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Senate rejects amendment to move elections study from Secretary of State to interim committees
Summary
Senators debated whether an elections cost study should be run by the Secretary of State or by an interim legislative elections committee. An amendment by Senator Ford to transfer the study to the interim committee failed 11-37; the bill was ordered to engrossment.
INDIANAPOLIS — On April 3, the Senate debated House Bill 16-33, a study measure concerning the cost of holding municipal elections in odd‑numbered years. Senator Gaskell, the bill’s floor author, said the Secretary of State’s office is best positioned to conduct the study because it holds the data and can do the work more economically.
Senator JD Ford offered an amendment that would have assigned the topics to an interim legislative study committee on elections instead of to the Secretary of State. Ford said the Secretary of State’s office is a partisan elected office and an interim committee would better ensure bipartisan participation and minority input. “It is a very partisan office. There really isn't any requirement to have some of the minority input,” Ford said.
Supporters of the bill, including Senator Gaskell, argued the Secretary of State has the data and capacity to complete the study and that the House sent the bill in its current form. Senator Hundley (referred to on the floor as Senator Hundley) supported Ford’s amendment, saying it would help ensure the work gets done on a bipartisan basis; the author and the Senate ultimately disagreed.
The Senate voted on the motion to amend by roll call; the tally was 11 ayes and 37 noes, and the amendment failed. The chair then ordered the bill to engrossment.
The matter proceeds through legislative processing with the Secretary of State named in the bill as the study lead unless subsequent amendments change that assignment.
