It's finally the weekend! Keep reading for this week's top state and local political events. Don't forget you can read the full version by clicking the button below.

There will be no State & Local Tap next Saturday, July 4. Enjoy your weekend! We'll see you again on July 11.

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New York’s stay-at-home order set to expire

• The statewide stay-at-home order is set to expire on June 27, which will make New York the 40th state to lift a stay-at-home order. Even though the order is active through June 27, it has not applied to any of the state’s regions since New York City entered Phase I on June 8. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) first issued the order on March 20. Some regions of the state began reopening as early as May 15. 

• Nineteen of the 39 states whose stay-at-home orders ended have Republican governors and 20 have Democratic governors (including Wisconsin, where the state Supreme Court invalidated the stay-at-home order). The three remaining states with active stay-at-home orders besides New York--New Mexico, California, and Kentucky--all have Democratic governors. 

Voters decide state-level races in Kentucky, New York, South Carolina

• Kentucky and New York held primaries for state-level offices, and South Carolina held state legislative primary runoff elections on Tuesday. 

• In Kentucky, 19 state Senate seats and all 100 state House seats were on the ballot, along with one state supreme court seat and one state intermediate appellate court seat. One hundred four incumbents filed for re-election.

  • A special general election was held in District 26 of the Kentucky State Senate.

• In New York, 63 state Senate seats and all 150 state Assembly seats were on the ballot, and 179 incumbents filed for re-election.

  •  On April 24, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo canceled special elections originally scheduled to take place for one state Senate and three state Assembly districts, leaving those seats vacant until the general election on November 3.

• South Carolina held primary runoffs for races in which a candidate did not receive a majority of votes in the June 9 primaries. Eight state House seats and three state Senate seats were on the primary runoff ballot. 

Eight states release school reopening guidance

• Officials in Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Wisconsin released guidance for reopening schools in their respective states. Twenty-one states have released guidance for reopening schools to in-person instruction so far and eight of those states have already announced plans to reopen schools in the fall. Five states (Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, and Wyoming) have reopened their campuses for students and staff.

• Forty-eight states, all except Montana and Wyoming, closed schools to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those states accounted for 99.4% of the nation's 50.6 million public school students. 

South Carolina state representative, congressional candidate test positive for COVID-19

• South Carolina State Rep. and U.S. Congressional candidate Nancy Mace (R) announced June 23 that she tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. She chose to be tested after she was in contact with a member of her campaign staff who may have been exposed to the virus.

  • Mace, who has represented District 99 in the South Carolina House of Representatives since 2018, is the Republican nominee in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District race. She won the Republican primary on June 9 with 57.5% of the votes, and will face incumbent Joe Cunningham (D) in the general election on November 3. 

• To date, Ballotpedia has identified 41 politicians, candidates, and government officials diagnosed with coronavirus at the state level.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court releases updated reopening guidelines

• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court released updated reopening guidelines for courts statewide. Courthouses will physically reopen on July 13, though entry will be limited. Most court business, including civil and criminal cases, will continue to be conducted virtually through September. 

  • Trial courts will hold in-person proceedings only for emergency matters that cannot be conducted remotely beginning July 13. A second phase of reopening will begin August 10, further expanding in-person proceedings. 

New York evictions moratorium expires

• A moratorium on evictions and foreclosure judgments issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in response to the coronavirus pandemic expired June 20, allowing housing courts to resume eviction proceedings.

  • A second moratorium on evictions and foreclosure judgments for people eligible for unemployment or directly harmed by the coronavirus pandemic remains in effect through August 20.  

• On June 22, Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald Lemons issued an order that will allow state courts to resume eviction hearings in the state on June 29. A second order allows state courts to immediately resume eviction hearings that are unrelated to nonpayment.

New York, Connecticut, New Jersey announce joint quarantine requirement for out-of-state travelers

•  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a “joint travel advisory” with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D). The advisory requires that travelers and residents arriving in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey from states with a high infection rate must quarantine for 14 days. 

  • The infection rate is based on a seven-day rolling average of the number of infections per 100,000 residents. The states that currently meet that threshold are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah. 

•  Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) announced that, beginning August 1, out-of-state travelers can avoid a 14-day quarantine requirement if they present a recent negative COVID-19 test upon arrival. Hawaii airports will not be providing testing. Travelers who cannot present a negative test will need to quarantine for 14 days.Wednesday, June 24

Rhode Island state legislative filing deadline passes  

• On June 24, 2020, the filing deadline passed to run for state legislative offices in Rhode Island. Candidates filed for the following offices: 

  • Rhode Island House of Representatives (75 seats)

  • Rhode Island State Senate (38 seats)

• The primary is scheduled for September 8, 2020, and the general election is scheduled for November 3, 2020.

• Entering the 2020 election, the Rhode Island State Senate has 33 Democrats and five Republicans. All 38 seats are up for election. A majority in the chamber requires 20 seats. 

• The Rhode Island House of Representatives has 66 Democrats and nine Republicans. All 75 seats are up for election, and a majority requires 38 seats.

• Rhode Island has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.

Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah to hold state executive and legislative primaries

• Colorado, Oklahoma, and Utah are holding statewide primaries on June 30. 

• In Colorado, primaries are scheduled for three state board of education seats, three seats on the University of Colorado Board of Regents, 18 state Senate seats, and 65 state House seats.

• In Oklahoma, primaries for corporation commissioner, 11 state Senate seats, and 38 state House seats are on the ballot. Additionally, a special primary election will take place in District 28 of the Oklahoma State Senate. 

  • Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed legislation in May reinstating the absentee ballot notarization requirement initially struck down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on May 4, 2020. The legislation permits voters to submit copies of their identification in lieu of fulfilling the notarization requirement if a state of emergency occurs within 45 days of an election. The legislation also specified that individuals experiencing symptoms indicative of COVID-19, and individuals classified as vulnerable to infection, could cast an absentee ballot under the 'physical incapacitation' eligibility category.

• In Utah, primaries are on the ballot for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, four state board of education seats, five state Senate seats, and 13 state House seats. 

  • In April 2020, Utah Governor Gary Herbert (R) signed legislation canceling in-person election day voting, in-person early voting, and in-person voter registration for the June 30 primary election.

• Ballotpedia is tracking the Republican primaries for governor and attorney general of Utah as battleground primaries. Here’s more on those races:

  • Governor: Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, former state House Speaker Greg Hughes, former Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., and former state GOP Chairman Thomas Wright are running for the Republican nomination for governor. Incumbent Gary Herbert, who has served since 2010, is not running for re-election.

  • Attorney General: Incumbent Sean Reyes, who has served as attorney general since 2013, faces a challenge from Utah County Attorney David Leavitt. Reyes won 57.5% of the vote at the state party convention, just short of the 60% needed to avoid a primary. 

Ballot Measures Update

• To date, 101 statewide measures in 32 states have been certified for the 2020 ballot.

  • Twenty-eight of the certified measures are citizen-initiated measures. Seventy-two are legislative referrals. One is an automatic constitutional revision commission question. 

  • Six new measures were certified for the November ballot last week.

    • June 25 was the deadline for both citizen initiatives and legislative referrals to be added to the November 3 ballot in California. The state legislature, however, is considering a bill extending that deadline for legislative referrals. Last week, the legislature referred two constitutional amendments to the ballot, and two citizen initiatives were certified for the ballot.

      • California Voting Rights Restoration for Persons on Parole Amendment (2020) - This legislatively referred constitutional amendment would allow people on parole for felony convictions to vote.

      • California Repeal Proposition 209 Affirmative Action Amendment (2020) - This legislatively referred constitutional amendment would repeal Proposition 209 (1996), which prohibited the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to persons on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, and public contracting.

      • California Stem Cell Research Institute Bond Initiative (2020) - This initiative would authorize $5.5 billion general obligation bonds for the state's stem cell research institute and make changes to the institute's governance structure and programs.

      • California Consumer Personal Information Law and Agency Initiative (2020) - This citizen initiative would expand the state’s consumer data privacy laws, remove the time period in which businesses can fix violations before being penalized, and create the Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the state’s consumer data privacy laws.

    • The Michigan Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot that would require a search warrant to access a person's electronic data and electronic communications.

    • A sex education-related veto referendum on Senate Bill 5395 was certified for the Washington ballot. Senate Bill 5395 was designed to require public schools to provide comprehensive sexual health education for all students and require students to be excused if requested by their parents. Parents for Safe Schools sponsored the petition to put the veto referendum on the ballot and are advocating for a “no” vote to repeal SB 5395.

  • Four statewide measures have been on the ballot so far this year. Four more are on the ballot over the summer, and the remaining 93 are on the November ballot.

    • On June 30, voters in Oklahoma will decide State Question 802, an initiative to expand Medicaid coverage.

  • Proponents of nine additional ballot initiatives and veto referendums in Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Oregon submitted signatures, which are pending verification by state officials.

Special Elections

• Forty-eight state legislative special elections have been scheduled in 25 states so far this year, with 34 seats having taken place already. Heading into those races, Democrats had previously controlled 13 of the seats, while Republicans previously controlled 21. One seat flipped from Democratic control to Republican control, and four seats flipped from Republican control to Democratic control.

  • In special elections between 2011 and 2019, one party (either Republicans or Democrats) saw an average net gain of four seats nationally each year.

  • An average of 56 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five even years (2010: 30, 2012: 46, 2014: 40, 2016: 66, 2018: 99).

  • An average of 88 seats were filled through special elections in each of the past five odd years (2011: 95, 2013: 84, 2015: 88, 2017: 98, 2019: 77).

• Upcoming special elections include:

  • June 30

    • Oklahoma State Senate District 28 (primary)

  • July 7

    • New Jersey State Senate District 25 (primary)

    • New Jersey General Assembly District 25 (primary)

  • July 11

    • Louisiana House of Representatives District 54 (primary)

  • July 14

    • Texas State Senate District 14

States in session

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