Florida HB 497 would make it illegal for initiative petitioners to be paid on a per-signature basis. Also it would require paid circulators to attend a government-sponsored training class. The bill has passed several policy committees but was “laid on the table” on March 27, so perhaps it is dead. Thanks to J. W. Smith for this news.
On April 1, the Illinois Senate defeated SB 1666 by a vote of 17-37. It would have converted Illinois from a state with a primary in which the primary voter must publicly say which primary ballot he or she wants, to a system in which the primary voter makes that decision in the secrecy of the voting booth. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news. Proponents of the change are not downhearted, because they have been working for this change for many years, and this is the first time this type of bill has advanced this far.
The South Carolina bill to ban fusion, HB 3067, is still pending in a Senate Subcommittee (it had passed the House in February). However, it has been amended to also ban the straight-ticket device. Thanks to Scott West for this news.
The Constitution Party holds a national committee meeting in Newark, New Jersey, June 11-13. Former Congressmember Virgil Goode will speak at that meeting. Goode had been a Democratic member of Congress from Virginia, and then in the 1990’s had been re-elected as an independent, and then afterwards he was elected to several more terms as a Republican. He was defeated for re-election in 2008.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking to a local Republican group, said that if the Republican Party doesn’t become somewhat more libertarian on spending and social issues in the future, then he foresees a split in the party followed by the founding of a new party. See this article. Thanks to several people for this link.
