Republican Senator Lonnie Paxton’s Senate Bill 518 passed the House floor with a vote of 72-25 on Wednesday. The bill would introduce new requirements for the initiative petition process.
Currently, the law requires signatures to come with at least three out of five data points that can be matched to the signer’s voter registration card for the signature to count. Data points include legal first name, legal last name, zip code, house number, and numerical month and day of birth. Paxton’s bill would bump the requirement up to four data points.
Additionally, the bill allows for the Secretary of State to charge a filing fee of up to $750. The law does not currently have a specific fee associated with filing an initiative petition.
The bill previously passed the Senate floor with a vote of 38-8. It now goes to Governor Kevin Stitt’s desk for signature.
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