to amend the state’s constitution to prohibit property taxes in the state, except for those designed to pay for bond debt. The measure would limit the debt of a political subdivision (such as counties, cities, and towns) to 2.5% of the value of real property…
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19.3% of all state legislative censures of legislators have occurred in 2023
Six of the 31 cases tracked by Ballotpedia in which legislators were censured by state legislative chambers have occurred in 2023. This is the second highest number of legislators censured in one year since the first case in 1838 and accounts for 19.3% of all state legislative censures. The highest number of censures occurred in…
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2023 sees high percentage of mandatory state supreme court retirements, continuing 2022 trend
In 2022 and the first half of 2023, there was been an uptick in the percentage of mandatory retirements in state supreme courts. From 2019 to 2021, about one in every four retirements were mandated, while the remaining were voluntary. In 2022, there was an increase in the proportion of mandatory retirements, with about one…
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State supreme courts issue 392 opinions from June 12-25
State supreme courts issued 392 opinions from June 12-25. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia led the field with 82 opinions issued, followed by Kentucky with 31 and Texas (supreme court) with 20. The last two weeks’ 392 opinions account for 12% of the year-to-date total of 3,408. West Virginia, again, leads with…
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Update on this year’s and next year’s ballot measure certifications
As of June 27, 2023, 31 statewide measures have been certified for the ballot in eight states for elections in 2023. That’s nine more measures than the average number (22) certified at this point in other odd-numbered years from 2011 to 2021. The number certified—31—also ties with 2021 for the highest number of any of those…