On June 15, the California Assembly passed SB 96 by 52-27. It makes it more difficult for recall petitions to succeed, by letting signers remove their names after the petition drive is over. Later the same day the Senate concurred in the Assembly amendments, by a vote of 26-11, so the bill now goes to Governor Jerry Brown.

There is currently a recall petition circulating in California against one particular Democratic State Senator. The bill takes effect immediately. However, there are court precedents that say it violates due process to make it more difficult for a petition to succeed, if the bill takes effect in the middle of a particular petition drive. One of those precedents, Hudler v Austin, was summarily affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. 419 F Supp 1002, 1013-14 (e.d. Michigan 1976); 430 U.S. 924 (1977). In that case, the Michigan legislature had made it more difficult for newly-qualifying parties to get on the ballot, and that bill had been passed in April 1976. A federal court upheld the new requirements but said due process demanded that the new law not be applied for the 1976 election.

On May 23, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 44. It makes two somewhat unrelated changes. It restores the old requirement that judicial candidates, seeking a place on a statewide primary ballot, need 950 signatures even if they pay the filing fee. Such petitions need 50 signatures from each of the 19 judicial districts. In the past this petition requirement has sometimes discouraged Democrats from running a full slate of partisan judicial nominees. The petition was not in effect during 2016 and the Democrats did run a full slate in 2016, for the first time since 2002. Now that the petition requirement is back, that makes it somewhat more likely that Democrats won’t run a full slate in 2018.

Also, SB 44 says that candidate petitions need not be checked for validity, unless some files a challenge. If someone does file a challenge, the challenge must state explicitly what signatures are invalid. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only states holding regularly-scheduled legislative elections this year. In New Jersey, this year there are five Green Party nominees, five Libertarian Party nominees, and 19 independent candidates on the ballot for legislature.

By contrast, in 2015, there were eight Greens, two Libertarians, and eight independent candidates on the ballot for legislature.