New Year, New Rules, New Server

Cross posted from ICPR's blog, The Race is On:

A couple of thoughts on the coming of the new year.

First, as many of you know, ICPR has been working hard to pass HB 1, a bill to address pay-to-play in state contracting. The bill has 46 sponsors, a super majority of both caucuses, and yet it's been locked down in Senate Rules since last April. December 31 will mark the 250th day that HB 1 has been held hostage, and so we invite all of you to show you outrage at this farcical abuse of legislative power by donning silly hats, blowing noisemakers, and counting down the seconds to January 1, which will be the 251st day. Maybe that will get the bill moved to committee when the legislature reconvenes on January 2.

Second, beginning on January 1, political committees active in the February 5th Primary Election will have two days to report donations of more than $500. In previous years, these A-1 reports didn't kick in until later in the year. Under the old rules, we'd expect A-1s to start arriving in mid-January; a pre-election report would arrive in late January detailing all receipts since the start of the year, and in-between, the D-2 Semi Annual reports would arrive with details of fundraising in the second half of 2007. With the earlier primary date, that all changes; there will be no Pre-election report for the primary, and the A-1s start as soon as 2008 does. So not only do we have Special Session to look forward to on January 2, but, as the first business day of the year, the first batch of A-1 reports should also arrive.

Finally, we know many of you occasionally have had difficulty finding our website or sending us e-mails. We share your frustration. Our aging server limped through the fall, but neither technological know-how nor duct tape could keep it going. In the new year, we'll be moving the site and the e-mail to a new system, which should, fingers crossed, fix all the problems.