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In September 2019, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed 42 significant regulatory actions issued by federal agencies. The agency approved three rules without changes and approved the intent of 35 rules while recommending changes to their content. Agencies withdrew two rules from the review process. Two other rules were improperly…

In the past week, one Republican member of the U.S. House announced his retirement. On September 30, Rep. Mac Thornberry (TX-13) announced that he would not seek re-election in 2020. To date, four Senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) and 22 Representatives (17 Republicans and five Democrats) are not running for re-election. In 2018, 55…

September’s partisan count of the 7,383 state legislators across the United States shows 52.1% of all state legislators are Republicans and 46.9% are Democrats.   Ballotpedia completes a count of the partisan balance of state legislatures at the end of every month. The partisan composition of state legislatures refers to which political party holds the…

In 2018, public-sector unions contributed $159.8 million to candidates for federal, state, or local office, according to resources available through campaign finance reporting requirements at both the federal and state levels.   The five states in which political candidates received the most money in contributions from public-sector unions were: California, where unions contributed $74.1 million,…

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 September 23 to September 27, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,730 pages, bringing the…

Half of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. by population have adopted local climate action plans. These plans include goals like community-wide and municipal operations greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy use, mostly with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.   Opponents say that such plans increase living costs and cause economic harm.…

Five states are holding gubernatorial or state legislative elections this year: Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia. All five states could see a change in trifecta status as a result. A state government trifecta exists when one party controls a state’s governorship and holds majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Today, there…

The Republican National Committee (RNC) outraised its Democratic counterpart by more than two-to-one for the fourth consecutive month, while the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) outraised its Republican counterpart for a second month this year, according to September 2019 campaign finance reports filed with the FEC.   The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) raised $4.7…

Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers show which candidates are getting our readers’ attention.   Andrew Yang’s campaign page on Ballotpedia received 4,203 views for the week of September 15-21. Yang’s pageview figure represents 11.4% of the pageviews for all Democratic candidates during the…

In the past week, one member of the U.S. House announced their 2020 retirement. Republican Paul Cook (CA-8) said he will run for the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. To date, four Senators (three Republicans and one Democrat) and 20 Representatives (16 Republicans and four Democrats) are not running for re-election.   As of…