On February 2, thirteen Maryland State Senators introduced SB 546, to establish public funding for legislative candidates. Like the public funding laws in Arizona and Maine (and like the one that existed in Massachusetts until the legislature repealed it), SB 546 does not discriminate for or against any candidate based on that candidate’s party affiliation.

The bill requires candidates who seek public funding to raise contributions of at least $5 from 350 residents of their district. The total amount of such contributions must equal at least $6,750.

Connecticut’s public funding law does discriminate on the basis of party affiliation. The ACLU is currently challenging the discriminatory aspect of Connecticut’s law in federal court.

Thanks to Howard Wilson for the Maryland news.

On February 6, New York held a special election for State Senate, 7th district, to fill a vacancy. With all the precincts reporting, Democrat Craig Johnson has defeated Republican Maureen O’Connell. Thanks to the commenter below. Johnson got 24,915 votes under the Democratic label and 1,537 on the Working Families label. O’Connell got 18,988 Republican votes, 2,252 Conservative Party votes, and 1,689 Independence Party votes.

Rep. William Black introduced HB 632 on February 6. It would improve ballot access for independent candidates. It is similar to Black’s HB 158, which improves ballot access for new and previously unqualified political parties. Both bills set the petition requirement so that it equals the number of signatures needed for major party members seeking a place on a primary ballot. Since the number of signatures for a member of a major party varies according to which major party it is, the bills choose the number of signatures that matches the larger primary requirement. In other words, if in the 8th US House district, a Republican needs 632 signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot, and a Democrat needs 488 signatures to get on the Democratic primary ballot, a minor party or independent candidate would also need 632 signatures.

HB 632 also improves the independent candidate deadline, setting it in June of election years, which matches the existing law for minor party petition deadlines. The existing law for independent candidates requires the petitions to be turned in in December of the year before the election, but that was held unconstitutional last year, so that law needs to be revised.