Late on the evening of September 29, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1322, which would have removed some of the old unconstitutional laws on the books that discriminate against present and past members of the Communist Party. However, his office has not yet put out a press release, so his veto message is not available yet. UPDATE: here is the veto message. It doesn’t even acknowledge that the laws sought to be repealed were held unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court in 1967.

Although SB 1322 was not an election law bill, it had ramifications for election law. California is one of six states that still has laws on the books barring Communists from running for office. If SB 1322 (which dealt with the education code) had become law, those election laws might have been easier to change.

The New Mexico Green Party has been continuously ballot-qualified since 1992, and the New Mexico Libertarian Party has been continuously ballot-qualified since it completed its last party petition in late 2005. Under New Mexico’s Tax Code, section 7-2-31, all qualified parties (whether qualified minor parties, or qualified major parties) should be listed on the state income tax form. This is so that a taxpayer can choose to send a contribution to any listed party.

However, the 2007 New Mexico income tax form lists only the Democratic and Republican Parties. The state tax office says the Secretary of State informed the tax office that only the Democratic and Republican Parties are ballot-qualified.