Bills have been introduced in each house of the Washington legislature to make it illegal to pay initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. They are SB 5973 by Senator Javier Valdez (D-Seattle) and HB 2260 by Representative Sharlett Mena (D-Tacoma). See this story.
Utah State Senator Michael McKell (R-Spanish Fork) has introduced SB 194. It is an omnibus election law bill, with a provision that changes how vacancies in the legislature are filled. Currently when a legislator does or resigns, that legislator’s party has the right to replace him or her. Recently the Forward Party gained a state legislator in Utah, because a Republican representative had changed his affiliation to show himself a member of the Forward Party. Then, that legislator had resigned, so the Forward Party was permitted to choose his replacement.
Under the bill, the outgoing legislator’s party when he or she left the legislature would not matter. Instead what would matter is the outgoing legislator’s party membership when he or she had last been elected. If this bill had been law earlier this year, the Forward Party could not now have a state legislator.
On January 22, over 90% of the Republican members of the Oklahoma legislature signed this letter that criticizes top-two systems. An initiative is currently circulating in Oklahoma for a top-two system. The petition deadline is Monday, January 26.
On January 23, a U.S. House redistricting bill, HB 488, was introduced in the Maryland House. See this story. But its chances in the Senate seem dim.
The Carolina Journal has this story about the court decision on January 23 won by Cornel West.
