Federal Court Upholds Reinstated NY Presidential Primary Date

On May 19, The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the Southern District Court of New York’s decision to reinstate New York’s uncontested presidential primary on June 23.

The presidential primary was previously canceled by the New York Board of Elections after Sen. Bernie Sanders announced the end of his presidential campaign.

After the ruling, commissioners for the Board of Elections stated New York would not appeal the decision of the Second Circuit.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Rhode Island General Assembly has extended the delay of the legislative session.

House and Senate sessions have been canceled for the week of May 18 to May 22.

Additionally, the House and Senate Finance Committees are expected to review the administration’s third-quarter spending report this week.

Both chambers of the General Assembly are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 26.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Gov. John Carney issued the 15th modification of the state emergency declaration due to COVID-19.

The modification postpones Delaware’s presidential preference primary from June 2 to July 7.

Any elections for school board members scheduled for June 16 will be postponed to July 21.

Additionally, local elections to be conducted after May 7 and before the end of the state of emergency are to be conducted at the discretion of the municipality.

Originally scheduled for May 12, this is the second postponement of the presidential primary and school board elections.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Rhode Island General Assembly has extended the postponement of the legislative session.

All House and Senate sessions have been canceled for the week of May 11 to May 15.

The House Finance Committee is expected to resume fiscal year 2020 and 2021 budget hearings on Thursday, May 14.

Additionally, both chambers of the General Assembly are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 19.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

On May 5, United States District Court Judge Analisa Torres for the Southern District of New York ruled the New York Board of Elections must hold a presidential primary and include previously qualified candidates on the ballot, including Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Gov. Cuomo previously postponed the presidential primary from April 28 to June 23 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Board of Elections later voted to cancel the presidential primary.

However, the board still scheduled a congressional special election and local primaries for June 23.

The court’s ruling found the cancellation of the presidential primary to be unconstitutional.

Additionally, the cancellation had violated candidates of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The preliminary injunction restores all 10 presidential candidates and their respective slates of delegate candidates to the New York presidential primary ballot and requires that the primary election be held on June 23.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly has extended the postponement of the legislative session.

All House and Senate sessions are canceled for the week of May 4 to May 8.

Additionally, the House Finance Committee is expected to resume budget hearings the week of May 11, and the full General Assembly are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 12.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Court has suspended all legislative activities until further notice except for remote public meetings.

Lawmakers previously suspended legislative activities until May 4.

The State House and Legislative Office Building will be closed to legislative members, legislative staff, and visitors during the suspension.

The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics introduced a new feature on the state Lobbying Application.

Their aim is to minimize the risk of duplicate profiles and improve functionality.

Additionally, this feature allows creating or claiming an organization profile (lobbyist, client, public corporation, or coalition).

In turn, this allows information to prepopulate a client’s semiannual report, provide more transparency, increase reliability, and reduce filing delays.

JCOPE also announced the mechanism to assign an individual as a Chief Administrative Officer and Delegated Administrator has changed.

To authorize an individual for either of these specific roles, the individual’s user identification number must be provided.

The ability to assign an individual as the CAO or the DA merely by entering their first and last name in a search field has been eliminated.

Any questions about navigating the Lobbying Application may be directed to the JCOPE Lobbying Helpdesk at (518) 474-3973 or by emailing helpdesk@jcope.ny.gov.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the Board of Elections voted to cancel the presidential primary on June 23.

The presidential primary was previously rescheduled from April 28 to June 23 due to the state of emergency.

The decision to cancel the presidential primary does not affect the congressional special election, state, and local primaries scheduled for June 23.

On April 24, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order 202.23 to reschedule state assembly and senate special elections.

The elections now move from June 23 to November 3 due to the ongoing COVID-19 state of emergency.

Additionally rescheduled to the same day as the general election, are special elections for the 50th Senate District and the 12th, 31st, and 136th Assembly Districts.

The executive order also reschedules a special election for Queens Borough President from June 23 to November 3.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the State Ethics Commission announced a filing deadline extension for lobbyist monthly and quarterly reports until July 10.

This extension affects monthly reports due on April 10, May 10, and June 10, in which the lobbyist has expended or agreed to expend $100 or more in furtherance of lobbying activities to influence legislative action in the preceding month.

The filing deadline for the first quarterly report was also extended until July 10.

The commission is expected to send out further details by email to notify all filers.

On April 21, the General Assembly announced the regular session will not reconvene before the May 6 constitutional adjournment date.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the legislative session has been suspended since March 11.

Legislative leaders expect a special session to be called in the coming months to address pending bills to ensure the continuity of government functions.

This does not immediately affect lobbyist reporting.

On April 17, Gov. Ned Lamont signed Executive Order No. 7BB to reschedule the presidential primary to Tuesday, August 11, due to the ongoing public health crisis caused by COVID-19.

This is the second rescheduling of the presidential primary and the new date will coincide with the state and federal primary on August 11.

The governor had previously rescheduled the presidential primary from April 28 to June 2.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly is extending the postponement of the legislative session.

All House and Senate sessions and committee hearings for the week of April 20 to April 24 have been canceled.

The General Assembly is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, April 28.

These changes do not affect lobbyist reporting.