On May 1, the Texas House Elections Committee passed HB 4309. It says that parties that nominate by convention will be the recipients of filing fees paid by members of the party who seek a convention nomination. Current law sends the money to the state government.

For parties that nominate by primary (i.e., the Democratic and Republican Parties), current law send the filing fees paid by members of those parties to their party. Therefore, HB 4309 would treat qualified minor parties the same as the qualified major parties. The Libertarian Party was instrumental in getting HB 4309 introduced.

On May 9, President Donald Trump said that “Ross Perot cost (President Bush) the 1992 election.” See here.

Nothing is more certain than the fact that Perot did not cause President Bush to lose the election. Perot dropped out of the 1992 race on July 17 and didn’t re-enter until October 1, 1992. During that time opinion polls showed Bill Clinton leading Bush. Furthermore, the exit polls asked Perot voters who they would have voted for if Perot had not been running, and the results were a tie between Perot voters who said “Bush” and Perot voters who said “Clinton.”

On May 8, the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, and the Clerk of the State House, filed this brief in Libby v Fecteau, 24A1051. This case arose when the House disciplined Representative Laurel D. Libby for having posted on social media a picture of a transgender high school student. Her post included the student’s name. The House said that Libby must remove the social media posting and apologize for having posted it, but she refused, so the House ruled that she cannot vote until the end of the session, or until she changes her mind. Libby then sued, but lost in the lower federal courts.