A Democratic legislator's parting gift: A seat for the GOP

The Colorado GOP will fill the seat of expelled Rep. Steven Lebsock, who was elected as a Democrat, following his last-minute party switch. [View this email in your browser](. [Forward This](mailto:info@ballotpedia.org?&subject=Check out this interesting newsletter!&body=A%20Democratic%20legislator's%20parting%20gift%3A%20A%20seat%20for%20the%20GOP%20via%20%40ballotpedia's%20State%20and%20Local%20Tap%20bit.ly/2Ft6bpL) [blank][Tweet This]( [blank][Send to Linkedin]( [blank][Send to Facebook]( [blank] Good morning! This week in state legislatures, a Colorado party switch followed by an expulsion nets a seat for the GOP, and battle-weary incumbents in Texas look forward to the general elections (and primary runoffs) following Tuesday’s primaries. Get these stories and so much more in the complete edition of the State and Local Tap. [Check out the full version]( → Colorado GOP will fill expelled representative’s seat following his last-minute party switch Colorado Republicans will fill the seat made vacant by the expulsion of former Rep. [Steve Lebsock](, who was elected as a Democrat but switched parties on the day he was expelled from the [Colorado House of Representatives](. Lebsock was expelled from office on a vote of 52 - 9 on Monday. His expulsion followed allegations from several women, including Rep. [Faith Winter]( (D) and a former staffer, that he had sexually harassed them. Because Lebsock switched his party membership to Republican before he was expelled, Colorado law gave Republicans the right to appoint Lebsock’s successor. Alternatively, Republicans could have allowed Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) to appoint Lebsock’s successor. An appointment by Republicans will allow the party to pick up a seat in the house, giving Republicans 29 seats to Democrats’ 36 seats. All 65 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for election in November. Most incumbents survive Texas state legislative Republican primaries Neither Republicans who oppose Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) nor Republicans who support him had a clear victory in Tuesday’s [state legislative primaries](. The anti-Straus faction defeated three pro-Straus incumbents, but the two sides performed about the same in the races without incumbents (each won three). Key races included one state Senate race and two state House races where anti-Straus challengers unseated pro-Straus incumbents. State Sen. Craig Estes and state Reps. Wayne Faircloth and Jason Villalba lost their seats. State Rep. Scott Cosper could also lose his in a runoff. Key wins for the pro-Straus faction included fending off anti-Straus challengers in Senate District 31 and House Districts 2, 99, 122, and 134. Seven runoff elections on May 22 will likely decide which faction can claim victory in the 2018 primaries. Of those, five will feature a pro-Straus vs. anti-Straus matchup and another will pit Cosper against a challenger without a clear factional affiliation. West Virginia teacher walkout ends as 5 percent raise becomes law The [West Virginia teacher walkout]( ended Tuesday when Gov. [Jim Justice](, a Republican, signed a 5 percent teacher pay raise into law—the first increase in four years, according to The New York Times. The walkout that began on February 22 and resulted in nine days out of the classroom. Disagreement remains on the source of funding for the raise. Republican senators maintained the pay increase would be funded by reductions to other programs, such as Medicaid. Gov. Justice disagreed, saying, "We have cash in the balances in Medicaid that will absolutely backstop any cuts whatsoever from Medicaid." Rising health costs related to the Public Employees Insurance Agency were another point of contention during the walkout. Gov. Justice called for a 27-member panel made up of union representatives, legislators, public employees, and at-large members, to address the issue. The governor's executive order tasked the panel with studying and analyzing the state insurance plan and submitting a final report and recommendations by December 2018. Connecticut state Rep. Angel Arce (D) resigns over sexual misconduct allegations Connecticut state Rep. Angel Arce (D) resigned Wednesday following allegations that he sent inappropriate Facebook messages to a woman when she was 16. Among the messages he allegedly sent to the woman, who was 18 when she disclosed them to the Hartford Courant, were, "Good night love and sweet dreams and thank you for coming into my life,"; “I wish you were living in Hartford. We be hanging out all the times"; "You so beautiful and gorgeous"; and, “Really hun trust I think we going to keep a lot of secrets between us.” When asked by the Courant, Arce did not say whether he sent the messages or not, but he did say he was familiar with the girl. His attorney later said that he had not done anything wrong. House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (D) removed Arce from his committee assignments after the allegations came to light. Both he and Gov. Dan Malloy (D) said Arce should resign. Arce is the 18th state official to either resign or be expelled from office due to [sexual misconduct allegations]() since October 2017, when harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein were first reported. [State legislatures in session] Voters in Maine will use ranked-choice voting on June 12, 2018, then decide whether to keep or repeal the first-in-the-nation voting system Voters in Maine [will decide on June 12](), whether to keep [ranked-choice voting (RCV)]() in effect for future elections while also using the method to vote in primaries for governor, congressional members, and state legislators. [The ballot measure](), known as a veto referendum, on ranked-choice voting will be the second to address the election method in Maine since 2016. Maine will be the first state in the nation to use ranked-choice voting in an election. A ranked-choice voting initiative, [approved by voters]() in 2016 as Question 5, was set to go into effect for elections starting this year. In October 2017, the Maine State Legislature passed Legislative Document 1646 (LD 1646), which was written to postpone the enactment of RCV until December 1, 2021, and repeal RCV unless a constitutional amendment is passed before December 1, 2021, to enable the legislature to determine election methods. RCV is a voting method in which voters rank candidates according to their preference and ballots are processed in rounds. The candidate in last-place is eliminated during each round and the voters' second choices get their votes. The process is continued until a candidate wins a simple majority (50 percent plus one) of the vote. The committee that supported Question 5 in 2016, the Committee for Ranked-Choice Voting, launched a veto referendum campaign to overturn LD 1646 and submitted signatures on February 2. The Committee for Ranked Choice Voting had raised more than $250,000, as of Monday, with $100,000 from Action Now Initiative. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap (D) announced Monday that 66,687 signatures (5,564 more than needed) were valid. The secretary of state’s office said about $1.1 million will be needed to implement RCV. Voting "yes" on the referendum would be a vote to overturn LD 1646, while voting “no” would be a vote to uphold LD 1646. The measure's placement on the ballot means that LD 1646 is suspended until voters decide the bill's fate through the referendum on June 12. Therefore, whether voters approve or reject the referendum, ranked-choice voting will be used for the primaries that are also taking place on June 12. RCV will not be used for electing candidates to non-gubernatorial executive offices or local offices. Voters in West Virginia will decide constitutional amendment addressing abortion and abortion funding in November 2018 The West Virginia State Legislature passed [a constitutional amendment]() Monday stating that "nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of abortion.” As the legislation amends the state constitution, the amendment will appear on the ballot for voter consideration on November 6, as Amendment 1. The amendment needed a two-thirds vote in each chamber of the state legislature to make the ballot. On February 9, the state Senate voted 25-9 to pass the amendment. The state House approved the amendment Monday in a vote of 73-25. Legislative Republicans and more than a quarter of legislative Democrats backed asking voters to change the constitution. Delegate John Shott (R-27), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said, “It does not ban abortion in the state. It simply says under our constitution, there's no protected right to an abortion, and requires no funding of abortion.” Delegate Barbara Evans Fleischauer (D-51), who voted against the amendment, stated, “This is not the time to be restricting access to what is a legal safe procedure in our country.” In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, finding that state laws criminalizing abortion violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held, however, that states can regulate and/or prohibit abortions once a fetus reaches the point of viability. West Virginia is one of 43 states that ban abortion beginning at a certain stage of pregnancy. State law prohibits abortions later than 22 weeks after a woman's last menstrual period. Philip Young becomes first Democrat in 44 years to represent District 120 of Connecticut House [Philip Young]() (D) was sworn into office Monday as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, becoming the first Democrat to hold the District 120 seat in 44 years. Young won the seat in a [special election]( on February 27 after defeating Republican [Bill Cabral]( with 51 percent of the vote. The seat became vacant due to the resignation of [Laura Hoydick]( (R), who left office after she was sworn into office as mayor of Stratford. With Young now a member of the chamber, Democrats hold an 80-71 majority in the state House. The Connecticut State Senate is split evenly 18-18 between Republicans and Democrats. The District 120 seat was the sixth seat to flip in special election across the country in 2018. Democrats flipped all six seats. [Current state government trifectas] South Dakota voters will decide at June primary whether to make changes to the Marsy's Law crime victim rights amendment approved in 2016 The South Dakota House of Representatives voted 61-6 Wednesday to approve the latest version of [a proposed constitutional amendment—House Joint Resolution 1004]()—to alter [Amendment S](), the [Marsy's Law]( crime victim rights amendment approved by voters in 2016. Although the House had previously approved the content of the proposed amendment, the Senate amended it to allow for a June 5 election date, rather than November. The House also gave final approval to House Bill 1162, which actually called for the measure to be put on the primary election ballot and to allocate $200,000 to the election costs, which means the June election date is set provided Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) signs HB 1162; Gov. Daugaard has said he would sign the bill. A statewide ballot measure has never been placed on a primary election ballot in South Dakota before, according to the secretary of state. The last time a measure was placed on a special election ballot was in April 2001. The amendment, which has the support of Marsy's Law for All, would require crime victims to opt in to many of the rights provided for by 2016 Amendment S and would allow law enforcement to share certain information otherwise protected from disclosure with the public in order to help solve crimes. The amendment would also allow the legislature more flexibility with regard to implementing and enforcing Marsy's Law. Other proposed changes include adjustments to the definition of crime victim and the deletion of a provision requiring all money and property taken from a convicted criminal first go toward restitution for the victim before going to any debts owed to the government. HJR 1004 was originally introduced as a complete repeal of Amendment S, with sponsors stating the intention to enact some of the rights as statutes. This is the first proposal to change a Marsy's Law amendment. Marsy’s Laws have been passed in six states and have never lost at the ballot. Henry Nicholas, the co-founder of Broadcom Corp., was the primary sponsor of the original 2008 Marsy's Law in California and formed his national organization, Marsy's Law for All, in 2009. Nicholas has funded the majority of contributions—91 percent, or $27 million—to support campaigns for the six successful Marsy’s Law ballot measures so far. In 2018, voters in [Kentucky, Nevada, and Oklahoma]( will decide whether to enact Marsy's Laws. [Status of marsy's law in the U.S.] Recall effort ends with Virginia school board chairman’s resignation An effort to recall [Ryan Sawyers]( from his position as at-large chairman of the [Prince William County Public Schools]( school board ended Wednesday when Sawyers resigned. Sawyers cited personal and professional reasons for his resignation, and he described the district's school board and administration as corrupt. On their official recall petition, the Prince William Committee for Quality Education said that Sawyers had misused his position, discriminated against district administrators, and tried to change sports policies to favor a specific organization. Sawyers called the recall effort silly and said speeches made by the committee members were "political theater." Others said the effort against him was political backlash after Sawyers, a Democrat, won a seat that was previously held by Republicans. The school board is officially nonpartisan. Outside of the school board, Sawyers also ran for [Virginia's 1st Congressional District]( in 2018. He suspended his campaign for that position a week before he resigned from the school board. His fellow board members voted 4-2 to censure him in September 2017, after he publicly filed email exchanges between board members and school district counsel. Recall election set for three members of local parks and recreation commission in Oregon A [recall election]() of three of the five members on the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission in Oregon is set for Tuesday. Michael Gardiner, Jim Lewis, and Rick Landt were targeted for recall in response to layoffs at the Senior Center and proposed changes to the city’s senior services. Recall proponents had to collect at least 1,566 signatures for each officials petition, which they submitted to the county clerk’s office in January 2018. Gardiner, Lewis, and Landt were then given the option to resign or face a recall election, and all three decided not to resign. In [2018](, Ballotpedia has tracked 116 recalls against 157 elected officials. Of the nine elected officials who have faced recall elections, three were recalled. The Tap has thousands of loyal readers each week. Want to reach them? Advertise in this email! Contact ads@ballotpedia.org for details. The Lucy Burns Institute, publisher of Ballotpedia, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the extent of the law. Donations to the Lucy Burns Institute or Ballotpedia do not support any candidates or campaigns. Decide which emails you want from Ballotpedia. [Unsubscribe from all emails]( or [update your subscription preferences](. Ballotpedia The Encyclopedia of American Politics [8383 Greenway Blvd., Suite 600]( [Middleton, WI 53562]( [Facebook]( [Twitter](