Oregon Legislatures called for a special legislative session to address the impact COVID-19 is having on the state.

The special session will convene when the Legislature has an emergency response package ready for consideration.

The Legislature’s Special Joint Committee on Coronavirus Response is scheduled to hold its first meeting Wednesday, March 18 at 10 a.m.

This will not affect any lobbyist reporting.

The Puerto Rico Democratic presidential primary and special election to fill the seat of former Sen. Larry Seilhamer Rodriguez will be postponed.

The elections will be postponed until April 26 in response to concerns of COVID-19.

Rodriguez resigned from Senate District 5 effective January 15, citing his desire to spend more time with family.

If the emergency caused by COVID-19 continues until April 26, the president of the State Election Commission and the president of the Democratic Party in Puerto Rico may choose an alternate date.

The Wyoming Democratic Party has canceled all county conventions and the in-person portion of its upcoming caucus.

The party has taken the precautions over increasing concerns around the coronavirus outbreak.

The events to assign Wyoming’s 13 pledged delegates, scheduled for April 4, will now be handled exclusively through the mail.

Voters can still drop their ballots off in person at one of the party’s dozens of collection spots around the state.

Voters can drop off their ballots on March 28 and April 4, and have them postmarked by March 20.

The change is not anticipated to interfere with any of the traditional functions of the caucus itself.

However, county delegates to the state convention, normally selected in person, could be elected by other means, pending approval by the Democratic National Committee.

As of now, the June 6 state convention in Powell is on schedule.

The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories have recessed the winter legislative session.

The Assembly will be on recess until May 26 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The legislature was recalled early from a one-week recess, met on March 16, and decided to adjourn until May.

This will allow the cabinet and lawmakers to focus efforts on addressing the spread of the virus.

While the cabinet will continue to meet during the recess, members of the Legislative Assembly will return to their respective constituencies.

The Georgia General Assembly convened special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday, March 16 to adopt his declaration of a public health emergency.

After passing a joint resolution concurring with Gov. Kemp’s declaration, the General Assembly adjourned the special session, sine die.

Therefore, the regular session remains suspended indefinitely.

The Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission is expected to issue guidance as to whether this will affect lobbyist dates reporting.

On March 17, Arkansas legislative leaders announced a suspension of the Arkansas Legislative Council meetings.

Specifically, this will affect the meetings scheduled for March 18 and March 19.

The decision to suspend the meetings until further notice follows the latest guidance regarding COVID-19.

House and Senate leadership continue to review contingency plans for this year’s regular session scheduled to begin April 8.

The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office will suspend all in-person services beginning March 18.

The suspension will continue until further notice to protect employees and customers from the spread of COVID-19.

The office call center will be operated remotely for all divisions, including business and licensing, charities, and elections.

Individuals seeking to file paper documents at the office may now submit those documents via a drop-box.

The box will be placed outside the office’s waiting area during business hours.

On March 17, the National Assembly of Quebec agreed to adjourn parliamentary business until Tuesday, April 21, 2020, at 1:40 p.m.

The adjournment is in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

If required, the leaders of the four parliamentary groups will recommend to the President of the National Assembly to extend the adjournment beyond April 21.

Gov. Greg Abbot has postponed the special election for the Austin area Texas Senate District 14 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The election will replace retiring state Sen. Kirk Watson, an Austin Democrat leaving office at the end of April.

The election has been moved from May 2 to July 14.

It is unclear whether additional action will be taken to delay municipal elections across the state, which are scheduled for May 2.

The Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission is fully operational and has implemented preventative measures in line with COVID-19 precautions.

Staff are following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Hawaii State Department of Health on the importance of hygiene etiquette.

The Campaign Spending Commission remains committed to maintaining the integrity and transparency of campaign finance in the 2020 election.

As such, noncandidate committee reports will still need to be timely filed.

Additionally, contact information should be up to date in each organizational report.

To check the status of an organizational report, log in to the noncandidate Filing System.

After logging in, click on “Edit Organizational Report” under the Administration tab.

The Office of the Secretary of State has closed through March 31 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Online access remains available to all lobbyists and authorized agents.

Statutorily required deadlines, including lobbying semimonthly reports, are extended for 30 days.

The office indicates this status may be updated as operations are reviewed.

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics announced an extension for the submission of bimonthly lobbyist activity reports.

This will allow the due date for the January to February reporting period to extend until Tuesday, March 31.

JCOPE extended the deadline due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns.

Effective immediately, JCOPE also suspended hand-delivery of paper filings to their Albany office until March 31.

As an alternative, filers may submit filings using the online filing system or via regular mail, provided filers use a sponge to seal the envelope.

This extension does not affect clients of lobbyists as statutory filings for client semiannual reports are not due until July 15.

The House and Senate leadership announced on March 16 that the 60-day legislative session is going into an immediate recess expected to last eight weeks.

Legislators are following the recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The guidelines urge the public to refrain from gathering in groups of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

The session will resume where it left off subject to the call of Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Scott Saiki.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced the Kentucky primary election scheduled for May 19 will be delayed until June 23.

The election is being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Beshear made the announcement Monday evening at a press conference at the Capitol.

Secretary of State Michael Adams hand-delivered a letter to Beshear in the afternoon recommending all Kentucky elections scheduled for May 19, including primaries, special elections, and local option elections, be delayed 35 days.