In a special election on January 23, Oregon voters approved Measure 101.

Measure 101 keeps taxes on health insurers, hospitals, and managed care organizations that were passed during the 2017 legislative session.

The taxes will help fund the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid program.

Unofficial results show 61 percent of voters approved the measure, with 925 out of 1335 precincts reported.

Taking your through a PACKED week in government, ethics, elections and legislative sessions news.

After being delayed by a snowstorm, the Connecticut General Assembly adjourned on Monday, January 8.

Both chambers overwhelmingly passed House Bill 7601, which restored funding to the Medicare Savings Program.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has threatened to veto the bill.

Florida legislators have proposed several bills that would reform how lobbyists do business in the state.

House Bill 7003 makes changes to the Florida Code of Ethics and would develop a system track and publish lobbyists registrations.

House Bill 7005 requires a person who wishes to lobby a local governmental entity to electronically register as a lobbyist with the Commission of Ethics.

The legislative session began Tuesday, January 9.

As the legislative session begins this week, South Carolina legislators are proposing several reforms to increase transparency.

An ongoing corruption probe has entered its fifth year, and six current or former lawmakers have been indicted thus far.

Rep. Gary Clary filed a bill that would require lawmakers to disclose any money they or their family members receive as part of an arrangement with an organization that lobbies state lawmakers.

Sens. William Timmons and Mike Fanning are sponsoring legislation that would grant the ethics commission direct access to campaign bank accounts, rather than lawmakers submitting reports on their political contributions and expenditures.

The session began on Tuesday, January 9.

The North Carolina General Assembly will convene for a special session on January 10 to address several topics, including judicial reform.

Lawmakers may consider eliminating judicial elections and instead institute an appointment process for selecting judges.

Recapping the first week of the new year in campaign finance, lobbying, ethics and legislative sessions

Legislative leaders successfully petitioned lawmakers to convene a special session scheduled for Friday, January 4, 2018.

Gov. Dannel Malloy had been pressuring legislators to convene a special session for a month to rebalance the budget they passed in October.

Legislative leaders said they will address the budget shortfall but first want to reverse cuts to the Medicare Savings Program.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards told state lawmakers this week he intends to call a special session of the Legislature in mid-February to address the state’s budget crisis.

Gov. Edwards set a January 19 deadline for a tax deal to be reached to help balance the budget, and will not call the special session if he does not think the issues will be resolved.

Temporary state sales taxes totaling $1 billion expire next July, and Gov. Edwards hopes a package of sales and income tax proposals can offset the impending deficit.

Tax bills cannot be considered during Louisiana’s regular sessions but require the Governor to call a special session for consideration.

If the session is called in February, it will be the sixth special session since Gov. Edwards took office in 2016.

On December 1, Gov. Jim Justice called a special session to convene on December 4 to consider legislation to authorize the sale of state road bonds.

The special session coincides with the Legislature’s monthly interim meetings scheduled to begin on December 3 and conclude on December 5.

Pictured: West Virginia Governor Jim Justice

Becky recaps a CRAZY week in government and ethics news around the country!

On November 21, the first sitting day of the 5th Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, all members of the legislature were sworn in, followed by formal confirmations of the appointments of the new speaker, premier, and Executive Council.

On November 17, the Nunavut Leadership Forum, which consists of all MLAs, had acclaimed Joe Enook, MLA for Tununiq, as speaker and elected Paul Quassa, MLA for Aggu, as premier. On the same day, the following MLAs were elected to the Executive Council: David Akeeagok, Pat Angnakak, Jeannie Ehaloak, David Joanasie, Lorne Kusugak, Joe Savikataaq and Elisapee Sheutiapik.

The premier has the prerogative to assign ministerial portfolios.

Alaska’s fourth special session adjourned on November 21 after reaching the 30-day limit set by the state’s constitution.

Since November 10, lawmakers were in a technical session after the Senate attempted to adjourn the special session after passing a criminal justice reform bill. In Alaska one body cannot adjourn without the other.

No committee hearings are held in a technical session, and no formal legislative business is done.

The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned an eight-week special session on Friday, November 17, after the Senate gave final approval on legislation to balance the state’s budget.

Just hours after the session ended, Gov. Mary Fallin line-item vetoed most of the budget bill’s provisions citing a failure to address the requests she made in calling the session and the lack of a long-term solution to re-occurring budget deficits. Provisions temporarily preserving funding for crucial health and human services were retained as the state continues to seek a solution.

The vetoed bill would have used cash reserves and made deep cuts to funding across all state agencies to close the $215 million hole in the state budget.

Gov. Fallin said she intends to call a second special session of the Legislature to come up with long-term funding solutions.