On February 13, nine North Carolina Senators introduced SB 168, to move the presidential primary from May to February. The primary for other office would remain in May.
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Florida HB 537, the bill to move the presidential primary from March to February, passed the House Economic Expansion Committee on February 22. The vote was 12-0. It had already passed the Elections Committee, and now goes to the House floor.
On February 15, the Montana Senate passed SB 270. It moves the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from the day before the June primary, to 75 days before that primary. That means that independents (running for office other than president) would need to collect all their signatures in winter. The vote in the Senate was 49-1.
New Mexico HB 1269 would allow fusion. It is introduced by Rep. Al Park (D-Albuquerque). However, if the candidate is not a member of the party whose nomination is being sought, officers of the party could block that person from seeking its nomination. Also, parties would be entitled to have a bylaw prohibiting any non-member from running for its nomination.
The new Iowa Secretary of State seems to have decided to settle the lawsuit filed in 2005, to gain the right for voters to register into certain unqualified parties. The case is called Iowa Libertarian Party v Culver, U.S. Dist. Ct., 4:05cv-521. Still under discussion is what the guidelines will be to decide which unqualified parties qualify. The previous Secretary of State had already decided to settle this case, but then he was elected Governor and the process had to be started anew with his successor.