Size and Sessions: The Oregon Legislature will start meeting in regular session in even years in 2012. Oregon had been one of five state legislatures that met only in odd years. The news wasn't so good in Alaska though, where voters rejected a proposal to increase the size of the legislature by 10%.
Votes in the Legislature: Voters sent a mixed message in California, decreasing the vote requirement to pass the budget from 2/3 to a simple majority, but also expanding an existing 2/3 requirement to include votes on regulatory fees. Washington voters rejected the legislature's hope that they could approve tax increases with a simple majority vote in 2011, and instead have returned them to a 2/3 requirement that had been temporarily suspend for 2010-2011.
Ethics: Utah voters approved the creation of a legislative ethics commission. Because this legislative proposal creates a commission via the state constitution, it has the effect of blocking a citizen initiative that's been in the works for the past couple of years. The initiative can't be used to amend the constitution in Utah.
