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Coronavirus Daily Update: March 19, 2020
From Ballotpedia
March 20 →
← March 18
As part of Ballotpedia’s coverage on the coronavirus pandemic, we are compiling a daily summary of major changes in the world of politics, government, and elections happening each day. Here is the summary of changes for March 19, 2020, as of Thursday afternoon.
Federal responses
- Last night, President Donald Trump signed H.R. 6201, the second coronavirus relief bill. It passed the Senate earlier in the afternoon by a 90-8 vote, and passed the House on Monday by a 363-40 vote. Lawmakers are expecting to work out another bill in the coming days that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said should include direct payments to individuals.
- Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Steven Daines (R-Mont.), and Angus King (I-Maine) filed legislation seeking to delay the federal tax filing deadline for 90 days to align with the move made on March 17 by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to delay the payment of taxes 90 days. House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) sent Mnuchin a letter requesting the same.
Election changes
Overview:
- Nine states have changed primary or municipal election dates.
- One state (New York) has adjusted candidate filing requirements.
- Three states have either implemented or attempted to implement changes to voting procedures.
- Political parties in six states have made changes to party events on a statewide basis
Connecticut:
- Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced the postponement of the state's presidential preference primary to June 2.
Minnesota:
- The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party has voted to conduct all local and district-level caucuses online.
- The Republican Party has voted to conduct local conventions online.
Missouri:
- The Missouri GOP has voted to cancel its county caucuses.
State legislative changes
Overview to date:
- Sixteen state legislatures have suspended their sessions.
- Two (Maine and Maryland) have adjourned early.
- Four have implemented partial suspensions.
Mississippi:
- Mississippi State Legislature suspended its session, effective March 18, 2020, through April 1, 2020.
New Hampshire:
- The New Hampshire General Court announced that it would extend the suspension of its session through April 10. The suspension had originally been set to end March 20.
State court changes
Overview to date:
- Thirty-two states have suspended in-person proceedings statewide.
- Sixteen states have suspended in-person proceedings on the local level.
- Two states, West Virginia and Wyoming, have made no changes to their court schedules on the state or local level due to coronavirus.
Arizona:
- Yesterday, The Arizona Supreme Court updated their original order from March 16, 2020, to recommend that all in-person proceedings in Arizona courts be avoided to the greatest extent possible, until further notice. The court also ordered that new juries scheduled between March 18 through April 17 be rescheduled.
Kansas
- The Kansas Supreme Court issued an order yesterday that suspends all jury trials and restricts courts to “emergency operations.” Emergency operations for the district include first appearances, setting appearance bonds and issuing warrants.
Washington
- The Washington Supreme Court suspended all criminal and civil jury trials until after April 24, 2020. It further ordered custody criminal matters be continued to April 24, and stated that emergency matters needing to be heard before April 24 must be done by telephone, video or other means that are not in-person, unless impossible.
School closures
Overview to date:
- So far, 43 of 50 states have ordered a statewide school closure. The remaining states are leaving school closures up to local officials. Those 43 states served 41.2 million students during the 2016-2017 school year, accounting for 81.4 percent of the 50.6 million public school students in the United States. California accounts for 6.3 million of those 9.4 million students in a state without statewide closures.
Details:
- Texas
- Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed an executive order closing schools statewide from March 20 until April 3. Texas became the 42nd state to order statewide closures, and it served 5.4 million public school students during the 16-17 school year
- Indiana
- Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed an executive order closing schools statewide until May 1. Previously Holcombe had granted schools a 20-day waiver that allowed school districts to close on days of their choosing. Indiana became the 43rd state to order statewide closures and it served 1 million public school students during the 16-17 school year.
Diagnosed or quarantined politicians
Federal officials who have entered quarantine:
- U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla)
- U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla)
- U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Fla)
- U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA)
- U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA)
- U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn (R-LA)
- U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams (R-Utah)
- Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R)
- State Rep. and candidate for Georgia's 7th Congressional District Renee Unterman (R-GA)
- State Sen. Brandon Beach (R-GA)
- State Sen. Randy Robertson (R-GA)
Local officials who have entered quarantine
- Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple (WI)
