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State Legislative Tracker: Alaska convenes special session over natural gas pipeline

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October 26, 2015

Edited by Jackie Beran

This week’s tracker includes a look at a special session in Alaska and a vote in the Wisconsin State Assembly that disbanded the state's nonpartisan watchdog board.

Weekly highlight

Seal of Alaska.jpg

ALASKA: On October 24, 2015, the Alaska State Legislature convened its third special legislative session of the year. This 30-day special session will cover Gov. Bill Walker's (I) proposed state buyout of TransCanada's stake in a liquefied natural gas project.[1] The other agenda item for the special session was supposed to be a gas reserves tax, but Walker removed it from the agenda after he "received written assurances from BP and ConocoPhillips Alaska that they would be willing to commit to make their gas available to a gas project if they are not participating."[2] Walker is requesting about $150 million for the state buyout and project-related costs.[3] Both Walker and legislative leaders view the construction of a $55 billion natural gas pipeline as the most viable solution for balancing the state budget, but they have contrasting views on the best possible way to build the pipeline.[4] While Walker favors a state buyout, Republican leaders favor a collaborative approach with the pipeline partners BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.[4] The two previous special sessions this year covered the state budget and cost the state more than $886,000, according to the Legislative Affairs Agency.[5][6] On the special session, Walker said, "I am looking forward to working with lawmakers during this special session. It is imperative that we not only have a seat at the table in the Alaska LNG process but that we have taken the steps to incentivize our partners to choose to commit the gas within their leases to an Alaska LNG project."[1]

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WISCONSIN: Last Wednesday, the state Assembly voted 58-39 to disband the state's nonpartisan watchdog board. The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) is a panel of former judges tasked with overseeing state laws relating to elections, campaign finance, ethics and lobbying. Under the two-part plan spearheaded by Republican Speaker Robin Vos and the plan's author, Rep. Dean Knudson (R), the GAB would be replaced by two new agencies: one handling elections and the other overseeing ethics and campaign finance. The agencies, which would be run by former GAB staffers, would be overseen by six-member citizen boards appointed evenly by Democrats and Republicans.[7] The plan's second bill would change the state's campaign finance law to comply with recent court decisions. The campaign donation limit would double to $20,000; corporations and unions would be able to make unlimited donations to parties and legislative campaign committees; and candidates and issue advocacy groups would be allowed to coordinate.[8]

According to Sen. Luther Olsen (R), at least three Republicans in the state Senate will not vote for the plan.[9] Last Thursday, Devin LeMahieu (R), the chair of the Senate elections committee, which passed the bill 3-2, said that he had "no idea" if the bill would advance past the full chamber in its current form.[8] A recent audit concluded that the GAB had not carried out many of its responsibilities and had acted as a rogue agency in investigating the campaign finances of Gov. Scott Walker's (R) campaign and numerous conservative groups.[10] Democrats have vocally opposed the proposed changes. An "appalled" Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D) said that the bills "will lead to significant corruption in Wisconsin."[11] Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa (D) said that the new agencies would amount to "toothless lapdogs." Walker's office commented that he "looks forward to working with lawmakers on a replacement for the GAB that is fair, transparent and accountable to Wisconsinites."[12]

Sessions

Current sessions capture for the week of October 26, 2015
See also: Dates of 2015 state legislative sessions
Click here to see a chart of each state's 2015 session information.

Regular sessions

Currently five out of 50 state legislatures are meeting in regular session. Two states are in recess, 41 states have adjourned their 2015 legislative sessions and two states are in special session.

The following states are in regular session:[13]

In recess

As of today, October 26, there are two state legislatures currently in recess.[14]


Adjourned

The following states have adjourned their 2015 regular sessions:[15]

Special sessions

As of today, October 26, there are two state legislatures currently in special session.

  • October 19, 2015: Florida; 1st special session was from 6/1 to 6/19; 2nd special session was from 8/10 to 8/21; 3rd special session will be from 10/19 to 11/6 (projected)
  • October 24, 2015: Alaska; 1st special session was from 4/28 to 5/21; 2nd special session was from 5/21 to 6/11

2015 Legislative Elections

See also: State legislative elections, 2015

In the 50 states, there are 99 state legislative chambers, of which seven chambers will hold state legislative elections in November 2015.[17]

There are seven chambers in four states with elections in 2015:

A total of 131 of the country's 1,972 state senate seats and 407 of the country's 5,411 state house seats will be up for a vote. This accounts for 6.6 percent of the country's state senate seats and 7.5 percent of the country's state house seats. Altogether, 538 (7.3%) of the country's 7,383 state legislative seats are up for election. Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia hold elections in odd-numbered years. The New Jersey State Senate is the only chamber in those four states without scheduled elections in 2015.

Primary Information

The state legislative filing deadlines and primary dates are as follows:

Filing Deadlines

Primary Dates

Special Elections

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See also: State legislative special elections, 2015

There are no special elections scheduled for this week.

Recent election results

October 20, 2015

☑RunoffArrow.jpg South Carolina State Senate District 45
See also: South Carolina state legislative special elections, 2015

A special election for the position of South Carolina State Senate District 45 was called for October 20. A primary election took place on September 1. A primary runoff election took place on September 15. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was July 13.[22]

The seat was vacant following the death of Clementa Pinckney (D) on June 17, 2015, in a mass shooting at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.[23]

Margie Bright Matthews, R. Keith Horton, Richmond Truesdale, Korey Williams, John E. Washington, Kenneth Hodges, William Bowman, Chauncey Barnwell, Sheree Darien, Libbie Henry Green and Kent Fletcher faced off in the Democratic primary. Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters, Bright Matthews and Hodges, met in a runoff election, which Bright Matthews won.[24] Alberto Fernandez was unopposed in the Republican primary. Leilani Bessinger withdrew from the race before the Republican primary.[22][25] Bright Matthews defeated Fernandez in the special election.[26]

South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Special election, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngMargie Bright Matthews 88.5% 5,763
     Republican Alberto Fernandez 11.5% 750
     Write-ins Write-ins 0% 2
Total Votes 6,515
South Carolina State Senate, District 45, Democratic Runoff, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngMargie Bright Matthews 56.2% 3,908
     Democratic Kenneth Hodges 43.8% 3,042
Total Votes 6,950
Democratic Party September 1 Democratic primary candidates:
Republican Party September 1 Republican primary candidates:
Note: Leilani Bessinger withdrew before the primary.
September 15 Special election runoff candidates:
Democratic Party Margie Bright Matthews Approveda
Democratic Party Kenneth Hodges
October 20 Special election candidates:
Democratic Party Margie Bright Matthews Green check mark transparent.png
Republican Party Alberto Fernandez

Looking ahead

Upcoming special elections include:

  • November 3:
  • November 10:
  • December 1:
  • December 8:

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Alaska Native News, "Governor Walker to Host Legislative Briefing on Saturday," accessed October 23, 2015
  2. ↑ Fuel Fix, "Gas reserves tax from Alaska special session agenda," accessed October 26, 2015
  3. ↑ Alaska Dispatch News, "Alaska legislative leaders want broader special session agenda," accessed October 26, 2015
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Governing, "Alaska Legislature Will Have a Third Special Session to Discuss Gas Pipeline," accessed October 23, 2015
  5. ↑ NEWSOK, "Alaska lawmakers OK $5 billion budget in 2nd special session," accessed October 23, 2015
  6. ↑ Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, "Alaska Legislature special session costs top $886K," accessed October 23, 2015
  7. ↑ WKOW, "UPDATE: Assembly approves dismantling of GAB, but Senate passage is in question," October 21, 2015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Associated Press, "Wisconsin senator says he has 'no idea' whether GAB bill will pass," October 22, 2015
  9. ↑ WISN, "Wisconsin state Assembly votes to dissolve GAB," October 21, 2015
  10. ↑ Watchdog.org, "Fireworks coming on GAB and campaign finance reform debate," October 21, 2015
  11. ↑ WISN, "Wisconsin state Assembly votes to dissolve GAB," October 21, 2015
  12. ↑ The Capital Times, "'Lapdogs' and 'la-la land': Wisconsin Assembly debates campaign finance laws, GAB overhaul," October 21, 2015
  13. ↑ Stateside Associates, "Session Calendar 2015," accessed October 26, 2015
  14. ↑ StateNet, "Daily Session Summary," accessed October 26, 2015
  15. ↑ StateNet, "Daily Session Summary," accessed October 26, 2015
  16. ↑ Special session abruptly adjourned on August 17 with no agreement in place over redistricting congressional districts. The deadline to create new congressional maps was September 1. The courts determined that the state's 3rd Congressional District must be re-drawn. The courts are expected to rule on a new congressional map in November.
  17. ↑ Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia will hold general elections on November 3, 2015. Louisiana's general elections will be held on November 21.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Elections," accessed January 2, 2015
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 New Jersey Department of Elections, "2015 Primary Election Timeline," accessed February 2, 2015
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Virginia State Board of Elections, "2015 November Election Calendar," accessed January 2, 2015
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed June 26, 2015
  23. ↑ NBC News, "'This Is a Hate Crime': Nine People Killed at Historic South Carolina Church," June 18, 2015
  24. ↑ scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary Runoff," accessed September 16, 2015
  25. ↑ scvotes.org, "State Senate District 45 Democratic Primary," accessed September 16, 2015
  26. ↑ South Carolina State Election Commission, "State Senate District 45 Special Election," accessed October 21, 2015
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