Latest news with #SB397
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Election rule changes stalled before Georgia lawmakers adjourned and ensured for 2026 midterms
Georgia Republican lawmakers will be on the clock next year to pass election legislation ahead of a busy 2026 election cycle.(file) For the first time since the post-2020 presidential election, Georgia Republican state lawmakers did not pass a bill during this year's session that included controversial changes to the way votes are cast or tallied. When Lt. Gov. Burt Jones sent senators home a little after 9 p.m. on April 4, it not only seemed to catch many senators off guard, but it also briefly left the House in disarray. The abrupt ending likely killed the main election bill's chances in 2025, raising questions about what new rules could be in place in time for the 2026 election year highlighted by races for governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general and all 236 state legislative races. The most significant GOP election bill for the session was among the dozens of bills left in limbo. It will still be active when lawmakers return for the second half of the two-year legislative cycle next January. The House adjourned before legislators were presented with a substitute version of House Bill 397 that cleared the Senate after the addition of several proposals such as expanding State Election Board powers and banning Georgia from participation in a multi-state voter rolls data sharing partnership. Instead, the House passed a resolution on the last day of the 2025 Legislature creating a study committee that will examine election rules later this year. The 2026 legislative session will begin with the House retaining control over SB 397 and Senate Bill 214, which would give voters the option of filling out ballots with pencils or pens instead of using electronic voting machine touchscreens when they cast votes at polling stations. The possibility of a switch to hand-marked paper ballots will be a topic later this year after House legislators created a study committee to review Georgia's Dominion Voting System's touchscreen system. The Coalition for Good Governance is warning legislators they shouldn't take further action to remove QR codes from being used in paper ballot tabulation. 'County election officials are now trapped,' coalition executive director Marilyn Marks said. 'They are legally prohibited from using QR codes after July 1, 2026 — but given no money or direction from the state on how to comply — a tab that could be more than $70 million according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Any attempt to install new hardware and software would need to begin in early 2026, and funding and acquisition of equipment would be required this year.' Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns led the Republican members of the committee to defer any consideration of hand-marked paper ballots until 2029. Burns has said the study committee this fall will begin planning out the transition to human readable text for paper ballots. The transition has been deferred from QR codes to human readable text for paper ballots. The possibility of a switch to hand-marked paper ballots will be a topic later this year after House legislators created a study committee to review Georgia's Dominion Voting System's touchscreen system. Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns sponsored SB 214, which would allow voters to request ballots similar to absentee ballots when they visit a polling place during early voting or on an Election Day. Leading up to Sine Die, the Coalition for Good Governance warned legislators against not taking further action to remove QR codes from being used in paper ballot tabulation. 'County election officials are now trapped,' coalition executive director Marilyn Marks wrote in a newsletter email. 'They are legally prohibited from using QR codes after July 1, 2026 — but given no money or direction from the state on how to comply — a tab that could be more than $70 million according to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Any attempt to install new hardware and software would need to begin in early 2026, and funding and acquisition of equipment would be required this year.' Raffensperger has asked for legislators to implement a much less expensive software update instead of removing QR codes from ballots. The Georgia Republican Party and right-wing election watchdog groups like VoterGa have pushed for state election changes that will give the controversial State Election Board more autonomy over election rulemaking and administrative independence from the secretary of state's office. Three of the five board members are staunchly loyal to President Donald Trump. Democratic lawmakers have objected to HB 397's provision banning voters from dropping off absentee ballots on the final weekend before Election Day. Critics have also raised concerns about expanded election board rulemaking powers despite the bill proposing to prohibit rulemaking within 60 days of an election. Another contested section of the bill is over the plan for the state to transition from participating in the Electronic Registration Information Center, an organization that currently provides two dozen states a database to help maintain accurate voter rolls. 'They claim the rolls are littered with the names of people who have moved from the addresses on their registrations and are no longer eligible to vote, but ignore that the evidence they point to is often insufficient under our laws to trigger removal of voters from rolls,' Atlanta Democratic Rep. Saira Draper wrote as the legislative session was down. There will be a condensed window for next year for legislators passing new election rules that could be implemented in the time for a 2026 election cycle that begins with primaries in May. Draper has been outspoken about her being dismayed by the recent majority GOP legislature passing election legislation to 'assuage election denier concerns. 'We must always push back on narratives based on misinformation and fear-mongering,' she said. The State Election Board is set to meet Monday to hire a new executive director SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baby's first bond? Competing bills would set aside money for New Mexico-born children
Alexandra Alarcon, a Silver City single mother of three, lives day to day. Juggling her daughters' schooling, sports and her own work, the 33-year-old said saving for her children's futures is a challenge. But a $6,000 baby bond her youngest daughter, Adryan Raye, received last year as part of a statewide pilot program was like a weight lifted off Alarcon's shoulders. 'It's such a relief,' she said of the bond, which is expected to grow as her daughter ages so she can use it when she's older. '… It's going to be such a proud moment to know that she's going to be 100% stable enough to do what she wants when she becomes of age.' That pilot program, launched by a coalition of community organizations across New Mexico, has been touted as a way to test the waters for Senate Bill 397 and House Bill 7, two bills making their way through the Roundhouse aimed at establishing similar programs for children statewide. Though both bills would create mechanisms to invest in the futures of New Mexico children far down the line, they each have distinct approaches to making those investments — including broad differences in how much startup money they would initially set aside and which children would qualify for the investments. Teresa Madrid, deputy director of Partnership for Community Action, which helped establish the pilot program, said baby bonds provide an 'opportunity for hope for New Mexico's children and families.' 'We really believe that baby bonds is one of the solutions to bring families out of cycles of poverty, that it is a solution to build generational wealth for children in New Mexico,' she said. The bills could reach tens of thousands of children. That said, births in New Mexico have steadily declined for over 10 years, according to a recent Legislative Finance Committee presentation. In 2023, just over 21,000 babies were born in the state, down from nearly 27,800 in 2010. SB 397, sponsored by Sens. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, and Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, would establish two funds: the Next Generation Trust Fund and the Baby Bonds Fund. Under the bill, the former would receive a $500 million seed investment to provide children born in New Mexico on or after July 1, 2025, with $7,000 baby bonds. The money would be invested and grow until they become adults, and in 2043, a portion of the trust fund partly based on the number of children turning 18 that year would be shifted to the Baby Bonds Fund for distribution. State Treasurer Laura Montoya said in an interview that by the time those children turn 18, the baby bonds are expected to grow to between $20,000 and $25,000. By the time they're 35, that number could shoot up close to $75,000. 'We will be building up our own economy and investing in our own people and families,' Montoya said of the bill. It's not clear if the proposed $500 million appropriation will actually make it through the Roundhouse. SB 397, though, faces some rivalry in HB 7, a measure sponsored by three House Democrats, including House Speaker Javier Martínez, that would create the 'Children's Future Fund' with a $5 million appropriation in seed money. That bill would apply to children born in New Mexico this year, who, upon graduating from a New Mexico high school, could use money from the fund to pay for their education, housing and other costs. Under the bill, a task force would further analyze how to refine the program. One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said that while New Mexico has done much to help low-income families in their day to day lives, the Children's Future Fund 'really acknowledges the fact that we have a poor state.' 'This is helping them envision their future and investing in that future,' she said. Montoya, however, has publicly expressed concerns with HB 7, including the eligibility requirements the measure lays out for children. She argued HB 7 would cut out young people who opt for a different path than finishing high school who should still benefit from baby bonds (SB 397 still has an education component, but instead requires young people to take a state-approved financial literacy course before claiming their bonds). Montoya also argued against a requirement in HB 7 that children must have continuously lived in New Mexico, saying that mandate would exclude many people, including those whose families may have left the state for a period of time because of service in the military or a medical field. Under SB 397, any child whose parents had lived in New Mexico for at least five years prior to their birth, or those placed in the custody of the state Children, Youth and Families Department, would be eligible for a baby bond. Serrato, however, said the current eligibility parameters for HB 7 ensure children who spent their formative years in New Mexico are benefiting from the fund. The bills each face concerns they would violate the anti-donation clause in the state constitution. In separate analyses of each bill, Legislative Finance Committee staff wrote that distributing money to individual beneficiaries 'could be an unconstitutional donation of public resources.' Montoya and Serrato each acknowledged the concerns, saying the task force — or changes to the constitution — could help determine how baby bonds fit in with the clause. 'We're trying to be respectful of where we're at today in the rules, but we also want to be thoughtful about what tomorrow might look like,' Montoya said.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baby's first bond? Competing bills would set aside money for New Mexico-born children
Alexandra Alarcon, a Silver City single mother of three, lives day to day. Juggling her daughters' schooling, sports and her own work, the 33-year-old said saving for her children's futures is a challenge. But a $6,000 baby bond her youngest daughter, Adryan Raye, received last year as part of a statewide pilot program was like a weight lifted off Alarcon's shoulders. 'It's such a relief,' she said of the bond, which is expected to grow as her daughter ages so she can use it when she's older. '… It's going to be such a proud moment to know that she's going to be 100% stable enough to do what she wants when she becomes of age.' That pilot program, launched by a coalition of community organizations across New Mexico, has been touted as a way to test the waters for Senate Bill 397 and House Bill 7, two bills making their way through the Roundhouse aimed at establishing similar programs for children statewide. Though both bills would create mechanisms to invest in the futures of New Mexico children far down the line, they each have distinct approaches to making those investments — including broad differences in how much startup money they would initially set aside and which children would qualify for the investments. Teresa Madrid, deputy director of Partnership for Community Action, which helped establish the pilot program, said baby bonds provide an 'opportunity for hope for New Mexico's children and families.' 'We really believe that baby bonds is one of the solutions to bring families out of cycles of poverty, that it is a solution to build generational wealth for children in New Mexico,' she said. The bills could reach tens of thousands of children. That said, births in New Mexico have steadily declined for over 10 years, according to a recent Legislative Finance Committee presentation. In 2023, just over 21,000 babies were born in the state, down from nearly 27,800 in 2010. SB 397, sponsored by Sens. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, and Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, would establish two funds: the Next Generation Trust Fund and the Baby Bonds Fund. Under the bill, the former would receive a $500 million seed investment to provide children born in New Mexico on or after July 1, 2025, with $7,000 baby bonds. The money would be invested and grow until they become adults, and in 2043, a portion of the trust fund partly based on the number of children turning 18 that year would be shifted to the Baby Bonds Fund for distribution. State Treasurer Laura Montoya said in an interview that by the time those children turn 18, the baby bonds are expected to grow to between $20,000 and $25,000. By the time they're 35, that number could shoot up close to $75,000. 'We will be building up our own economy and investing in our own people and families,' Montoya said of the bill. It's not clear if the proposed $500 million appropriation will actually make it through the Roundhouse. SB 397, though, faces some rivalry in HB 7, a measure sponsored by three House Democrats, including House Speaker Javier Martínez, that would create the 'Children's Future Fund' with a $5 million appropriation in seed money. That bill would apply to children born in New Mexico this year, who, upon graduating from a New Mexico high school, could use money from the fund to pay for their education, housing and other costs. Under the bill, a task force would further analyze how to refine the program. One of the bill's sponsors, Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said that while New Mexico has done much to help low-income families in their day to day lives, the Children's Future Fund 'really acknowledges the fact that we have a poor state.' 'This is helping them envision their future and investing in that future,' she said. Montoya, however, has publicly expressed concerns with HB 7, including the eligibility requirements the measure lays out for children. She argued HB 7 would cut out young people who opt for a different path than finishing high school who should still benefit from baby bonds (SB 397 still has an education component, but instead requires young people to take a state-approved financial literacy course before claiming their bonds). Montoya also argued against a requirement in HB 7 that children must have continuously lived in New Mexico, saying that mandate would exclude many people, including those whose families may have left the state for a period of time because of service in the military or a medical field. Under SB 397, any child whose parents had lived in New Mexico for at least five years prior to their birth, or those placed in the custody of the state Children, Youth and Families Department, would be eligible for a baby bond. Serrato, however, said the current eligibility parameters for HB 7 ensure children who spent their formative years in New Mexico are benefiting from the fund. The bills each face concerns they would violate the anti-donation clause in the state constitution. In separate analyses of each bill, Legislative Finance Committee staff wrote that distributing money to individual beneficiaries 'could be an unconstitutional donation of public resources.' Montoya and Serrato each acknowledged the concerns, saying the task force — or changes to the constitution — could help determine how baby bonds fit in with the clause. 'We're trying to be respectful of where we're at today in the rules, but we also want to be thoughtful about what tomorrow might look like,' Montoya said.
