Since late February, many unfriendly bills were passed and are on the way to the Governor’s desk.

On March 5, the House took up the challenge of debating SB 5974 with its 50 amendments. This is the bill that can be weaponized by partisans to unseat elected Sheriff’s.

Sad news all around in that its bad provisions remained intact while zero of the Republican’s 50 amendments were accepted, versus two Democrat (Goodman, Fosse) amendments that were. The majority party stood together and voted the R amendments down with ‘arguments’ that were weak and sometimes completely off-topic.

The only silver lining is that four Democrats voted against it with the Republicans.

Voting Nay:  Leavitt (D-28), Richards (D-26),  Shavers (D-10), Walen (D-48)

Amy Walen is a known moderate. We view all the Nay votes as likely pandering for votes in purple districts this fall. But perhaps a thank you to them would be useful to get them to hear our other arguments or better bill ideas.

Here’s a short list of the worst bills (in our opinion), that have recently passed the legislature:

Date               Bill No.          Category, Description

Feb. 28           HB 1750         Voting, Creating guidelines for voter suppression and vote dilution claims.

Feb. 28           HB 2320         2A, Restricting gun parts manufacture; Granting AG more power to investigate

Feb. 28           SB 5892         Voting, Anti-DOJ, Voter registration database; Only SOS can disclose voter data

Mar. 3             HB 1916         Voting, Criminalizes voter challenges

Mar. 3             SB 5855         Anti-ICE, Law Enforcement can’t wear masks

Mar. 3             SB 6035         Online voting for military, overseas, Native American, and disabled voters, thereby opening voter rolls to more serious, untraceable fraud.

Mar. 5             HB 2156         AGO increased investigative powers; AGO attorney’s granted (unarmed) LE Officer status. (New addition to CCRP list)

Mar. 6             SB 5068         Sanctuary state, Allowing non-citizens to be in law enforcement, officers need only have “legal authorization to work” (Green card?)

Use these bills, which all lack apparent common sense, to hold accountable those who voted for them.

Upcoming is the expected debate on the unconstitutional (Millionaire’s) Income Tax SB 6346, which has been moved to the general floor calendar.