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Oregon Attorney General certifies proposed ballot measures
On Feb. 9, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D) certified the language of three ballot initiatives that would limit campaign contributions and require the disclosure of donors’ identities. The certification came a day after Secretary of State Shemia Fagan (D) rejected the measures, saying they did not include the entire text of the legislation they would modify. Rosenblum’s decision does not undo Fagan’s decision, but it allows the initiative sponsors to challenge the ruling in court without having to start over with new language.
What the initiatives would do
Honest Elections Oregon, Portland Forward, and the League of Women Voters Oregon filed three versions of the Oregon Campaign Finance Contribution Limits Initiative on Dec. 6, 2021. The initiatives would limit campaign contributions from individuals, multicandidate committees, political parties, legislative caucus committees, and membership organizations (e.g. unions). Groups would have to disclose the identity of every donor who contributed more than $5,000 in all political advertisements and communications and would also have to identify the people or entities that paid for them. One of the three initiatives would also establish a public campaign financing system where private contributions would be matched with public funds.
Reactions
Fagan said the three measures did not meet a constitutional requirement to include the full text of the statute that would be changed: “As Secretary of State, I have a responsibility to ensure that every measure on the ballot meets the constitutional requirements to become law. If there is a procedural error in the measure, I owe it to Oregonians to require petitioners to fix the problem now, before those problems derail the law in the future.”
Jason Kafoury, the chief petitioner of all three proposals, said, “Over the last 18 years no other secretary of state has ever, as far as I’m aware, relied on this 2004 case to reject a petition. It’s never been enforced before Fagan.”
Fagan said Kafoury had “falsely labeled this decision as biased,” and said, “Petitioners have falsely suggested that under recent secretaries, ballot measures became law without meeting the constitution’s full-text rule. My team reviewed each of the laws they cited, and all of them met the full text rule.”
Reacting to Rosenblum’s decision to certify the language of the measures, Kafoury said, “This is great news. This is a good day for democracy.”
What comes next
According to Oregon law, the secretary of state, consulting with the attorney general, must issue a statement declaring whether a measure either complies or does not comply with the state constitution before sponsors can gather signatures to get on the ballot. The attorney general is responsible for issuing a ballot title for the proposed measure. Although Rosenblum’s decision does not override Fagan’s decision, it allows Honest Elections to take the challenge to the measures’ language to the Oregon Supreme Court, which the group said it will do. Otherwise, the petitioners would have needed to start the initiative process over. Kafoury said starting over would take too long to give the measure any chance of getting the required number of signatures: “If the [Attorney General] won’t certify the ballot titles and let us move forward with ballot title challenges at the Supreme Court, then we’re toast.” If the court rules in favor of the petitioners, the initiative could still appear on the ballot in Oregon as an initiated state statute in the Nov. 8, 2022 election.
The number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 6% of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. Signatures for Oregon initiatives must be submitted four months before the next regular general election. In order for the state to certify the initiatives for the 2022 ballot, 112,020 valid signatures are required by Jul. 8.
Between 2010 and 2020, the average ballot initiative certification rate in Oregon was 8.3%. Between 1985 and 2020, 148 initiatives made the ballot and 35.8% of them were approved.
The big picture
Number of relevant bills by state: We’re currently tracking 104 pieces of legislation dealing with donor disclosure and privacy. On the map below, a darker shade of green indicates a greater number of relevant bills. Click here for a complete list of all the bills we’re tracking.
Number of relevant bills by current legislative status:
Number of relevant bills by partisan status of sponsor(s):
Recent legislative actions
For complete information on all of the bills we are tracking, click here.
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Arizona HB2771: This bill would lower the contribution limits for individuals and committees and would make candidates who submit the names of certain contributors to the secretary of state eligible for supplementary funding.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was introduced on Feb. 7.
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Arizona HB2772: This bill would prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to a political action committee.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was introduced on Feb. 9.
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California AB1819: This bill would prohibit contributions from a foreign government or foreign-influenced business entity.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was introduced on Feb. 7.
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Florida H0617: This bill would exempt personal identifying information of a donor or prospective donor to the direct-support organization of the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking who desires to remain anonymous from public records requirements. It would also provide an exemption from notice requirements for specified meetings. It provides for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption under the Open Government Sunset Review Act.
- Primary emphasis: Privacy
- Republican sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 11.
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Illinois HB4927: This bill would prohibit a foreign national from directly or indirectly making a contribution to a ballot initiative committee or an independent expenditure committee for the purpose of influencing any public policy initiative.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 9.
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Illinois SB3425: This bill would require prosecutions for campaign finance reporting violations to begin no later than 18 months after the commission of the offense.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 10.
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Iowa HF2318: This bill would prohibit contributions from out-of-state sources and political committees.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Republican sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 10.
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Kansas SB486: This bill would expand the scope of the campaign finance act to include candidates for board membership for school districts and community colleges in certain counties.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Unknown sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 10.
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Kentucky HB301: This bill would allow the Transportation Cabinet and the Energy and Environment Cabinet to raise money from a governmental agency, individual, nonprofit organization, or private business for the Adopt-a- Highway Litter Program or other statewide litter programs. These contributions would be treated as restricted funds and would not be subject to state disclosure restrictions.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Republican sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee Feb. 11.
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Minnesota HF3190: This bill would require entities making independent expenditures to name the three individuals or entities making the largest contribution required to be reported under chapter 10A.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Democratic sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee Feb. 7.
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South Dakota HB1319: This bill would prohibit federal candidate campaign committees from making donations to candidates for state office.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Republican sponsorship
- This bill was referred to committee on Feb. 10.
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Wyoming HB0080: This bill would require all campaigns and political action committees to file an itemized statement of contributions and expenditures.
- Primary emphasis: Disclosure
- Unknown sponsorship
- This bill was introduced on Feb. 8.
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