Gov. Asa Hutchinson called a special election on May 22, 2018, for Senate District 16.

The special election has been called to fill the vacancy left by the passing of State Sen. Greg Standridge. Standridge lost his battle with cancer on November 16, 2017.

The primary will be February 13 and a primary runoff, if necessary, on March 13.

Gov. Dannel Malloy announced a special election for Assembly District 15 will take place on January 9, 2018.

Rep. David Baram resigned the seat following his election as a probate court judge earlier this month.

Assembly District 15 consists of Bloomfield and parts of Windsor.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held for Pennsylvania’s 35th House District on January 23, 2018.

Rep. Marc Gergely resigned the seat on November 6 after pleading guilty to corruption charges for his role in an illegal gambling machine ring.

Democrats and Republicans will each select a nominee to appear on the ballot.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election will be held for Pennsylvania’s 35th House District on January 23, 2018.

Rep. Marc Gergely resigned the seat on November 6 after pleading guilty to corruption charges for his role in an illegal gambling machine ring.

Democrats and Republicans will each select a nominee to appear on the ballot.

The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned an eight-week special session on Friday, November 17, after the Senate gave final approval on legislation to balance the state’s budget.

Just hours after the session ended, Gov. Mary Fallin line-item vetoed most of the budget bill’s provisions citing a failure to address the requests she made in calling the session and the lack of a long-term solution to re-occurring budget deficits. Provisions temporarily preserving funding for crucial health and human services were retained as the state continues to seek a solution.

The vetoed bill would have used cash reserves and made deep cuts to funding across all state agencies to close the $215 million hole in the state budget.

Gov. Fallin said she intends to call a second special session of the Legislature to come up with long-term funding solutions.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has scheduled a special election on May 22, 2018, to fill the state Senate District 29 seat vacated by Eddie Joe Williams.

The primary will be February 13 and a primary runoff, if necessary, on March 13.

Williams vacated the seat to become a representative to the Southern States Energy Board.

From all of us at State and Federal Communications, we hope you and your family has a great Thanksgiving. Our offices will be closed on Thanksgiving day and the following Friday as we give thanks.

Speaking of, we’re very thankful for all of you this holiday and look forward to many more years of providing you the unparalleled political compliance information you’ve come to expect! Happy Thanksgiving!

Lawmakers passed a series of bills during the fall veto session this week aimed at curbing sexual harassment within state government.

Among them, Senate Bill 402 expressly prohibits sexual harassment by lobbyists, provides for a $5,000 fine for violations, and requires lobbyists to take an annual sexual harassment training course. The Secretary of State’s inspector general is also granted additional authority to investigate reports of sexual harassment.

The measure unanimously passed both houses and now awaits the governor’s signature.

Former federal prosecutor Julie Porter has been appointed as temporary inspector general after reports surfaced of harassment claims going unnoticed for more than a year while the post was vacant.

Becky recaps a busy week in elections and legislative sessions around the country!

The group Represent South Dakota met the November 6 deadline for submitting petition signatures to the Office of the Secretary of State to add a constitutional amendment to the 2018 ballot.

The amendment would tighten campaign finance and lobbying restrictions, create an independent ethics commission, and require laws changing the ballot question process to pass a public vote.

House speaker Mark Mickelson also met the deadline to turn in petition signatures for an initiative that would ban out-of-state political contributions for ballot questions, affecting groups such as Represent South Dakota.

The Office of the Secretary of State will conduct a random sampling of the signatures to determine their validity.

On Tuesday voters elected Wilmot Collins as the new Mayor of Helena, unseating the incumbent mayor of 16 years.

Collins, who came to Helena 23 years ago, is the first black mayor in the history of Montana.

Helena has nonpartisan elections, but Collins ran on a progressive message addressing teen and veteran homelessness, improving tourism, ensuring access to clean water, and encouraging other refugees to prosper in the city.

On Tuesday, Tucson voters rejected a ballot measure to increase the city sales tax by a half-penny and a second measure aiming to increase it by a tenth of a percent to fund zoo renovations.

The proposed half-cent increase was intended for early childhood education funding and pre-school vouchers and would have generated an estimated $50 million a year. There was strong opposition to the measure by city officials and both local political parties.

Tucson voters approved a sales tax increase earlier this year to fund police and infrastructure.

Voters in Denver approved a $937 million bond package to fund roads, parks, libraries, and cultural facilities.

The bond package, made up of seven different ballot questions, is the city’s largest ever and the first it has seen in a decade.

Support on all seven ballot questions was strong, the smallest margin of victory hovering above 60 percent.

There was no organized opposition to the package which covers about 460 repair and improvement projects throughout the city.

Voters in Kansas City approved a ballot measure on a $1 billion airport project to build a new privately financed airport in the city. The fate of the current 45-year-old airport has been a question for years as the city debated whether to renovate or demolish.

Supporters of the new project said the airport had outlived its usefulness and presented the city in a poor light to travelers. The ballot measure was approved by a 3-to-1 margin.

In St. Louis, voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase for police and fire funding. St. Louis County recently approved similar funding and City officials persuaded voters the tax increase was necessary to have competitive wages.