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Here’s a quick update on one of the General Assembly bills we’ve been following:

We wrote just before the session started about H.B. 13, which would allow localities in which a prison makes up at least 12 percent of a local electoral district to not count the prisoners in apportionment.  We think that’s a half-measure, but a good half-measure.

The bill has passed the House on a 99-0 block vote. It now heads to the Senate where a similar bill last year died. Maybe this year it faces brighter prospects seeing as Republicans are running things and this is a Republican-sponsored bill.