The Illinois Legislature canceled two of the three days scheduled this week and may cancel the session for next week due to a spike in daily average of COVID-19 cases.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch announced the House and Senate will not meet January 4 or January 6 and will convene only on Wednesday for organizational purposes and to empower committees to meet and vote remotely.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Idaho Legislature adjourned November 17, ending the state’s longest-ever legislative session.

The House, in a unique political move, chose to go on an extended recess rather than adjourn to allow a return to session without being called back by the governor.

The three-day continuation focused on COVID-19 and the presidential mandates.

No bills were passed during the continuation, only a non-binding declaration stating opposition to President Biden’s vaccine requirements for federal workers, contractors, and large employers.

The House also censured Rep. Priscilla Giddings for her publicization of the name of the 19-year-old intern who reported she was raped by another legislator.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced she is in talks with legislative leaders and housing advocates to construct a plan to increase funds in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

The federal funds allocated to Oregon to assist renters and owners have been almost exhausted, which will force the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program to stop accepting applications on December 1.

Gov. Brown declared she will call a special session to draft a proposal to combat the looming evictions when the federal assistance is fully expended.

There is not a firm date announced for the special session.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die October 28 after a one-day session in which lawmakers passed the second redistricting plan after rejecting the first one in a special session on October 5.

The plan passed the Senate 48-1, with one senator absent, and the House 93-2.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting. 

The Arkansas Legislature will return from its extended recess on September 29, continuing the regular session of the 93rd General Assembly.

According to the schedule released by Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, the General Assembly will return to vote on redistricting before adjourning the 2021 session sine die.

After each census, the state redraws the boundaries for seats in the General Assembly as well as the boundaries of the districts for its seats in the United States Congress.

The legislative districts are decided by the Board of Apportionment, which consists of the governor, secretary of state, and attorney general. The board and its staff use census data to redraw the 100 districts of the Arkansas House of Representatives and the 35 districts of the Arkansas Senate so districts within each chamber represent roughly the same number of people.

Drawing boundaries for the state’s federal congressional districts is the responsibility of the General Assembly. The number of districts in the state will remain at four based on the population count from 2020, but the distribution of the population has shifted away from rural areas toward more urban areas.

A registered lobbyist who lobbies members of the General Assembly is required to file a monthly report due 10 days after the end of the month for any month the General Assembly is in session.

Hickey stated he hoped the General Assembly would continue for only three days, meaning the session will likely continue into the month of October. If the session continues into October, a monthly lobbyist activity report will be due November 10, which is 10 days after the end of the month.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a proclamation to convene a special legislative session on October 5 to consider and enact a plan of legislative and congressional districting.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The California Legislature adjourned late last week, just in time for today’s recall election of Gov. Newsom.

The trifecta government passed close to 900 bills this year as Democratic lawmakers utilized a budget surplus to enact many progressive policies such as police reform, health care for undocumented immigrants, and climate change.

Assembly bills 319 and 1367 are on Newsom’s desk awaiting signature.

AB 319 prevents a foreign government or principal from making a contribution or expenditure to a candidate for state or local office.

While AB 1367, raises the penalty for a person who uses campaign funds that results in an egregious personal benefit to an amount up to three times the amount of the unlawful expenditure.

The Illinois House of Representatives has returned to Springfield for a special session starting at noon today to consider urgent energy legislation and vote on the amendatory veto of Senate Bill 539 issued by Gov. JB Pritzker in August.

The Senate adopted the change on August 31, but the House rejected the change with a vote taken late in the evening after some members had left the session.

The bill expands state lobbyist registration requirements to the local level; prohibits all fundraising statewide during legislative sessions; expands revolving door restrictions; and requires certain consultants hired by a lobbyist or lobbying entity to register and report.

If the Amendatory Veto is accepted the bill will be effective January 1, 2022. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling state lawmakers back for a third special session on September 20 to begin redrawing legislative and Congressional districts.

Gov. Abbott also added other items to the agenda, including how to distribute federal pandemic aid and whether local governments can mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for employees.

The focus of the special session, however, will be squarely on redistricting, which occurs every 10 years after the release of new census data.

The state population grew by more than 4 million people since 2010. As a result, Texas gained two new Congressional seats and lawmakers must determine where to put them.

In addition, lawmakers will redraw their own Texas House and Senate districts to consider population growth and decline.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called a special session of the General Assembly to begin Tuesday, September 7.

The call comes two weeks after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled a lower court was wrong to block new laws limiting the scope of the governor’s emergency powers, giving the Republicans’ legislative supermajority a substantial say over any new policy measures to address the pandemic.

The session will focus on legislation addressing the pandemic, but Beshear is asking lawmakers to consider a few unrelated matters.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has called the state Legislature to reconvene today, September 1.

The session’s primary order of business will be to extend the state’s eviction moratorium, but the meeting is also expected to address the open meetings law, and issues related to legally producing and distributing cannabis.

On August 27, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts called for a special session to begin September 13 for the purposes of redistricting.

New boundaries are expected for state legislative, judicial, and congressional districts.

The does affect lobbyist reporting.

A special lobbying activity report will be due October 15 for expenses over $5,000.

Lobbyists must also file a list of the bills lobbied and the position on each within 45 days after the end of the special session.

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon issued a joint proclamation calling on the Legislature to convene on August 31 for a one-day special session to make changes in the new state legislative district map after official 2020 population numbers were released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The House and Senate approved the state legislative map on May 28 with only Democratic votes, and Gov. JB Pritzker signed the map into law on June 4.

Republicans have filed a lawsuit in federal court to invalidate the map and give the redistricting commission remapping authority, claiming if a valid redistricting plan with the full force and effect of law was not completed by June 30, the Illinois Constitution shifts the responsibility for drafting a plan from the General Assembly to a redistricting commission.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on August 5 that a second special legislative session will begin at noon August 7 with an expanded agenda.

The 17-item agenda still includes well-known Abbott priorities like the election bill that caused House Democrats to flee the state at the start of the first special session, which ends August 6.

The special session also features six additions, including the spending of federal COVID-19 relief funds and potentially changing the legislative rules regarding quorums.

There is also a new item on public education during the pandemic, an increasingly salient issue as parents prepare to send their kids back to school with the virus on the rise again in Texas.

No adjournment date has been set yet for the second special session.