On April 18, the California Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1394, which makes it illegal for anyone to pay initiative petition circulators, except on an hourly wage basis. The bill even blocks paying a bonus to high producers. The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
On April 24, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Abbott v Perez, 17-586, the Texas racial gerrymandering case. This article describes the hearing, which mostly focused on procedure, and whether the Court even has jurisdiction. Battles over Texas redistricting have been going on in federal court since 2011.
UPDATE: here is the oral argument transcript.
A bill to improve Oklahoma ballot access is on the House calendar for April 25. It eases the definition of “political party.” Current law requires a party to poll 2.5% of the vote for the office at the top of the ballot every two years (President, Governor). SB 350 changes that to 2.5% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. Last year it passed the State Senate, and the House committees. Oklahoma has two-year legislative sessions. UPDATE: this post has been re-written; the original post said SB 350 was not likely to pass, but that was inaccurate.
Another bill, SB 1038, is not likely to pass. It would have eased the filing fee for candidates whose income places them below the poverty level. It would also have eased the petition in lieu of filing fee for such candidates. It had passed the Senate but is not likely to be brought up for a vote in the House.
The Libertarian Party is now on the ballot, but it won’t remain on the ballot after November 2018 unless it polls at least 2.5% for Governor, or unless the bill is signed into law. The last time a third party was on the ballot in an Oklahoma midterm year was 1998, when the Reform Party was on. The Reform Party gubernatorial nominee only polled 1.21%.
Parliament Square is London’s most prestigious public gathering space. It adjoins the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Supreme Court Building, and executive offices. For many decades, only eleven statues have been placed in Parliament Square, all of men. But now the first statue depicting a woman has been added to the Square: a statue of Millicent Fawcett, a leading fighter for votes for women. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
On April 18, the Utah Republican Party filed this request for rehearing in Utah Republican Party v Cox, 16-4091. The issue is the state law that forces the party to let candidates without substantial support at a party meeting petition onto the party’s primary ballot. The party is not opposed to having a primary, but it only wants candidates on its primary ballot with significant support at party endorsement meetings. The Tenth Circuit had upheld the law by a vote of 2-1.
On April 19, the Tenth Circuit asked the state to respond to the petition for rehearing. This is a good sign for the party. Generally when courts receive a request for rehearing, they do not ask the other side to respond, and typically then reject the rehearing request. The state’s response is due May 15.
