As already reported, the Wyoming Senate Majority Leader killed the HB 173, the bill to vastly increase the independent candidate petition reqauirements. It had passed the House overwhelmingly and had also passed the Senate Committee, yet it died because Senator Tara Nethercott, the Majority Floor Leader, didn’t allow the bill to be brought up on the Senate floor.

This story says that Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who supported HB 173, has expressed unhappiness that seven election law bills failed to get through. The story does not list the bills, but it clearly relates to the ballot access bill.

On February 13, the Maryland House passed HB 41. It moves the petition deadline from the first Monday in August to the first Monday in July. Also it says if the petition is rejected for not having enough signatures, the group must start all over again, and can’t supplement the original petition.

The Forward Party sent a witness to testify against the bill.

On February 28, the Hawaii State House Finance Committee passed HB 134. It lets candidates file their declaration of candidacy and petition electronically.