
Four state legislators in three states stepped down from their positions on June 30, bringing the number of state legislative vacancies that have occurred this year to 75. The former legislators had a cumulative total of more than sixty years of legislative experience among them. Gary Jackson (R) had served in the Mississippi State Senate…
Arkansas Voters First, sponsors of an initiative to create an independent redistricting commission, filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State John Thurston (R) on April 22. To qualify for the November ballot, sponsors need to submit 89,151 valid signatures by July 3, 2020. Signatures for Arkansas initiatives must be collected in person. Currently, none of…
An April 9 Arkansas Supreme Court ruling limited how much deference agency interpretations of law would receive in the future. The court ruled in Meyers v. Yamato Kogyo Co. that the court should determine the meaning of state laws for itself and should not defer to state agency interpretations. Justice Shawn Womack delivered the opinion…