The Bastards Slipped One
Through on us Last Session
We missed this bill getting through the Capitol last session, SB323 which raised the filing fees for running for office. The bill did also lower the number of signatures needed for a petition to escape the cost but it really isn't cost effective to gather signatures given the limited time a candidate has. The potential costs of counting signatures would be offset by the increased fees for filing. The amount of signatures needed in lieu of paying the filing fee went from 4% of registered voters in the district down to 2%.
Filing for County office went from $200.00 to $300.00, Governor filing went from $1500 to $2000, U.S. Senate filing went from $1000 to $2000.00, U.S. Congress filings went from $500 to $750, state wide offices like Lt. Gov., A.G., Auditor, and the like went from $500 to $1000. State rep filings were set at $500.00 and state senate filings were set at $750.00, judges and district attorney filing fees were set at $500.00.
These four filings appear to have been left unchanged as the appropriate language wasn't underlined and changed in the bill although we thought that state rep filings were lower last year.
These were all fee increases of course but they serve to further insulate the incumbents from a small guy running against them on a limited budget. Below are the House yes votes on the issue:
Babinec, Frix, McEntire, Roberts (D), Baker, Hall, Montgomery, Rogers, Bennett (J), Henke, Moore, Russ , Biggs, Hilbert, Mulready, Sanders, Bush, Jordan, Murdock, Sears, Caldwell, Kannady, Newton, Thomsen, Casey, Kerbs, Nollan, Wallace, Cockroft, Lepak, Ortega, West (J), Downing, Martin, Osborn (L), West (K), Dunnington, Martinez, Osburn (M), West (T), Echols, McBride, Ownbey, Worthen, Fetgatter, McDaniel, Park, Wright , Ford, McDugle , Pfeiffer , McCall.
The no votes were:
Bennett (F), Enns, Lowe, Stone, Blancett, Faught, Meredith, Strohm, Calvey, Fourkiller, Munson, Tadlock, Cannaday, Gann, Murphey, Teague, Cleveland, Griffith, Nichols, Vaughan, Condit, Hardin, Perryman, Virgin, Coody, Hoskin, Proctor, Walke, Derby, Humphrey, Renegar, West, (R), Dollens, Kouplen, Ritze, Williams, Dunlap, Loring, Roberts (S), Young
The senate votes were:
YEAS: 34
Bice, Griffin, Pederson, Simpson, Boggs, Holt , Pemberton, Sparks , Dahm, Jech, Pittman, Standridge, Daniels, Kidd, Pugh, Stanislawski, David, Marlatt, Quinn, Thompson, Dossett, Matthews, Rader, Treat, Dugger, McCortney, Schulz, Yen, Fields, Newhouse, Scott, Floyd, Paxton, Shaw
NAYS: 12
Allen, Brechen, Leewright, Silk, Bass, Brown, Newbery, Smalley, Bergstrom, Fry, Sharp, Sykes.
