On February 15, the Washington State Senate passed Substitute SB 6449, which makes it illegal for convicted sex offenders to circulate initiative or referendum petitions. The bill adds other restrictions to the petition process as well. The vote was 29-19.
On February 15, the Washington State Senate passed Substitute SB 6449, which makes it illegal for convicted sex offenders to circulate initiative or referendum petitions. The bill adds other restrictions to the petition process as well. The vote was 29-19.
The Hill has this story, speculating that Florida Governor Charlie Crist may yet decide to run for the U.S. Senate this year as an independent, instead of as a Republican. The article has an allusion to Senator Specter of Pennsylvania, but that seems off-the-subject, because Specter switched directly from Republican to Democratic, and was never an independent. Thanks to Ken Rudin for the link.
Hawaii will hold a special election on Saturday, May 22, to fill the soon-to-be vacant U.S. House seat, First District. Incumbent Neil Abercrombie will soon resign in order to run for Governor. Hawaii holds primaries and special elections on Saturdays.
See this fascinating brief, filed February 25 in the U.S. Supreme Court in Doe v Reed, 09-559. This is the case over whether states should make public the names and addresses of people who sign petitions.
Even if you normally don’t read briefs, consider reading this one. It is 70 pages. If you prefer to print briefs in order to read them (instead of reading them on a computer screen), and if you only want to read the text itself, you can skip printing the first 13 pages, which are various non-text Tables of Authorities.
The case will be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28.
