The Texas Legislature adjourned sine die May 31 after 140 days in session.

Talk of a special session and questions about how soon one may happen or what additional issues Gov. Greg Abbott could task legislators with has largely defined the last weekend of the legislative session.

In the final days of the session, House Democrats staged a walkout and broke quorum, making it impossible to give final approval to Senate Bill 7, a massive voting bill that would tighten the state’s election laws, before the midnight deadline.

Gov. Abbott quickly made clear that the bill, along with another other priority legislation that would have made it harder for people arrested to bond out of jail without cash, still must pass and that the two issues will be added to the special session agenda.

Before lawmakers adjourned, Gov. Abbott made clear he intends to reprimand the Legislature over its unfinished business by vetoing the section of the state budget that funds the legislative branch.

Effective July 30, 2017, Arkansas constitutional officers are prohibited from soliciting or accepting loans from lobbyists.

Senate Bill 7, now known as Act 1108, amends the definition of gift to include any advance or loan. The bill excludes an advance or loan made in the ordinary course of business by a financial institution or business regularly extending credit.

Bills signed during the regular session are effective 90 days after the final, official day of session, unless otherwise specified. The 91^st General Assembly is set to adjourn sine die on May 1, 2017.

Since pre-filing began for the 2017 Arkansas legislative session, multiple measures have been introduced regarding lobbying, ethics and campaign finance.

If passed, measures introduced in the House would require reporting and disclosure of electioneering communications and covered transfers (House Bill 1005), prevent a member of the General Assembly from forming more than one political action committee (PAC) as either a registered agent or an officer (House Bill 1009), require the Secretary of State to make independent expenditures and PAC reports public (House Bill 1010), prohibit PAC-to-PAC transfers (House Bill 1011)  and ban direct contributions to candidates from PACs (House Bill 1012). Several measures introduced in the Senate mirror the House bills.

Additionally, bills introduced in the Senate would bar soliciting or accepting campaign contributions before the expiration of the immediately preceding general election (Senate Bill 2), prohibit elected officials from registering as a lobbyist while serving as an elected state official (Senate Bill 3) and ban constitutional officers, like the governor, from soliciting or accepting loans from lobbyists (Senate Bill 7).