Face The State Staff Report
By allegedly abusing Senate rules, Democrats undermined a Republican motion that could have effectively killed a controversial bill Wednesday.
Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, sought to lay over House Bill 1299, a measure proposing to award Colorado's nine electoral votes to future presidential candidates who win a national majority of the popular vote. Since the legislative session officially ends May 6, Kopp’s motion would have killed the bill. Democrats generally favor the bill, with Republicans opposed.
Sen. Linda Newell, D-Littleton, was chairing the committee of the whole at the time, and she recognized Kopp who motioned to lay the bill over. In the middle of the vote on Kopp's motion, however, Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, interrupted to ask for a “no” vote and make a substitute motion. Schaffer's move violates Senate rules because a motion to lay over legislation is non-debatable while taking the vote. Republicans were upset by the Schaffer's move.
Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, pointed out the violation and upbraided Democrats for breaking rules to push their agenda. Kopp, however, said he wasn’t expecting his motion to pass, but was upset by abuse of the process. “It was a motion made to do two things: one, highlight the fact that this bill has been languishing on the Senate calendar for a month and to remind the majority that the minority is still here paying attention,” Kopp said.
A bill's lack of movement in either chamber may be a sign that it lacks support. Kopp speculated that Democrats might not have the votes to pass the HB 1299, and he said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, has been working his Senate colleagues for votes.
Under the nation's current electoral college system, each state is awarded a specific number of electoral college votes based on its representation in Congress. In almost every state, the presidential candidate garnering a plurality of the popular vote receives all of the state's electoral votes. Most candidates focus their campaigns on swing states, like Colorado, or large states in order to bolster blocks of electoral votes. Critics maintain that the process leads campaigns to ignore solidly blue or red states they feel they believe will solidly fall in one camp or another.
Under HB 1299's language, the redesign of the system would only become effective if a critical mass of other states, enough to represent 270 of the nation's 538 total electoral votes, decided to do the same. Participating states would then pledge to put their electoral votes toward the candidate that wins the national popular vote. Without achieving this support, Colorado would continue allocating its votes as it does currently, in a winner-take-all fashion.
Stupid Bill
On April 30th, 2009 pietrojoe says:
Stupid Bill
HB 1299 National Popular Vote Yet Another Democratic Manipulatio
On April 30th, 2009 RepubActivist says:
If HB 1299 is passed it will negate the desires of the citizens of Colorado. The system is already equitable since the states that have the largest number of electoral college votes are also the states that are consistently voting Democrat. What the Democrats desire to do in essence is silence the voice of conservatives in the heartland states of America.
This bill flies in the face of requiring a Presidential candidate to win the majority of states, not just the states with large urban populations.
There are also many states with fast and loose voter requirements such as convicted felons. We would also be surrendering our votes to states with very different opinions regarding personal freedoms, judicial appointments, the ability for government intervention in our lives, etc.
Don't buy this liberal scheme to commit gerrymandering on a national scale, call your senator and tell them to vote no on HB 1299.
The National Popular Vote bill
On April 30th, 2009 mvymvy says:
In the past six decades, there have been six presidential elections in which a shift of a relatively small number of votes in one or two states would have elected (and, of course, in 2000, did elect) a presidential candidate who lost the popular vote nationwide.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).
Every vote would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.
The Constitution gives every state the power to allocate its electoral votes for president, as well as to change state law on how those votes are awarded.
The bill is currently endorsed by 1,659 state legislators — 763 sponsors (in 48 states) and an additional 896 legislators who have cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.
In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. This national result is similar to recent polls in closely divided battleground states: Colorado-- 68%, Iowa --75%, Michigan-- 73%, Missouri-- 70%, New Hampshire-- 69%, Nevada-- 72%, New Mexico-- 76%, North Carolina-- 74%, Ohio-- 70%, Pennsylvania -- 78%, Virginia -- 74%, and Wisconsin -- 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): Delaware --75%, Maine -- 71%, Nebraska -- 74%, New Hampshire --69%, Nevada -- 72%, New Mexico -- 76%, Rhode Island -- 74%, and Vermont -- 75%; in Southern and border states: Arkansas --80%, Kentucky -- 80%, Mississippi --77%, Missouri -- 70%, North Carolina -- 74%, and Virginia -- 74%; and in other states polled: California -- 70%, Connecticut -- 73% , Massachusetts -- 73%, New York -- 79%, and Washington -- 77%.
The National Popular Vote bill has passed 27 state legislative chambers, including one house in Arkansas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Oregon, and both houses in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,, Vermont, and Washington. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. These five states possess 61 electoral votes -- 23% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.
See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com