As some of the midterm elections are still being debated and tabulated, we’re getting a much clearer picture on a host of ballot questions around the country. Democrats grabbed 7 new governorships along with 6 new chambers in state houses and 4 new Attorneys General, so the political landscape at the state level will change quite a bit in 2019. With these shifts, only 1 state (Minnesota) in the nation will have split party control in the legislature – a phenomenon we haven’t seen since 1914! Democrats control 18 legislatures, while republicans control 31. In addition, some 36 states have a trifecta (Governor and both legislative branches controlled by the same party) – 14 democrat, 22 republican, 13 divided and 1 not yet determined (Georgia). Against this backdrop, we can expect to see significant legislative initiatives on wages, paid leaves and other employee benefits being generated in a number of states, now including Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Mexico and Nevada as well as the historically blue states. In addition, having a majority of state attorneys general now being democratic, we would anticipate more state initiated litigation over wage and hour enforcement, sexual harassment policies, opposition to Trump regulatory initiatives and a plethora of other issues.