Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Senate President Wilton Simpson have announced a special session to convene on May 17.

The special session will focus on legislation implementing and ratifying the 30-year gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida announced on April 23 by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

This expansive compact looks to modernize the state’s gaming industry, authorize sports betting, and is projected to increase revenue by over $6 billion over the next decade.

The Chesapeake City Council, on a vote of 5-4, rejected an ordinance moving mayoral, City Council, and School Board elections from even-numbered years to odd-numbered years.

The ordinance was introduced in response to the passage of Virginia’s Senate Bill 1157 that requires local elections to be conducted in November rather than May.

Proponents of the ordinance cited concerns about local issues being overshadowed by national issues, while opponents point to higher voter turnouts in even-numbered year elections and Virginia’s long history of connections between voter suppression and odd-numbered year elections for reasons to reject the proposed shift.

The Maryland General Assembly adjourned sine die on April 12.

Key enacted legislation included the $1 billion pandemic relief enacted with Gov. Larry Hogan’s approval and sweeping police reform measures enacted despite Hogan’s veto.

Additionally, a hotly debated immigrants’ rights bill aimed at making Maryland a sanctuary state was also passed, but it is expected to be vetoed by Hogan.

The West Virginia Legislature adjourned sine die on April 10 after passing the $4.5 billion state budget.

Other major bills passed include establishing an intermediate court of appeals, COVID-19 liability protections, and the very controversial prohibition of transgender student-athletes from playing in single-sex sports.

Governor Jim Justice will have up to 15 days to sign or veto the session’s passed legislation.

The Virginia General Assembly held the annual veto session on April 7.

While Gov. Northam issued no vetoes to passed legislation, the reconvened session focused on the several dozen amendments recommended by Northam.

Approved amendments included a contentious acceleration of the marijuana legalization plan and several changes to the budget bill.

The 2021 session of the Mississippi Legislature adjourned sine die on April 4.

The session was mostly uneventful with most of the notable bills failing to pass including a proposal to overhaul the state tax system.

Among the measures that did pass were bills granting pay raises to teachers and an update to the state’s parole rules, which await the governor’s consideration.

This does affect lobbying reporting dates.

An end-of-session report is due on April 14, 10 days following adjournment sine die of the Legislature.

Georgia’s 2021 Legislative session adjourned sine die on March 31.

Among the measures passed is Senate Bill 202, which was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25 and made sweeping changes to the State’s voting laws, including bans on mass mailings of unsolicited absentee ballot requests and polling places on buses among other changes.

Another controversial bill, Senate Bill 221, also passed and currently awaits gubernatorial approval.

Senate Bill 221 allows certain elected officials to chair and register PACs called a leadership committee which is not subject to the in-session contribution ban.

Further, contributions to and expenditures by these leadership committees are not subject to the state’s contribution limits.

Governor Kemp will have just over a month to consider action on Senate Bill 221, as well as, the other bills passed during the session.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed House Bill 1157 into law.

The controversial bill looked to shifts municipal elections from May to the November general election with new terms commencing on January 1 of the following year.

This shift will effectively extend the terms of current officeholders to facilitate the transition to the election date cycles.

This shift will begin with elections being held in 2022.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has announced another special election to be held in 2021.

This election will be for Alabama House District 78, which became vacant when Rep. Kirk Hatcher won the special election to fill the vacant Senate District 26 on March 2.

The primary election for the House seat will be held on May 25 with a runoff election on June 22, if necessary.

The general election will be held on September 7.

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned their special session on March 1.

The special session focused on pandemic relief efforts and the state’s budget.

Additionally, the General Assembly passed bills abolishing the death penalty, legalizing marijuana, and establishing new environmental regulations.

The South Carolina Ethics Commission issued an opinion finding candidates for public office may not accept campaign contributions in the form of digital cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin.

Advisory Opinion 2021-001 references and adopts the reasoning of a similar opinion issued in 2018 by the South Carolina House Ethics Committee.

The opinions found cryptocurrencies do not meet the definitions of a “thing of value” or “contribution” as defined under current state law.

Both opinions state the decision to permit such contributions should be done through an act of the Legislature rather than through an advisory opinion.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice appointed Republican Joshua Booth to fill the 19^th House District seat vacated by Derrick Evans.

This comes after Evans’s arrest in connection with the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Justice chose Booth from a list of three candidates provided to him by Republican Party representatives.

However, the Wayne County Republican Executive Committee has filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the appointment.

According to the committee, Justice reportedly received two different lists of candidates.

The lawsuit argues state law requires Justice to choose a name from the original list submitted by the Wayne County Executive Committee, which did not include Booth.

In addition, the committee argues Justice should ignore the second list submitted by the chairman of the state Republican Party.

As a result, an expedited review by the West Virginia Supreme Court has been requested.

The Nashville Office of Metropolitan Clerk’s new online reporting portal will not be launched prior to the 2021 reporting due date.

The clerk’s office has indicated those lobbying activity reports should instead be emailed to the clerk’s office on or before the January 31 due date.

The Florida House and Senate have instituted COVID-19 safety protocols during committee meetings ahead of the 2021 legislative session.

For the month of January, Senate committee meetings will be limiting in-person attendance to individuals invited by the committee leaders.

Rooms at the Leon County Civic Center have been reserved and will be made available to other individuals wishing to remotely appear and provide testimony.

House committee meetings attendance will also be limited.

Individuals seeking to attend and provide public testimony must register online at least three hours prior to the meeting.

Once seating capacity is reached, individuals will be allowed to provide written testimony.

The testimony will then be distributed amongst the committee members prior to the meeting.

The new House protocols will be in effect until February 28.