Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has set Friday as a deadline to determine whether a special session of the Legislature will be called to close a $1 billion fiscal cliff in the state’s budget expiring in July of this year.

The session would begin February 19 and adjourn before the regularly scheduled legislative session set to convene March 12. Legislators from both parties have been working to get close enough to a resolution for Gov. Edwards to call the special session.

A special session to remedy the budget shortfall could also be called in June if it does not happen by March.

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.

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

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 Montana Legislature adjourned a special session on the state’s budget shortfall in the early hours on Thursday morning.

Multiple bills were passed to close the $227 million gap including a bill requiring furloughs of state employees, changing the state liquor license lottery to an auction, and a bill to eliminate $13 million in block grants for school districts statewide. Tax increases proposed by Gov. Steve Bullock did not pass.

Legislators have said the passed budget solutions are far from perfect but avoid deeper cuts to crucial state agencies.

The Alaska Senate adjourned the fourth special session on November 10.

However, on November 13 the House majority coalition announced plans to hold technical sessions until the special session ends November 21.

A technical session will force the Senate to hold similar sessions because one body cannot adjourn without the other.

Lawmakers passed a criminal justice reform bill despite warnings from the Alaska Department of Law and ACLU that the measures are unconstitutional.

The first special session of Maine’s 128^th Legislature adjourned sine die on November 6, 2017. The House sustained Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of a bill allowing and regulating the retail sale of recreational marijuana.

Additionally, the bill to bring ranked-choice voting law into constitutional compliance became law without the governor’s signature. Maine voters passed a ballot initiative approving ranked-choice voting in the November 2016 elections.

Ranked-choice voting ensures the winning candidate in a multicandidate race receives the majority vote because voters rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate does not receive 50 percent of first-choice votes, then the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated and votes are retabulated.

The bill to bring ranked-choice voting into constitutional compliance delays the new system until 2021 and automatically repeals the law unless voters ratify a constitutional amendment authorizing the Legislature to determine the method the state Legislature and Governor are elected by December 1, 2021.

The Hawaii Senate is scheduled to convene a two-day special legislative session on Tuesday, November 14, to confirm 4 judicial appointments.

Choosing from a list of candidates selected by the Judicial Selection Committee, Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald appointed Jessi Hall to the First District Family Court Judge and Gov. Ige appointed Paul Wong, Matthew Viola, and Rowena Somerville to the First Circuit Court.

Each Circuit Court judge will serve a 10-year term while the Family Court appointment has a six-year term.

Gov. Steve Bullock called the Legislature into a special session late Monday to address the state’s budget issues caused by an unforeseen drop in state revenue and costly wildfires.

Gov. Bullock has been working with lawmakers for months to come up with a plan to fix budgetary issues without calling a special session, but no agreement could be reached. Gov. Bullock released a list of cuts he would be willing to make to state agencies to help close the gap in revenue.

Smaller state agencies, including the Commissioner of Political Practices who oversees the state’s ethics, will see 10% cuts while larger agencies such as the Department of Corrections and the state university system will be burdened much less.

The special session is scheduled to convene November 14, 2017.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Tuesday evening legislators had completed their special session and passed six bills.

The special session was called after West Virginia voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of a road bond levy.

Bills passed include increasing civil penalties for contractors who do not hire at least 75 percent of their workforce from West Virginia, allowing the sharing of certain information between the West Virginia Division of Highways and West Virginia Tax Commissioner, and exempting military pensions from the state’s personal income tax.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo may call a special session this fall.

Cuomo believes a special session may be needed to address federal cuts to the state’s health care programs and other budgetary issues.

In a letter to lawmakers, Cuomo stated a special session may be needed to appropriate funds for Lake Ontario flood victims.

Gov. Jim Justice said he will call the West Virginia Legislature into special session on October 16, 2017.

State officials have commented a legislative framework must first be established in order to get the road projects off the ground.

On October 7, 2017, voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing transportation officials to sell $1.6 billion in general obligation bonds to make up about 60 percent of the governor’s “Roads to Prosperity” program, which he believes will give the West Virginia economy a boost.