The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) last week issued a 2019 update on the Trump administration’s 2-to-1 regulatory policy, which requires agencies to eliminate two old regulations for each new regulation issued. Though the requirement only applies to what are called significant regulations—those with an economic impact of $100 million or more—the update includes information…
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. During the week of December 2 to December 6, the Federal Register increased by 1,262 pages, bringing the year-to-date total to 67,168 pages.…
Eleven states are holding elections for governor in 2020, including seven of the 26 states with Republican governors and four of the 24 states with Democratic governors. New Hampshire and Vermont last elected a governor in 2018, while the other nine last held a gubernatorial election in 2016. Here’s what happened in the most recent…
In the past week, three members of Congress announced 2020 retirements: Reps. Denny Heck (D-Wash.), Tom Graves (R-Ga.), and George Holding (R-N.C.). To date, four Senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) and 31 Representatives (22 Republicans and nine Democrats) are not running for re-election. In 2018, 55 members of Congress—18 Democrats and 37 Republicans—did not…
The office of lieutenant governor is an elected statewide executive office in 43 states. In two other states, Tennessee and West Virginia, the President of the State Senate serves as lieutenant governor. Maine, Arizona, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not have lieutenant governors. Lieutenant governors derive their responsibilities from several sources, including gubernatorial…
In this month’s federal vacancy count, Ballotpedia tracked nominations, confirmations, and vacancies from November 5 to December 2, 2019. Ballotpedia publishes the federal vacancy count at the start of each month. HIGHLIGHTS Vacancies: There has been one new judicial vacancy since the October 2019 report. There are 90 vacancies out of 870 active Article…
As of December 2, 2019, 1,869 candidates are filed with the FEC to run for U.S. House in 2020. Of those, 1,752—873 Democrats and 879 Republicans—are from one of the two major political parties. In 2018, 3,244 candidates filed with the FEC, including 1,566 Democrats and 1,155 Republicans. 299 candidates are filed with the…
Donald Trump has appointed and the Senate confirmed 164 Article III federal judges through December 1, 2019, his third year in office. This is the fourth-most Article III judicial appointments through this point in a presidency of all presidents dating back to Theodore Roosevelt. Only Jimmy Carter (186), George W. Bush (168), and Bill Clinton…