In The Skinny a few weeks back, I mentioned that Republican lawmakers would likely try to repeal the omnibus election overhaul that’s facing a referendum this November. Now Hank Stephenson and Ben Giles of the Arizona Capitol Times are reporting that the repeal is in the works—with the possibility that they will go ahead and pass provisions of it anyway:
Lawmakers are considering introducing legislation to repeal last year’s election reform bill, HB2305, which remains on hold because opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the law this November.
Republican Sen. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale said she is working with leadership to repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015.
“I would prefer, as I think everyone would prefer, the a la carte method, which is the way I introduced them last year… There are certainly parts of that bill that I support more than others,” Reagan said.
Julie Erfle, who is chairing the Protect Your Right To Vote Committee that is running the referendum campaign, told The Range she’d like to see the question go to the ballot.
“I think many of the sponsors of the individual pieces and the omnibus bill realize that 2305 is not popular with the voters and will likely be defeated at the ballot box,” Erfle said via email. “If they simply repealed the bill and were done with it, we’d be happy. But it seems the hope is to repeal the bill, then reinstate it at a later time, piece by piece.”
This article appears in Jan 16-22, 2014.
Omnibus bills are generally not a good thing anyway, because there is bad thrown in with the good and it becomes a take-it-or-leave it thing.
So, Eddie’s AFRAID to let the issue be decided by the voters. How quaint.
The issue should not be decided by voters for the same reason that there should not have been an Omnibus Bill. It becomes a take it or leave it on the whole thing, which I said earlier, contains both good and bad provisions. There are parts of that bill that I hate, and some parts that were sorely needed. It should be, and should have been, broken into it’s discrete parts.
Julie Erfle, chairing the Protect Your Right To Vote Committee. Who are the
members of this important committee?