The Oregon House voted to expel Rep. Mike Nearman after he allowed demonstrators, some who were armed, into the Capitol on December 21, 2020, while the House was in a special session.

The District 23 seat will most likely remain vacant for the remainder of the legislative session.

On June 8, Gov. Janet Mills signed Legislative Document 670 to increase lobbyist registration fees and Legislative Document 1377 amending campaign finance definitions.

Legislative Document 670 raises registration fees for lobbyists from $200 to $250 and lobbyist associates from $100 to $125.

Additionally, Legislative Document 670 allows employers to apply for a fee waiver and the commission may waive the fees in whole or in part if the commission determines an economic hardship to the applicant.

The registration fee increases were proposed by the ethics commission to cover operation costs for the lobbyist regulatory program and to improve its e-filing and public access system.

Legislative Document 1377 amends the definition of independent expenditure and allows a person or committee to request a commission determination that an expenditure is not an independent expenditure within seven days of disseminating the communication.

The bills go into effect 90 days after the end of the Legislature’s first special session.

The West Virginia held a one-day special session on June 7.

Though the session was brief, the Legislature managed to pass seven bills.

Six of these bills concerned reallocation of unused federal relief funds to road maintenance work and the departments of Health and Human Resources and Education, while the final bill concerned property exemptions for bankruptcy proceedings.

The 2021 session of the 107th Nebraska Legislature has adjourned sine die June 10.

Gov. Pete Ricketts addressed lawmakers, who overrode three of his vetoes.

Ricketts praised senators for approving nearly $1.7 billion in property tax relief over the next two years.

The governor said the legislature’s quick and decisive action also empowered state agencies to respond effectively to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Legislature is scheduled to convene in early fall for a special legislative session to complete the 2021 redistricting process.

The 2022 legislature is scheduled to convene January 5.

The Louisiana Legislature will adjourn sine die no later than 6 p.m. June 10 in accordance with state law.

Gov. John Bel Edwards will hold a media briefing about the 2021 legislative session 30 minutes after adjournment sine die.

During the session, a bill eliminating certain aggregate campaign contribution limitations passed.

Senate Bill 4 removes the limitation on combined contributions for both the primary and general elections that may be accepted by any candidate and his principal and subsidiary campaign committees from a political committee.

Present law provides the total amount of combined contributions for both the primary and general elections that may be accepted by a candidate and his principal and subsidiary campaign committees from political committees must not exceed $80,000 for major office candidates, $60,000 for district office candidates, and $20,000 for other office candidates in aggregate.

Senate Bill 4 was sent to the governor on June 1 and has an effective date of August 1.

The Colorado General Assembly adjourned sine die for the 2021 session shortly before 8 p.m. on June 8 after debating a controversial climate bill on the House floor.

During the session, a bill was passed relating to local government election codes. Senate Bill 21-160 clarifies that, when computing time for any designated period of days for a local government election, the first day from which the period of days runs is excluded and the last day from which the period of days is included.

The bill also provides a process for dividing a special district into separate director districts and for members to be elected from each director district at large or by the electors within each director district.

The bill takes effect following the expiration of the 90-day period after final adjournment of the General Assembly.

The Pennsylvania Speaker of the House announced a special election for House District 113 on November 2, the same day as the general election.

The district seat became vacant former Rep. Marty Flynn won a special election to join the state Senate.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Flynn’s term until the end of 2022.

The Connecticut General Assembly adjourned sine die on June 9.

During the session, lawmakers passed House Bill 6574 relating to revisions of the state ethics code.

The bill exempts gifts from an individual’s or spouse’s grandparents from the law prohibiting gifts from restricted donors; clarifies the gift disclosure requirement by a person doing business with a department or agency; and requires executive branch regulatory agencies to annually file a list of positions subject to revolving door provisions.

If signed by the governor, House Bill 6574 becomes effective October 1.

This affects lobbying reporting.

The monthly employer activity report required any month the General Assembly is in regular session is due July 10.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill to allow PACs to give state Senate candidates $25,400 over a four-year election period.

Senate Bill 1120 requires the PAC limits for Senate candidates to reset every two years in the same manner as they do for House candidates.

This will double the previous PAC limit of $12,700 because Senate candidates may receive the entire $25,400 at one time.

The bill is effective immediately.

The South Carolina General Assembly is set to reconvene for up to two days on June 8 to discuss appropriations bills including how to spend remaining COVID-19 relief funds as well as funds received from a Savannah River Site settlement.

This is the first of three times the General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene pursuant to the adjournment resolution adopted back in May.

The remaining scheduled dates to reconvene are June 21 and June 29.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and statehouse leaders announced there will not be a special session this July.

The July special session was to be called for deliberation on how to best allocate the federal relief money given by the American Rescue Plan, but lawmakers decided the discussion would be better served if it was delayed until the 2022 legislative session.

The city of Portland adopted new and amended Auditor Administrative Rules (ARAs) following a public comment period.

The administrative rule changes are a result of previous litigation and court cases; a need for updating certain dollar amounts to comply with the City Charter’s inflation updates; and from a year of experience implementing the relatively new regulations.

The changes add guidance for social media communications and provide guidance on when and what information may be required in political campaign disclosures.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has announced he is calling a special session of the West Virginia Legislature for June 7.

The special session will look to allocate a portion of the state’s nearly $400 million surplus in federal relief funds from the departments of Health and Human Resources and Education to the state’s road maintenance programs.

Illinois Lawmakers worked past the legislative session deadline to pass an ethics reform package and major election changes.

The ethics reforms include expanding state registration requirements under the Lobbyist Registration Act to include lobbying local officials in municipalities with a population under 500,000 and lobbying certain deputy state officials.

Senate Bill 539 also expands revolving door restrictions and prohibits all fundraising statewide during legislative sessions and on the day before and after the session.

The election changes in Senate Bill 825 include moving the 2022 primary election from March 15 to June 28.

The Legislature stands adjourned until the call of the speaker of the House and the Senate president.