Written by: Karen Suhaka | March 24, 2020

This post was taken from Ballotpedia’s excellent “Daily Brew” newsletter March 24, 2020

Government reactions to the coronavirus situation are not limited to the federal level. State lawmakers nationwide have taken action on legislation in response to the coronavirus outbreak. With the help of our friends at BillTrack50, we are compiling information on all of that legislation.

As of March 23, 2020, legislatures in 29 states and Washington, D.C., had taken up 184 bills related to COVID-19. Lawmakers in New Jersey had taken up 30 relevant bills, more than any other state and 16% of the nationwide total.

Of the 184 introduced bills, 27 significant bills—or 15%—had been enacted into law. Significant bills include all legislative actions apart from ceremonial resolutions and procedural changes. New Jersey had enacted seven related bills, more than any other state and 26% of the nationwide total.

The following states and jurisdictions had enacted significant legislation related to the outbreak (the number of enacted bills is listed parenthetically): Alaska (1), Alabama (1), California (2), Massachusetts (3), Maryland (3), Maine (1), Minnesota (2), New Jersey (7), New York (2), South Carolina (1), Washington (3), and Washington, D.C. (1).

One of the ways that governors have been responding is to order shutdowns or shelter-in-place directives.

The states shaded blue in the map below are under statewide orders as of 3:00 pm E.T. on March 23 for residents to shelter-in-place or stay-at-home. Statewide executive orders issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic commonly do at least two things: they close nonessential businesses and call for workers in a critical industry to continue working. The exact definitions of nonessential businesses and critical industries vary from state to state:

Additionally, here are other notable coronavirus-related updates since Monday’s Brew:

  • President Donald Trump (R) announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would fund the activation of U.S. National Guard units in California, New York, and Washington.
  • Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) postponed the March 31 Republican primary runoff election for the state’s 2nd Congressional District to June 23.
  • Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb (R), Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R), Republican Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer, and Democratic Party Chairman John Zody announced the postponement of Indiana’s May 5 primary election to June 2.
  • The Democratic Party of Hawaii announced that it would not conduct in-person voting in its party-administered presidential preference primary, originally scheduled for April 4, 2020. Instead, all voting would take place by mail.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order providing for all-mail voting for the 25th Congressional District special general election and the 28th State Senate District special general election, both scheduled for May 12.
  • The Democratic Party of Puerto Rico announced that its April 26 presidential preference primary was postponed.
  • Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) announced that she would sign an executive order postponing Rhode Island’s April 28 presidential preference primary to June 2.