Daily Brew: May 19, 2021
May 19, 2021
Results summary for Pennsylvania ballot measure elections
Yesterday, Pennsylvania voters went to the polls for spring elections and primaries. Here’s a quick update on where results stood regarding four statewide ballot measures as of 11:45 p.m. EST. For updated results/details, visit our coverage on Ballotpedia.org.
Question 1 and Question 2
Both questions, which would change the relation between the legislature and governor regarding emergency orders, were leading.
Question 1 would allow the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a resolution, which the governor cannot veto, by a simple majority to extend or terminate the governor's emergency declaration. Question 1 had received 53.8% of the vote.
Question 2 would limit the governor's emergency declaration to 21 days unless the legislature votes on a concurrent resolution to extend the order and provide that the state legislature shall pass laws related to how disaster emergencies must be managed. Question 2 had also received 53.8% of the vote.
Question 3
Voters approved Question 3 with 71.1% of the vote. Question 3 added language to the state constitution that prohibits the denial or abridgment of rights on account of an individual's race or ethnicity.
Question 4
Voters approved Question 4 with 72.1% of the vote. Question 4 expanded the state's loan program for volunteer fire companies and ambulance services to also include municipal fire companies and EMS services.
Florida, Montana governors sign bills restricting the ballot initiative process
Yesterday, I told you about the situation down in Mississippi regarding initiative and referendum court rulings. Today, let’s look at some activity in another branch of government regarding statewide ballot measures. Here’s an update on recent bills in two states that restrict the ballot initiative process.
Florida
On May 7, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed Senate Bill 1890 (SB 1890). This law sets $3,000 limits on campaign contributions from committees supporting or opposing ballot initiatives until the secretary of state certifies the measure for the ballot and assigns it a ballot position and number designation. The $3,000 contribution limit would be lifted after a measure makes the ballot.
Following the bill’s signing, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. It argued that SB 1890 violates First Amendment freedom of speech rights and that the state has “no significant state or public interest in curtailing debate and discussion of a ballot measure.” The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has ruled in previous cases that political contributions constitute freedom of speech and cannot be limited without a compelling state interest, such as to prevent corruption and bribery.
Montana
On May 14, Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed House Bill 651 into law. The bill changes the laws governing the initiative process:
- to require the employees of paid signature gatherers to register with the state and pay a fee;
- to require the relevant legislative committee or the legislative council to review and vote whether to support or oppose adding any proposed initiative to the ballot and to require the results of that vote to be published on the initiative petition during circulation;
- to require the attorney general to determine whether a proposed initiative would "cause significant material harm to one or more business interests in Montana" and to require a statement on petition sheets if the attorney general finds that it would; and
- to define appropriations, which the state constitution prohibits initiatives from making, to include directly or indirectly creating a financial obligation or expanding the eligibility for a government program.
Legislators in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah have passed restrictions on the initiative process in 2021.
Ballotpedia has tracked 197 legislative proposals on ballot initiatives, veto referendums, referrals, local ballot measures, and recalls in 39 states during the 2021 legislative sessions. At least 21 have been approved and 20 have been defeated or died. In 2020, 17 bills were approved in nine states that added restrictions on the initiative process. In 2019, 38 bills were approved in 16 states.
21 states have announced dates to end pandemic-related federal unemployment benefits
On May 4, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R) became the first governor in the U.S. to announce his state would opt out of all federal unemployment benefit programs related to the coronavirus pandemic by June 30.
Since Gianforte's announcement, at least 20 additional states have also announced plans to end enhanced federal unemployment benefits related to COVID-19. All 21 states that are ending pandemic federal unemployment benefits have Republican governors. Six states that have Republican governors have not announced an end to federal pandemic-related unemployment programs.
The table below summarizes when each state will end federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits:
The American Rescue Plan, signed on March 11, 2021, extended federal unemployment benefit programs related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including the federal government's $300 per week add-on to state unemployment benefits, through Sept. 6, 2021.
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