Gov. Bill Lee has decided to bring back lawmakers for a special session to address public safety issues.

The governor had proposed legislation during the regular session intended to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

However, the General Assembly adjourned before the legislation was considered.

The special session will take place August 21.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers ordered a special election to be held on July 18, to fill a vacancy in the Assembly District 24 seat.

The seat was vacated when Sen. Dan Knodl won a special election for the Senate District 8 seat.

The term of office for the Assembly District 24 seat will expire on January 6, 2025.

If a primary election is necessary, it will be held on June.

The 2023 session of the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die on May 5.

Florida lawmakers approved a $117 billion budget that includes $2.7 billion in tax cuts for consumers and businesses, then moved quickly to adjourn their regular session.

The new budget that starts July 1 is $5 billion higher this last year’s, thanks largely to unexpectedly high revenue collections.

The budget adds nearly $2 billion to the state’s reserves, bringing the total to about $10.9 billion, about $4 billion less than Gov. Ron DeSantis requested.

Oregon’s Secretary of State Shemia Fagan announced her resignation on May 3, after reports revealed Fagan has been working a side job as a consultant for a failing marijuana dispensary chain.

The Office of the Secretary of State is currently undergoing a statewide audit of the marijuana industry.

Deputy Secretary of State, Cheryl Myers, will step in as acting secretary next Monday.

Gov. Kate Brown will then appoint a replacement to serve the remainder of the current term, which expires at the end of 2024.

A special election will be held for the currently vacant seat in Pennsylvania House District 163.

The district was previously represented by former Rep. Mike Zabel.

Zabel resigned in March after harassment allegations involving Rep. Abby Major.

The special election will take place on May 16.

The Montana Legislature adjourned sine die May 2, after a surprising motion from Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers leading to an impromptu close of the contentious 2023 session.

The House, playing catch up to the Senate’s sudden adjournment, was able to pass both of the session’s marque bills.

House Bill 2, the state’s $13.4 billion budget bill, and House Bill 816, an income and property tax rebate bill.

This does affect lobbyist reporting. The principal end of session report is due June 1.

The 68th Legislative Assembly adjourned sine die on April 30 after passing 583 bills including two amending the ethics code.

Senate Bill 2048 requires each legislative assembly to adopt conflict of interest rules.

House Bill 1257 requires school board candidates seeking office in districts with at least 1,000 students to file financial disclosures.

This applies to more than 15 public districts, including Fargo, West Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismarck. Both bills are effective August 1.

The first regular session of the 123rd General Assembly adjourned sine die on April 28 after passing bills regarding nonprofit disclosures and electronic signatures for campaign finance disclosures.

Senate Bill 302 has been signed by the governor and prohibits a state agency or a state official from imposing on any charitable organization any filing or reporting requirements more stringent or burdensome than those authorized under state or federal law.

The bill provides this limitation does not apply to requirements imposed in connection with state grants, contracts, fraud investigations, or in connection with an enforcement action.

House Bill 1212, House Bill 1336 have not been signed by the governor.

House Bill 1212 prohibits a public agency from requiring a person or nonprofit organizations to provide certain personal information to the public agency.

Exceptions to the prohibition include disclosures required under state campaign finance and lobbying disclosure laws.

House Bill 1336 permits electronic signatures to be used for the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures.

The Tennessee Legislature adjourned sine die on April 21.

Lawmakers succeeded in approving $140 million for school resource officers, along with $3.3 billion for a roads plan backed by Gov. Bill Lee.

The session also prominently featured the partisan expulsions of Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones.

Republican Rep. Scotty Campbell resigned in the wake of findings by a bipartisan ethics subcommittee that he had violated the General Assembly’s workplace policy on discrimination and harassment.

Gov. Lee also indicated he plans on calling a special session to act on gun reform after it was left unaddressed in this session, with a date still to be announced.

Rep. Scott Campbell submitted his letter of resignation on April 20.

A bipartisan ethics subcommittee found Campbell had violated the Tennessee General Assembly workplace policy on discrimination and harassment after reviewing the results of an internal investigation.

The House Republican Caucus will hold a special election to fill the vacancy created by his departure at a later date.

The Washington Legislature adjourned sin die on April 23.

Lawmakers passed over 450 bills during the session, including a $69 billion dollar budget bill that raises pay for state employees and public-school teachers.

Additionally, Senate Bill 5170 was signed into law, allowing the solicitation of gifts, grants, or donations to support conferences of national or regional legislative organizations held outside the state by certain legislators and staff.

Senate President Pro-Tem Caleb Rowden introduced a substitute for Senate Bill 378, which changes lobbyist and campaign finance reporting and creates a local lobbyist gift ban.

The new substitute for Senate Bill 378 changes the reporting required by lobbyists from monthly expenditure reports to an annual expenditure report filed on December 31, or if December thirty-first is a Saturday or Sunday, on the last Friday of the calendar year.

The bill also changes campaign finance reporting, deadlines and late fees.

The bill raises the threshold for expenditures required to be itemized on a disclosure report from $100 or less to $200 or less and provides for an annual increase based on the increase in the cost of living.

The bill changes filing deadlines by requiring anything filed electronically to be filed by 11:59 p.m. of the due date.

Under current law, if the last day of filing any campaign finance disclosure report falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or an official state holiday the deadline is extended to 5:00 p.m. of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or official state holiday.

In addition, the bill requires all committees to be charged $100 per day in late fees for campaign finance reports required to be filed 8 days prior to an election.

Under current law, this only applies to candidate committees.

The bill also increases the fine for all other late campaign finance reports to $20 per day late fee, rather than $10 per day as required by current law, and fees will be increased annually on January 1, based on the increase in the cost of living.

The bill also prohibits any person serving as or employed by an elected local government official from accepting directly or indirectly a gift of any tangible or intangible item, service, or thing of value from any paid lobbyist or lobbyist principle.

If passed, the bill will become effective August 28, 2023.

Q: I am a registered lobbyist in Tennessee and my employer is planning to invite the entire membership of the general assembly to an in-state reception with food and beverages provided. Is this allowed and is there anything else I should know to make sure I am compliant with state laws?

A: Yes, the event is permissible, but there are important reporting requirements to follow.

Lobbyists and employers of lobbyists may provide entertainment, food, refreshments, etc. in connection with an in-state event to which the entire membership of the general assembly has been invited. For 2023 events, the cost per person may not exceed $73 per day.

The lobbyist or employer of lobbyist must file a copy of the invitation with the Ethics Commission at least 7 days before the event and must file an In-State Disclosure form within 30 days after the event detailing the per-person and total cost of the event.

The aggregate total of all in-state events is also reported on the semi-annual lobbyist employer reports.

Proper gift disclosure can involve more than simply including the gift on your normal lobbying disclosure report. It is always a good idea to check the jurisdiction’s specific disclosure requirements on our website prior to giving a gift.

After the expulsion and reappointment of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the elections for House districts 52 and 86 have been established.

The special primary election will take place June 15 and the special general election will be held August 3.