Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected February 23 as the date of the special runoff election for House District 68.

The runoff election will be held to replace former Rep. Drew Springer, R, who is now in the Texas Senate.

The runoff candidates are David Spiller, a Jacksboro attorney and school board trustee, and Craig Carter, a former candidate for overlapping state Senate District 30.

Spiller finished first in the five-way special election last month, receiving 44% of the vote.

Carter was the runner-up with 18%.

Early voting for the House District 68 runoff begins February 16.

In furtherance of transparency, Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi passed an administrative order establishing registration and reporting requirements and creating new prohibitions for lobbyists and lobbyist firms engaging with the House of Representatives.

Administrative Order 2021-03 directs the House to create and maintain a registry in which persons and entities must register and report detailed information related to their lobbying efforts.

The administrative order establishes disclosure requirements in which lobbyists and lobbying firms must, at the beginning of contact with the House, provide the identity of the client or clients on whose behalf they are carrying out lobbying efforts.

No later than July 1 and December 31 of each year, the order establishes that every person or entity registered as a lobbyist must submit a report before a Public Notary.

The order also prohibits natural or legal persons from working as a lobbyist while a contract with the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico is in force and bans any natural or legal person who has been convicted or has pleaded guilty in the state or federal forum, or in any other jurisdiction, from lobbying the House.

Greater disclosure requirements for lobbyists in New Mexico will be a topic of discussion during the largely virtual 2021 legislative session.

Lawmakers will consider requiring lobbyists or their employers to list the bills they lobbied, the position they took on each bill, and to report all money spent to influence state policy, including lobbyist compensation.

Additionally, legislation has been proposed to empower the state ethics commission to set the salary of all public officials, including legislators.

Though these types of proposals have failed in the past, open government advocates believe they stand a better chance in a virtual session without lobbyists physically present in the building.

During the virtual session, the public will be able to provide comments online via Zoom or by phone while the Roundhouse remains closed due to COVID-19.

House members will participate in floor and committee debates via Zoom, which will be broadcast publicly online. All legislation considered by the full House will be placed on a temporary calendar for 24 hours to ensure transparency and accessibility.

The Louisiana February 6 special primary election and March 20 special general election for House District 35 are canceled.

A special primary election was originally scheduled for February 6 followed by a special general election on March 20 to fill the vacancy in House District 35.

Stephen Dwight, who previously held the seat, resigned December 1, 2020, following his November election as Calcasieu Parish District Attorney.

Brett Geymann, a former state representative, was the only one to file for the House District 35 seat and qualify before the filing deadline of January 8.

A Republican, Geymann was the District 35 state representative from 2004 until he was term-limited in 2016. Louisiana does not have lifetime term limits, allowing Geymann to run again for the House seat.

Geymann will be sworn in on January 19.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has increased contribution limits for the 2021-2022 election cycle.

Effective January 1, an individual may not contribute more than $5,300 per election cycle to a candidate committee for statewide office and legislative office. Additionally, an individual may not contribute more than $6,550 per election cycle to a candidate committee for district office, county office, town office, and city office.

Contribution limits for PACs have also increased. A PAC without Mega PAC status may not contribute more than $5,300 per election cycle to a candidate for statewide office. In contrast, a PAC with Mega PAC status may contribute $10,600 per election cycle to candidates for statewide and legislative office and $13,100 per election cycle to candidates for county, city, town, or district office.

The Colorado Legislature will convene for the 2021 regular session on January 13.

However, it is expected to pause soon after until February 16 due to growing COVID-19 concerns in the state.

Lawmakers will convene to address urgent business, including swearing in new members, as quickly as possible before temporarily pausing the session.

The tentative plan is to resume February 16 when leaders hope the peak of the pandemic will have subsided. However, work may resume earlier if there is an emergency that requires immediate attention.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission voted to adopt the proposed changes to the Constitutional Ethics Rules related to lobbying and campaign finance.

Amendment 2021-01 impacts candidate committees formed for elections held prior to 2015. The changes include establishing a mandatory dissolution date of December 31, 2021; removing the limitation of expenditure of funds for only those purposes listed on the committee’s Statement of Organization; and providing a process for dissolving a candidate committee with debt without filing continuing reports with the Commission.

Amendment 3 to 2021-02 impacts lobbying laws by adding a new category of gifts for books and similar informational materials that do not count against the $500 overall aggregate limit of gifts and requiring this category of gift be reported in the same manner as other gifts are reported.

The commission directed the Executive Director to deliver the changes to the legislature and governor on February 1, 2021, in accordance with Article 29, section 3 of the Oklahoma Constitution.

The amendments will become effective upon adjournment sine die of the regular legislative session on May 28, 2021.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will call a special election on March 20 to fill the 5th Congressional District.

This seat was previously held by the late Luke Letlow, who died December 29 from COVID-19 complications.

Letlow, 41, had been elected to replace incumbent Congressman Ralph Abraham, who had previously chosen not to seek reelection.

Letlow is survived by his wife, Julia Barnhill Letlow, and two children.

The special election would coincide with already scheduled spring elections on March 20 for the primary and April 24 for a runoff.

Until then, the 5th Congressional District will be without a representative once Abraham’s term expires and the new Congress is sworn-in January 3.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected January 23 as the date of the special election to fill the seat of Rep. Drew Springer, who recently won a promotion to the Texas Senate.

Springer is headed to the upper chamber after winning the December 19 special election runoff to replace Sen. Pat Fallon, who is on his way to Congress next month.

At least two Republicans have already announced campaigns for the House seat. They are Jason Brinkley, who is resigning as Cooke County judge to run for the seat, and David Spiller, a Jacksboro attorney.

A special election will take place on April 6, 2021 in Oklahoma Senate District 22.

The special election became necessary after Stephanie Bice was elected to represent Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District. Her resignation is effective December 31 of this year.

The primary is scheduled to take place on February 9, 2021.

Former state legislator Rob Johnson, Darrick Matthews, Jake Merrick, and Keri Shipley are running in the Republican primary. In addition, Dylan Billings and Molly Ooten are running in the Democratic primary.

The Hawaii Ethics Commission administrative rules on gifts and lobbying are now live.

Additionally, optional lobbyist training sessions will take place on the mornings of January 6, 2021 and January 12, 2021 at 10 a.m.

Title 21 of the Hawaii Administrative Rules provides greater clarity on lobbyist registration and reporting requirements of the Hawaii Revised Statutes and memorializes longstanding ethics commission advice.

Noteworthy rule provisions include the requirement that expenditures are reported on an accrual basis, and a lobbyist registration exemption for individuals who work behind the scenes to draft testimony, research, and work under the direction of a registered lobbyist without directly communicating with legislative or executive branch officials.

Lobbyists interested in attending either of the training sessions may register at: https://ethics.hawaii.gov/ethicstraining_schedule/.

New Mexico lobbyists and lobbyist employers may begin registering and paying their registration fees in the new Campaign Finance Information System available at: https://login.cfis.sos.state.nm.us/#/index.

Both lobbyists and lobbyist employers will be required to register and create an employer/employee relationship to comply with the new system.

To help with the new system, the Secretary of State’s Office will hold live, online webinar classes with a thorough overview and demonstrations.

Morning and afternoon sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. beginning Monday, December 14 through Wednesday, December 16.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission will hold a regular meeting and public hearing on December 11 to consider lobbying and campaign finance rule changes.

Amendment 2021-01 would modify ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015 by providing a mandatory dissolution date, modifying uses of surplus funds and treatment of debt of those committees, and providing a repeal of ethics rules applicable to candidate committees formed for elections held prior to January 1, 2015.

Amendment 2021-02 would include “informational materials” as gifts by lobbyists, legislative liaisons, and lobbyist principals. If approved, both the campaign finance and lobbying amendments would become effective May 28, 2021.

The Arizona Legislature will close for a week “out of an abundance of caution” after Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, possibly exposed several Republican lawmakers to COVID-19.

Giuliani had tested positive for the virus less than a week after the former New York City mayor visited Arizona as part of a multistate tour aimed at contesting 2020 election results.

Giuliani had spent more than 10 hours discussing election concerns with Arizona Republicans, including two members of Congress and at least 13 current and future state lawmakers.