U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida permanently halted a portion of the lobbying ban approved by voters in 2018.

The restriction barred public officials from lobbying, on issues of policy, appropriations, or procurement before governmental bodies or entities while in office.

Bloom determined the amendment language to be too broad and poorly defined, agreeing with the Plaintiffs in the case.

The six-year ban on lobbying pertaining to former state and local officers after leaving office was not blocked by Bloom and will continue to be in effect.

Gov. Kay Ivey announced the special election date for House District 16.

The seat was previously held by Rep. Kyle South, whose resignation went into effect June 30.

South will become the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

The special primary election will take place on September 26.

If necessary, a special primary runoff will be held October 24.

The special general election will be held on January 9, 2024.

The Mississippi online campaign finance system has been disabled due to recent concerns over its reliability.

Issues have been reported with the filing system and include incorrect itemization, missing signatures, and no filings appearing to be filed with the Office of Secretary of State when they had actually been filed by the candidate or committee.

The office is currently working to replace the outdated system.

Candidates and political committees must now file their campaign finance reports via email, in person, mail, or through fax.

The next campaign finance report due date is July 10.

A special election will take place on November 7, 2023 for Senate District 42.

Senator Marlon Kimpson previously held the seat but resigned upon being tapped to join the Biden administration.

Sen. Kimpson was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

If necessary, a special primary election will be held on September 5 and the special election primary runoff on September 19.

This does affect reporting, and the next report will be due on October 23, 2023.

Gov. Kay Ivey has announced that she plans to call a special session.

The session is intended to address the congressional voting maps.

This follows a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that found the recent voting maps to be discriminatory towards black voters, and a deadline of July 21 was given to draft and approve new maps.

The special session is planned to take place from July 17 to July 21, 2023.

The State Board of Elections has selected a new employee to take over the role of elections administrator.

Jared DeMarinis was unanimously voted by the board to take over the position.

DeMarinis currently works as the director of the board’s candidacy and campaign finance division.

In order for him to take over the role, a confirmation hearing will be held at the next session of the state Senate.

If confirmed he will succeed the previous elections administrator, Linda Lamon, who will be retiring this summer.

Alabama lawmakers officially concluded the 2023 legislative session on June 6.

Legislation that passed included a grocery tax reduction, an exemption from state income tax for overtime work, and a tax rebate for both individual and married tax filers.

The $3 billion budget surplus ultimately gave way to what lawmakers called historic tax relief.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill changing the name of the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission back to the State Ethics Commission.

The much longer commission name was the product of a major ethics overhaul in 2010.

In addition to the name change, House Bill 572 also clarifies rules for late contribution reporting.

A contribution designated for a general election given close to a primary election date does not need reported within two days.

The new law will take effect on July 1.

Gov. Bill Lee has decided to bring back lawmakers for a special session to address public safety issues.

The governor had proposed legislation during the regular session intended to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

However, the General Assembly adjourned before the legislation was considered.

The special session will take place August 21.

The 2023 session of the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die on May 5.

Florida lawmakers approved a $117 billion budget that includes $2.7 billion in tax cuts for consumers and businesses, then moved quickly to adjourn their regular session.

The new budget that starts July 1 is $5 billion higher this last year’s, thanks largely to unexpectedly high revenue collections.

The budget adds nearly $2 billion to the state’s reserves, bringing the total to about $10.9 billion, about $4 billion less than Gov. Ron DeSantis requested.

A special election will be held for the currently vacant seat in Pennsylvania House District 163.

The district was previously represented by former Rep. Mike Zabel.

Zabel resigned in March after harassment allegations involving Rep. Abby Major.

The special election will take place on May 16.

The Tennessee Legislature adjourned sine die on April 21.

Lawmakers succeeded in approving $140 million for school resource officers, along with $3.3 billion for a roads plan backed by Gov. Bill Lee.

The session also prominently featured the partisan expulsions of Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones.

Republican Rep. Scotty Campbell resigned in the wake of findings by a bipartisan ethics subcommittee that he had violated the General Assembly’s workplace policy on discrimination and harassment.

Gov. Lee also indicated he plans on calling a special session to act on gun reform after it was left unaddressed in this session, with a date still to be announced.

Rep. Scott Campbell submitted his letter of resignation on April 20.

A bipartisan ethics subcommittee found Campbell had violated the Tennessee General Assembly workplace policy on discrimination and harassment after reviewing the results of an internal investigation.

The House Republican Caucus will hold a special election to fill the vacancy created by his departure at a later date.

After the expulsion and reappointment of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the elections for House districts 52 and 86 have been established.

The special primary election will take place June 15 and the special general election will be held August 3.