Sen. Richard Alloway announced his retirement from Senate District 33 effective February 28.

Sen. Alloway served the state Senate for over 10 years.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will set a special election at a date to be determined.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Alloway’s term until 2020.

Rep. Tom Marino announced his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives on January 17.

Marino said he has accepted a job in the private sector, and his last day in Congress will be January 23.

Gov. Tom Wolf will have 10 days to set a date for a special election to fill the vacancy in the 12th Congressional District.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Mike Stack announced a special election to fill the vacancy in the 37th Senate District.

The seat became open with the election of Guy Reschenthaler to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The district includes suburbs in western and southern Allegheny County as well as part of Washington County.

Special elections for the 114th and 190th House Districts have been set for March 12, 2019.

The 114th District became vacant in October after the death of State Rep. Sid Michaels Kavulich, while the 190th District was vacated after Vanessa Lowery Brown was convicted in a bribery case late last year.

Candidates for the seats will be chosen by a process determined by the political parties.

State Representative Vanessa Lowery Brown resigned on December 12 under protest.

In October, she was convicted of bribery, conflict of interest, and failure to properly file a financial disclosure report. The state constitution prevents her from continuing to serve in the Legislature.

Lowery Brown plans to appeal her conviction.

A special election could be set as early as March to fill the western Philadelphia seat.

Governor Tom Wolf was re-elected in Pennsylvania with a resounding 57.6 percent of the vote.  Republican challenger Scott Wagner did not pose a challenge, winning only 40.8 percent of the vote.

The win does not come as a surprise, as Governor Wolf led by double digits in every independent poll preceding the election.

Governor Wolf indicated he would continue working on his first-term priorities, including school funding.

He has advocated for many liberal causes, including ending the death penalty and expanding Medicaid.

State Rep. Mike O’Brien passed away on October 15 from a heart attack.

Earlier this year, O’Brien controversially announced his retirement after running unopposed in the primary election for the 175th House District seat.

The seat will remain vacant for the remainder of the year due to time constraints.

His former chief of staff, Mary Isaacson, is likely to be sworn in on January 1.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania overturned the Commonwealth’s prohibition on political contributions from gaming-license applicants, licensees, and principals of licensees.

Judge Sylvia Rambo concluded Section 1513 of the Gaming Act is an unconstitutional limit on the First Amendment right of political association. Rambo stated the prohibition furthers a substantially important interest in preventing corruption, but is not closely drawn to achieve that interest.

The judgment opens the possibility for the Legislature to rewrite the statute to be narrowly tailored to achieve its purpose.

The Gaming Control Board is also reviewing the option to appeal the decision to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced a special election on the same day as the general election, November 6. The special election will fill the seats left open with the resignations of U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent.

The winners of the special election would complete the terms of the departing representatives for November and December of this year. The representatives elected during the general election will start their two-year term in 2019.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent decided to not seek re-election last year to spend more time with family and is expected to leave office this month.

U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan retired last Friday, after the U.S. House Ethics Committee opened an investigation earlier this year regarding the use of official congressional funds to pay a former staffer’s sexual harassment settlement.

This week, Gov. Tom Wolf announced what he called a 21st century voting reform plan. This announcement follows an ethics reform plan announced by Gov. Wolf earlier this month.

The voting reform plan includes creating an independent commission to draw electoral maps, expanded voting rights through simpler voter registration, and campaign finance reform.

The proposed campaign finance reform could include restrictions on contributions from political action committees and contribution limits.

Both Democratic and Republican legislators will be working to introduce bills towards the Governor’s efforts.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced his Citizen First ethics reform plan this week. Gov. Wolf, who took office in 2015, has been a proponent of broad ethics and government reform.

The Citizens First ethics reform plan includes a gift ban for all public officials. Gov. Wolf already banned members of his administration from accepting gifts but is seeking a broader permanent ban to stop politicians from accepting unlimited gifts.

Along with a gift ban, the plan includes campaign finance reform creating contribution limits, restriction on political action committees, and heightened reporting requirements.

The proposed campaign finance reform would also include pay-to-play provisions requiring the disclosure of campaign contributions made by entities seeking contracts with the state.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed House Bill 1175 into law, amending filing requirements and penalties for lobbyists.

The new law requires electronic filing of lobbying disclosures and increases the monetary penalties assessed for late reports.

Fines between $50 and $200 per day, depending on the number of days late, can now be levied and the maximum penalty increases from $2,000 to $4,000.

These new penalties take effect immediately and the electronic filing requirement takes effect in 60 days.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday the state’s congressional map was gerrymandered to favor one party over the other.

Currently, five of the state’s 18 seats are held by Democrats, 12 by Republicans, and there is one vacancy where there is a special election on March 13.

The court ordered a new map be submitted by February 15, but the state Legislature plans to challenge the decision in federal court.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Special elections for the 48^th and 178^th districts will be held on May 15, which is the same day as the primary election.

The winner of the special election will serve until November 30. The winner of the general election will be sworn into a two-year term in December.