Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens has called a special legislative session to consider new abortion regulations.

The extraordinary session is slated to begin Monday, June 12, just one week after the Legislature adjourned its first extraordinary session.

Lawmakers will consider stricter regulations on abortion clinics as well as attempt to nullify a St. Louis ordinance banning employers and landlords from discriminating against women who have had an abortion.

In a 35-page order, a federal judge dismantled some of the toughest ethics laws in the country. U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman struck down Kentucky’s prohibitions on lawmakers accepting gifts from lobbyists and lobbyists making contributions to candidates for the state legislature.

Judge Bertelsman ruled the gift prohibition’s “anything of value” standard is too vague for an ordinary person to know what conduct is prohibited. Furthermore, the judge stated lobbying is a vital part of the political process and restricting what lobbyists can do in their interactions with a legislator is a violation of their freedom of association.

Republican state Sen. John Schickel, who filed the lawsuit, called the ruling a victory for freedom of speech.

The judge also took aim at caucus campaign committees, ruling the statutory definition restricting the committees to Republican or Democratic is unconstitutional. Former Libertarian House candidate David Watson challenged the law, saying third party candidates cannot compete with the amount of money generated by caucus campaign committees.

The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission and the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance are still reviewing the order and are considering an appeal.

Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session of the Texas Legislature on Tuesday in an effort to push through a bill package necessary to keep some state agencies from closing.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick intentionally kept the legislation, known as a sunset bill, from passing in order to force a special session to discuss other items that did not pass during the regular session of the Legislature.

Gov. Abbott announced a 20-item agenda for the session but stated no other legislation would be looked at until the sunset bill is passed in full. Some other items listed on the agenda include school finance reform and mail-in ballot fraud.

The special session is scheduled to convene July 18, 2017.

On June 1, the 2nd Session of The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, which began on November 21, 2016, adjourned until October 4, 2017.

Bill 26, the Election Financing Amendment Act received Royal Assent on June 1. The new law increases the annual contribution limit for individuals from $3,000 to $5,000, and is indexed for inflation. Other changes to the law include limiting cash contributions to $25 or less, allowing self-employed persons to volunteer services for which they normally charge without the services being considered a contribution, and expanding the definition of “election communication” as applied to third parties to include communications about issues associated with a political party or a candidate. The law takes effect on September 1.

Lawmakers plan to adjourn the Assembly again on November 3, and then reconvene on November 15, with a final scheduled adjournment of the 2nd Session to be on December 1.

On June 5, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that 28 state House and Senate Districts in North Carolina were racially gerrymandered, while also vacating the lower court’s order for a special election in 2017 for one-year terms to address the issue.

The court ruled that the special election remedy was not properly analyzed by the lower court. The matter has been returned to the lower court, which could call another special election or order new districts in time for the regular cycle of elections in 2018.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes just two weeks after the court found two of the state’s U.S. Congressional districts to also be racially gerrymandered.

Lawmakers finished a special session in one day, adjourning late Monday, June 5, 2017.

The Legislature passed funding bills for the attorney general’s office, infrastructure projects, and the Department of Transportation.

Gov. Phil Bryant was forced to call the special session to resolve budget issues prior to July 1, the beginning of a new fiscal year.

Gov. Rick Scott has called the Legislature into a special session to finalize the state budget. The session is scheduled for June 7 to June 9, 2017.

Gov. Scott and House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who were at odds throughout the 2017 session, struck a deal on the budget and a controversial education bill, providing an increase in spending for charter schools.

Absent from the governor’s call is the issue of medical marijuana sales, despite overwhelming citizen approval of a 2016 ballot measure. A two-thirds vote by lawmakers, however, could expand the focus of the special session.

Q. We file our federal LD-2 quarterly lobbying reports under the IRC definitions.  Does the IRC 5 percent de minimus rule apply to capturing reportable expenditures on our quarterly LD-2 disclosure?

A. In short, yes, but with a caveat.  If your organization has opted to compile lobbying expenditures using Method B or Method C, the 5 percent de minimus rule applies.  As a frame of reference, the IRC allows taxpayers an exception for including the time of individuals who spend less than 5 percent of their time engaged in lobbying activities as defined by the IRS…

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Several Canadian legislative sessions adjourned last week:

• On June 2, the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories adjourned. Legislation considered this session included infrastructure and operations expenditure bills as well as an amendment to the Tobacco Tax Act. The Legislative Assembly is scheduled to reconvene on September 19, 2017, and to adjourn on October 4, 2017. The Legislative Assembly is scheduled to then again reconvene on October 17, 2017, and to adjourn on October 20, 2017.
• On June 1, the first session of the 41st Legislature of the Quebec National adjourned until June 6. One piece of legislation still being considered is Bill 56, the Lobbying Transparency Act, introduced in 2015. The bill would expand the scope of the definition of lobbyists to include shareholders lobbying for an entity as well as directors and officers of a nonprofit. The bill would also expand the types of activity considered to be lobbying and impose stricter penalties and higher fines on violators of the law. The National Assembly is scheduled to reconvene on June 6, 2017, and to adjourn on June 16, 2017.
• On June 1, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario adjourned on June 1, 2017. In the last week of the session, Bill 138, Transparency in Government Bills Act, 2017, was introduced. The bill would require all proposed legislation to include a statement describing the problem the bill seeks to address, a description of the public policy goals the bill seeks to achieve, and a summary of the financial costs the bill would have on the government, municipalities, the public, and any affected industries or businesses. The Legislative Assembly is scheduled to reconvene on September 11, 2017, and then adjourn on December 14, 2017.
• On June 1, the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly adjourned to the call of the Chair. During this latest session, amendments to the Intergovernmental Affairs Act and the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act were considered. The next scheduled sitting day is Monday, November 6, 2017. The Assembly is then scheduled to adjourn on December 7.

Lawmakers return to Jackson today for a special session to deal with unresolved budget issues.

Spending plans for the attorney general’s office and the Department of Transportation were incomplete when the legislature adjourned its regular session in April. The governor, who sets the session’s agenda, is also proposing an increase to the amount of money flowing into the state’s rainy-day fund.

Lawmakers hope to complete their work in just a day or two, with the first day costing taxpayers more than $70,000, and each additional day costing nearly $50,000.

On June 1, a three-judge panel unanimously dismissed Gov. Roy Cooper’s legal challenge against Senate Bill 68.

Senate Bill 68 combines state elections and ethics boards, and became law when the House and Senate voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the bill.

A spokesman for the Democratic governor said shortly after the ruling that Cooper plans to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

This week, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a call for a special session of the Louisiana Legislature as a precautionary measure in response to significant disagreements over the state’s operating and construction budgets.

The special session, if necessary, is to convene Thursday, June 8, at 6:30 pm and must adjourn by midnight on Monday, June 19. The regular session of the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn at 6:00 pm on Thursday, June 8, with the special legislative session convening just half an hour later if no budget consensus is reached.

Gov. Edwards has threatened to veto the current budget, which leaves $206 million unspent, as he believes it forces unnecessary cuts.

Gov. Rick Scott set the dates for a special election for House District 44. The primary election will be held on August 15, 2017, with the general election on October 10, 2017.

The District 44 seat opened when Rep. Eric Eisnaugle was appointed as a judge of the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Several Republican candidates have already opened campaign accounts as well as one Democrat.