The Louisiana Legislature will convene in a special session on September 28 to address issues such as COVID-19, storm relief, and unemployment.

The Louisiana Constitution authorizes lawmakers to call themselves into special session upon the written petition of a majority of the elected members of each house.

Lawmakers may file and consider bills on 70 items. House Speaker Clay Schexnayder announced the special session will focus primarily on Hurricane Laura disaster relief and recovery efforts, on-going issues with COVID-19 relative to funding and the economy, and the state’s Unemployment Trust Fund.
Several House members have also asked to address the continued proclamations issued by Gov. John Bel Edwards during the pandemic and what many see as an imbalance of power.
The session is set to begin September 28 at 6 p.m. and must adjourn by 6 p.m. on October 27.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called a special session beginning September 11 to extend the COVID-19 peacetime emergency.

The emergency will be extended by 30 days to continue to respond to the pandemic.

Walz is obligated by law to call a special session for the Legislature to approve the emergency declaration.

The length of the session will be determined by the Legislature.

Wisconsin lawmakers convened the special session called by Gov. Tony Evers on August 31.

The session met for less than a minute and adjourned until September 3, in what is termed a skeletal session.

No Senate Republicans were present for the session.

Wisconsin law does not require lawmakers to take any action during a special session.

The session is adjourned for three days to comply with the constitutional requirement that neither house may adjourn without the consent of the other for more than 3 days.

They may continue in this manner until both houses agree on a course of action or to adjourn sine die.

Lawmakers ended the 2020 legislative session beleaguered by COVID-19, wildfires, a tanked economy, and a looming eviction crisis.

Each chamber worked through roughly 100 bills on their final day, before adjourning after midnight.

The Senate kept passing bills until shortly after 1 a.m.

Some of the bills lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom include eviction relief, police reform, COVID-19 response, and a flavored tobacco ban.

The governor has until September 30 to sign or veto any of the bills.

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered an emergency special election on September 29 for Texas State Senate District 30.

The emergency order will elect a state senator to serve out the unexpired term of Pat Fallon, who announced his plans to resign from the seat effective January 4, 2021.

Additionally, Fallon announced his plans to run for election to the U.S. House to represent the 4^th Congressional District of Texas.

This move allowed Gov. Abbott to call the special election ahead of the vacancy.

The Legislature concluded its special session late Wednesday night after three days of protests and public outrage regarding the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Three bills were sent to Gov. Brad Little’s desk, including two election related bills and a bill shielding businesses and schools from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

The election related bills would guarantee in-person voting would be allowed in some form across Idaho.

This was guaranteed regardless of any emergency orders in effect.

The bills would also buy more time for county clerks to process the expected large influx of mail-in ballots for the November election.

Gov. Little has five days from the time he receives the bills to either sign them or veto them.

If he does neither, the bills will become law automatically.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is calling the legislature into special session.

The main topic will be to consider a package of nine bills introduced in June relating to police reform in the wake of recent protests.

The special session is set to begin at noon on August 31.

The length of the session will be determined by the Legislature.

North Carolina’s General Assembly has extended the legislative session to adjourn sine die on September 3.

This extension will allow for consideration of matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Registered lobbyists who make an expenditure on legislators and legislative employees will also be required to file monthly reports.

This is the case, as the General Assembly is still in session due to the extension.

Monthly reports are due 10 business days after the end of the month.

In addition, the August report will be due on September 15.

A monthly report for September will not be required as that activity may be incorporated in the Quarterly report due on October 21.

The Mississippi Legislature passed a resolution extending the legislative session to adjourn sine die on October 10 to consider matters concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

This extension pushes back the due date for the Lobbyist End-of-Session Report due 10 days after adjournment sine die to October 20, unless the Legislature votes to adjourn earlier.

On August 25, the Vermont General Assembly will reconvene the legislative session to discuss the governor’s proposed 2021 budget.

Lawmakers will return to a virtual statehouse and all meetings will be conducted remotely.

The budget public hearings will be available to watch live on YouTube at the following link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/streaming/house-appropriations.

Campaign Finance

National: “Democrats Push to Revamp Political Money System That’s Boosting Their Campaigns” by Kate Ackley for Roll Call

California: “Elections Watchdog OK’s Settlement Over LA County’s Measure H Advocacy” by Chris Haire for Los Angeles Daily News

Pennsylvania: “A Dark Money Mystery” by Angela Couloumbis, Brad Bumsted, and Sam Janesch for Spotlight PA

Elections

Missouri: “GOP Lawmakers Appeal Rebuke of ‘Unfair’ Cleaner Missouri Ballot Language They Wrote” by Austin Huguelet for Springfield News-Leader

Ethics

National: “Trump Praises Baseless QAnon Conspiracy Theory, Says He Appreciates Support of Its Followers” by Colby Itkowitz, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Lori Rozsa, and Rachael Bade for Washington Post

National: “Kellyanne Conway to Leave the White House at the End of the Month, Citing the Need to Focus on Her Family” by Ashley Parker for Washington Post

New Jersey: “N.J. Man Indicted on Corruption Charges for Paying City Employee to Help Secure $350K Contract” by Joe Atmonavage (NJ Advance Media) for Newark Star Ledger

North Carolina: “N.C. Political Donor Gets 7 Years in Prison, Hayes Probation” by Staff for Associated Press News

Legislative Issues

Canada: “Conservatives Claim ‘Coverup’ After Trudeau Shuts Down Parliament” by Kathleen Harris for CBC

The Maine Senate will convene on Monday, August 24, to vote on three nominees for the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Campaign Practice.

Under the Legislature’s joint rules, the Senate may convene independently for confirmation votes.

Two of the nominees were nominated by Gov. Mills in February and the third was nominated by the state’s Republican caucus.

The Senate was unable to vote on the nominations during the regular legislative session due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Utah Legislature announced a special session beginning August 20 to consider COVID-19 relief, reopening schools, and to determine how to hold the November 3 general election.

The August 20 special session marks the sixth special session of the year. The election changes aim to modify a practice known as ballot harvesting or allowing a third party to collect and deliver multiple by-mail ballots.

Among the non-COVID issues to be discussed is a request for $20 million to bail out developers of a port in Oakland, California Utah lawmakers believe would ship Utah coal abroad.

The Legislature will hold the special session electronically, encouraging the public to participate by submitting inquires and feedback directly to their legislators or by remotely attending committee meetings.

The Legislature has exercised its ability to call itself into session, a method approved by voters in 2018. Before then, only governors could call a special session.

The special session does not affect lobbyist reporting.

Senate President Harvey Peeler announced he will call the Senate back to session early on September 2 to consider the impact of COVID-19 on upcoming elections.

The Legislature recessed in May and was set to reconvene on September 15.

Peeler emphasized the need to protect the voter and the vote as the chief reason from reconvening early.