As of March 31, governors and state agencies have issued 758 executive orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Executive orders are orders issued by a state’s executive branch that do not require legislative approval and are typically based on constitutional or statutory authority. The three states with the most executive orders so far are…
On March 30, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Lee’s order is effective from March 31 through April 14. Schools are scheduled to remain closed through April 24. Twenty-eight states have issued stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders to…
On March 30, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Northam’s order took effect immediately and will remain in place until June 10. It does not impact the state’s schools, which Northam closed for the academic year on…
An effort to recall Lance FitzGerald from his position as Ouray County Sheriff in Colorado submitted 1,082 petition signatures in March 2020. Recall supporters had 60 days to collect 768 signatures from eligible Ouray County voters. If enough signatures are deemed valid, a recall election will be scheduled. The recall effort began in January 2020.…
On March 30, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) issued an executive order closing nonessential businesses and requiring individuals to remain in their homes except for essential activities. Hogan’s order took effect immediately and will remain in place until the state’s declared state of emergency is over. The order defines essential activities as trips for supplies…
California is under a shelter-in-place order due to the coronavirus pandemic, but several ballot initiative campaigns are in the final days or weeks of their signature drives. As of March 23, four citizen-initiated measures have qualified to appear on the ballot in November. An additional nine ballot initiative could receive enough signatures to appear on…
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced that all schools statewide would remain closed for the rest of the school year due to the coronavirus outbreak. This was an extension of a previous order on March 13 when Northam ordered all schools to close from March 16 to March 27. Virginia became the second state to…