Thursday, April 21, 2011

Presidential Preference Primary Date Selection Committee Bill Passes Florida House

The controversial Florida elections bill that includes a provision to create a Presidential Preference Primary Date Selection Committee passed the state House this afternoon on a party-line vote. HB 1355 passed 79-37 after Democrats in the minority attempted unsuccessfully to add 40 amendments in an effort to derail the legislative process. While the bill would create the aforementioned committee to choose the date on which the Sunshine state's 2012 primary will be held, it also contains a number of items that gave Democrats pause including stricter registration requirements, deadlines and penalties.

A similar bill -- SB 2086 -- is currently being considered in committee by the Senate, but does not contain the committee-creation provision. The Senate, though will have its turn to consider the House-passed version soon enough.

Again, the proposed committee would have ten members selected by the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and Governor and would be tasked with choosing a date (between January 3 and March 6) for the Florida presidential primary by sometime before October 1 of this year.


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