The House Rules Committee voted unanimously to pass HB2134 which would reduce the number of signatures required to form a new party to 5,000. While similar bills have been passed in the House in previous years, this is the first bill to make it out of the Rules Committee with the 5,000 signature language in tact. Previous bills had been amended to change the language to 3% of the last general election or a flat 22,500 signatures. So this is a great start for reform this year.
With SB668 in the Senate having language reflecting 5% of the last Gubernatorial election, we still have some rough times ahead. It is important that the House pass HB2134 unamended and that the Senate either amend SB668 to match the House bill or to drop SB668 and adopt HB2134 when it passes out of the House. Please contact your State Representative and Senator and ask them to support HB2134 and the 5,000 signature requirement is contains.
