Saturday, March 8, 2014

Bills to Move Presidential Primary Back Inch Forward in Missouri

The two bills that would shift the Missouri presidential primary back into compliance with the national party delegate selection rules both moved forward this week.

On the Senate side, SB 892, got referred to the Financial and Government Organizations and Elections Committee on Thursday and will be part of the committee's Monday hearing. The House bill -- HB 1902 -- got the thumbs up from the House Rules Committee on Thursday and is on the House calendar (for perfection) this coming Monday.

As FHQ mentioned in describing these bills recently, both initially sought to push the presidential primary in the Show Me state from the first Tuesday after the first Monday in February back to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April. The paths of both pieces of legislation diverged when the House bill was amended in Committee on Elections. Instead of April, the House committee substitute bill now calls for the presidential primary to occur on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in March. That is the move that the full House will consider on Monday.

As we head into the new legislative week in the Missouri General Assembly, then, there are a few things to eye. First, what kind of reception will the House committee substitute bill receive on the floor and how easily does it pass (or not)? Second, to what extent does the Senate (Financial and Government Organizations and Elections Committee) reconcile the timing of the primary in their version of the bill with that of the House? If the Senate committee sends their version on with no changes, then there will be a conflict between its bill and the House bill when and if the House bill moves over to the Senate side for consideration there.

Again, these types of inter-chamber disputes have derailed efforts to move the Missouri presidential primary back into compliance with the national party rules since the late summer of 2011. Will history repeat itself or is Missouri ready to move back?

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