Republican Adrian Dickey won the special election to fill the vacant Senate District 41 seat.

Dickey will fill the seat for the two years remaining in the four-year term of former Sen. Marianette Miller-Meeks.

Miller-Meeks resigned after winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The congresswoman was certified by Iowa as the winner by six votes out of nearly 400,000, and provisionally seated pending the outcome of a challenge by her Democratic opponent, Rita Hart.

Republicans have controlled the House, Senate, and governor’s office for five years.

A special election for Iowa Senate District 41 is scheduled for January 26.

Gov. Kim Reynolds called the special election to fill the vacancy left by newly elected Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who stepped down last month.

Following a recount, Miller-Meeks was certified by Iowa as the winner by six votes out of nearly 400,000.

The election result, however, is being contested by her Democratic opponent, Rita Hart.

A spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will provisionally seat Miller-Meeks pending the outcome of the challenge.

The House can later decide Hart won the race and should replace Miller-Meeks.

Hart’s contest argues at least 22 lawfully cast votes, including 18 for her, were wrongly excluded due to a variety of errors.

The Associated Press has not called a winner in this race.

Voters opposed holding a convention to explore proposals for changes to the state constitution.

This question automatically appears on the ballot every ten years pursuant to Article X, Section 3 of the Iowa Constitution.

As of Wednesday morning, with 92% of the vote counted, the measure is defeated by 40%.

Following a nearly two-and-a-half-month interruption, the Iowa Legislature adjourned the 88^th General Assembly sine die on Sunday after a marathon overnight debate.

This debate ends a two-week session shortened by the coronavirus pandemic and recent protests.

In addition to the passing the budget, the session included action to protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits, address police misconduct, and change rules regarding election procedures.

The Iowa Legislative Council extended the suspension of the 88th General Assembly’s 2020 regular session until 9:00 a.m. June 3.

This comes due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and could only change if the adjournment is shortened or further extended prior to that time.

This does not affect lobbying reporting.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board issued a reminder for campaign disclosure report due dates.

Reports for the period of January 1 through May 14 are due no later than 4:30 pm on May 19.

Although the board is working remotely during the disaster proclamation, because reports are filed electronically, filing deadlines have not changed.

The Legislative Council of Iowa met virtually to suspend the legislative session until April 30.

The council makes rules when the legislative body isn’t in session.

The suspension comes due to concerns over the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the state.

Lawmakers have not passed a budget for next year and the current fiscal year ends June 30, but a bill passed in March before the session’s suspension extends this year’s budget through the end of August.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Legislature passed a concurrent resolution to provide for an extended adjournment of the 2020 regular session of the 88th General Assembly.

The extended adjournment is due to public health concerns over COVID-19.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 102 provides upon the adjournment of the House of Representatives and the Senate on March 16, both houses will remain adjourned until 10:00 a.m. on April 15.

The Legislative Council may shorten or further extend the adjournment if deemed necessary.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting dates .

On Sunday, the Iowa House and Senate announced the legislative session will be suspended for a minimum of 30 days due to concerns over COVID-19.

The House and Senate will convene today at the regular scheduled time to consider resolutions regarding continuity of government.

Previously scheduled subcommittee and committee meetings have been cancelled, and standing committees will be on-call as needed.

The Capitol building opens today at 11:00 am, with entrances open on both the south and west sides.

The Department of Public Health will administer health screenings to all persons prior to entering the Capitol.

This includes filling out a health questionnaire as well as a temperature reading.

All schedule events, tours, and receptions at the Capitol are cancelled until further notice.

State Rep. Joel Fry introduced a bill amending lobbyist reporting requirements.

House File 2217 will require lobbyist client reports to be filed with the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board instead of the General Assembly.

Additionally, documentation verifying all information in the report must be filed with the report.

The board will verify the information and may require a lobbyist client to provide additional documents to verify the report.

Violation of the new requirements is a serious misdemeanor, punishable by reprimand, suspension, dismissal or otherwise sanctioned, including confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315, but not more than $1,875.

The new procedures will apply to reports due by July 31, 2020, for the reporting period of July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board named Mike Marshall to serve as its new Executive Director.

Marshall will replace Megan Tooker, who announced her resignation in November as the current Executive Director and Legal Counsel for the Board. Tooker is pursuing other career opportunities.

Marshall is currently the Chief of the Bureau of Professional Licensure at the Department of Public Health. He had previously been the Secretary of the Iowa Senate for eighteen years.

Tooker, who has served with the Board since 2010, will be leaving by the end of 2019.

The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board is seeking a new Executive Director.

On November 12, Megan Tooker announced her resignation as the current Executive Director and Legal Counsel for the Board.

Tooker, who has been with the Board since 2010, is leaving to “pursue other career opportunities,” according to The Gazette.

Tooker intends to leave office in December.

Because of a clerical error by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, voters in the state will not have a chance to vote on two recently passed constitutional amendments until 2022 at the earliest.

In 2018, the Iowa legislature passed two constitutional amendments. One proposed amendment requires any review of state legislation affecting the right to own firearms be subject to a judicial review standard of strict scrutiny.

The other proposed amendment deals with the line of gubernatorial succession for any vacancies of that office.

For the amendments to be added the state’s constitution, they must be passed a second time by the next sitting legislature and then be voted on by the citizens of the state.

However, after an amendment’s first passage, notice must be given to voters three months prior to the election of the next legislature.

According to Governing.com, the secretary of state’s office missed the deadline to file the notice for the public, requiring the process to restart and resulting in the earliest opportunity for the amendments to appear for voters’ approval to be 2022.

On June 21, Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for House District 46.

The special election will fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Representative Lisa Heddens.

Heddens resigned on June 17 to serve on the Story County Board of Supervisors.

Reynolds has set the special election for August 6.