Indiana lawmakers canceled the one-day special session scheduled for November 29, and Gov. Eric Holcomb has extended the COVID-19 emergency.

The session’s agenda, ending the public health emergency, has been delayed to the January legislative session.

The Indiana Supreme Court decided to hear Gov. Holcomb’s challenge to House Enrolled Act 1123, permitting the Legislature to call itself into special session.

Oral arguments are scheduled in April after the Legislature ends its session on March 14, 2022.

If the General Assembly called itself into a special session, any laws passed could be subject to a constitutional challenge.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation prohibiting dark money contributions to judicial candidates.

Effective immediately, Senate Bill 536 prohibits a political committee established to support a state judicial candidate from accepting contributions from any out-of-state person and from any entity that does not disclose the identity of all donors to the entity.

The bill also prohibits any entity that does not disclose the identity of all donors from financing a distribution or broadcast of campaign materials prepared by the candidate, his or her campaign committee, or designated agents.

The bill also increases the threshold for which contributions to a conduit must be itemized from $500 to $1,000.

The North Dakota Legislature adjourned the special session on November 12 after approving the redistricting maps and passing several other bills including bills banning critical race theory in schools and vaccinee mandates. This does not affect lobbyist reporting. 

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election on December 14 to fill the Senate District 1 vacancy caused by the resignation of Sen. Zach Whiting.

Whiting resigned effective October 30 to take a job with the conservative think tank, Texas Public Policy Foundation.

There is no primary, and the filing deadline is November 19.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Whiting’s term, which runs through 2022.

Three days after it convened on November 8, the first special session of the South Dakota Legislature adjourned sine die on November 10 when lawmakers reached a compromise on the decennial redistricting map.

A concurrent second special session began on November 9 and lasted only one day.

During the second special session, lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to establish a committee to consider impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg for conduct in relation to a crash that killed Joe Boever last year.

Kentucky Republicans are projected to sweep the three legislative special elections and retain their supermajority.

Michael ‘Sarge’ Pollock is projected to defeat Democrat Eddie Rogers to win House District 51, filling the vacancy created by the death of Rep. John “Bam” Carney.

Timmy Truett is projected to defeat Democrat Mae Suramek to win House District 89 and succeed former Rep. Robert Goforth, who resigned in August.

Dr. Donald Douglas is projected to defeat Democrat Helen Bukulmez to win Senate District 22, filling the vacancy created by the death of Sen. Tom Buford.

Mike Carey is projected to succeed former Rep. Steve Stivers and fill the vacant seat in U.S. House District 15.

Carey, a coal lobbyist backed by former President Donald Trump, is projected to defeat Democrat Allison Russo by 16 percentage points.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio Council Rep. Shontel Brown will succeed former Rep. Marcia Fudge and fill the vacant seat in U.S. House District 11.

Brown, a Democrat, soundly defeated Republican Laverne Gore by over 57 percentage points.

Aftab Pureval defeated City Councilman David Mann to become the first Asian Pacific mayor in Cincinnati’s city history and the only one in the Midwest.

Pureval, a former refugee from New Delhi, is currently the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts.

Justin Bibb, a nonprofit executive, will be the next mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.

Bibb defeated Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley by 26 percentage points to become the city’s second-youngest mayor.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has called a special session of the Legislature to begin November 8.

Lawmakers had announced a special session in September to begin November 8 but Burgum’s announcement means lawmakers will not be limited to the four days allotted under the constitution when the Legislature calls itself into session.

House Majority Leader Chet Pollert said they will determine whether a veto session will be necessary during the special session.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die October 28 after a one-day session in which lawmakers passed the second redistricting plan after rejecting the first one in a special session on October 5.

The plan passed the Senate 48-1, with one senator absent, and the House 93-2.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting. 

Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve two ordinances addressing corruption in city government.

Ordinance 0415-2021 prohibits City Council members from soliciting campaign contributions from developers who have an interest in any ordinance before the council.

The ordinance will be effective when council appropriates funding to establish the administrative staffing and enforcement needs imposed by the ordinance.

Emergency Ordinance 0413-2021 is effective immediately and establishes a new position of ethics and good government counselor within the Department of Law to support ethics, election, and campaign finance transparency.

The ordinance transferred $375,000 from the general reserve for weather-related events to fund the position and to buy software to implement a program to make campaign finance disclosures more transparent.

Democrat Corina Magofna defeated Republican Grace Sablan Vaiagae in the special general election on October 16 for Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives District 3.

Magofna fills the vacancy caused by the death of Ivan A. Blanco and will complete the remainder of Blanco’s unexpired term which ends in 2022.