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Welcome to the Wednesday, April 15, Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Here’s when each state’s stay-at-home order expires
- Gov. DeSantis signs Florida initiative process restrictions into law
- Filing deadline roundup
Updates on stories related to the coronavirus outbreak are current through Tuesday afternoon. Click here for the latest news.
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Here’s when each state’s stay-at-home order expires
Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive coverage on how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting America's political and civic life. Our coverage includes how federal, state, and local governments are responding, and the effects those responses are having on campaigns and elections.
Forty-three states have issued statewide shelter-in-place, closure, and shutdown orders in response to the coronavirus pandemic:
Although the names of the orders—shelter-in-place, stay-at-home, stay home, stay safe—vary from state to state, they include at least two common elements: the closure of nonessential businesses and requesting all residents to stay home except for essential trips. Here is the breakdown of when stay-at-home orders across the country are set to expire:
- Two will end in the next week (Idaho on April 15 and Kansas on April 19)
- Eight will end between April 20 and 26 (Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Wisconsin)
- Eighteen will expire between April 27 and May 3 (Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas)
- Eight will end between May 4 and June 10 (Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington)
- Seven are indefinite or have no end date (California, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, South Carolina, West Virginia)
- Thirteen states have extended their stay-at-home orders
Here are some other notable coronavirus-related updates since Tuesday's Brew:
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the Senate would not reconvene until at least May 4.
- Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) extended the statewide stay-at-home order through April 30. The order was initially scheduled to expire on April 14.
- South Dakota will send absentee ballot applications to all registered voters ahead of the June 2 election.
- Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) announced that schools would remain closed for the rest of the academic year. Prior to the announcement, schools in the state were scheduled to remain closed through April 17.
- The Republican congressional committee of Virginia's 5th Congressional District voted to postpone its April 25 convention indefinitely.
- A Richmond judge gave the Virginia 7th District Republican Committee until July 28 to select its nominee via convention.
- Delaware's Chief Judge extended court closures in the state through May 14, except for Delaware’s three Justice of the Peace courts.
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Gov. DeSantis signs Florida initiative process restrictions into law
Ballotpedia is tracking changes to laws governing ballot measures. In 2019, legislatures in 16 states approved 38 proposals concerning ballot initiatives, veto referendums, referrals, local ballot measures, and recall. Overall, 26 states have initiative and/or veto referendum processes at the statewide level.
On April 19, the Florida legislature approved—and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed—legislation increasing restrictions in the state’s ballot initiative process.
Among other provisions, Senate Bill 1794:
- increases the signature requirement threshold to trigger a review of the initiative petition by the Florida Supreme Court from 10% to 25% of the total requirement. It also requires that the threshold be met in half of the state’s congressional districts instead of one-fourth of them;
- requires petitioners to pay the actual cost of verifying signatures rather than the existing fee of $0.10 per signature or the actual cost, whichever is less;
- makes signatures invalid after February 1 of even-numbered years each cycle instead of allowing signatures to remain valid for a period of two years;
- changes the period for county elections supervisors to verify signatures from 30 days to 60, except for those measures submitted within 60 days of the February 1 deadline.
The bill’s provisions exempt initiative petition signatures gathered prior to the law’s effective date—April 8. It was approved along party lines with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed. The vote was 73-45 in the House and 23-17 in the Senate.
A coalition of organizations—including the League of Women Voters of Florida, ACLU of Florida, Common Cause Florida, and Florida AFL-CIO—sent a letter to Gov. DeSantis asking him to veto the bill. The letter argued, ”Constitutional amendments that pass do so with almost always a higher threshold than elected leaders. Why should we want to limit a citizen's ability to enact change? SB 1794 does exactly that. In the midst of a global health crisis, any limitation to a citizen's right to direct democracy seems unjust.”
Speaking about SB 1794, Sen. Dennis Baxley (R) said, “I say not giving proper restraint to how people amend the state constitution is a neglect of our duty to protect that constitution and the election process by which people select people in a democratic republic to go and represent them.”
Four citizen initiatives qualified for the 2020 ballot before the February 1 signature verification deadline. The Florida legislature also referred two constitutional amendments concerning property taxes.
In 2019, the Florida State Legislature passed House Bill 5, which banned pay-per-signature, added paid circulator registration requirements, and other provisions related to fiscal impact statements and deadlines.
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Filing deadline roundup
Candidate filing deadlines passed in Arizona and North Dakota on April 6 and Oklahoma on April 10. There are no states with candidate filing deadlines this week.
The next filing deadline is April 21 in Michigan. One other state has its filing deadline in April. Florida's deadline for congressional and judicial candidates is April 24. State legislative candidates have until June 12 to file.
Ten states have changed the rules and procedures regarding candidate filing in response to the coronavirus. This includes authorizing the electronic filing of signatures and campaign qualifying documents, postponing candidate filing deadlines, or reducing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot:
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