Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to provide for campaign finance transparency.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE -- Amends, repeals, and adds to existing law to provide for campaign finance transparency.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
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Idaho’s campaign finance laws, also known as the sunshine laws, were originally enacted in 1974 by a citizen initiative to increase transparency regarding money spent on political campaigns and lobbying. This legislation updates and reorganizes the campaign finance laws to increase transparency, simplify reporting, and improve enforcement to better align with increased spending and modern practices in political campaigns. The legislation reorganizes the campaign finances laws by moving the provisions from Title 67, Chapter 66, State Government and State Affairs, to Title 74, Chapter 3, Transparent and Ethical Government. This new chapter separates the reporting requirements and responsibilities into five parts. It also separates the reporting requirements for campaign finance from the reporting requirements for lobbying. Additionally, the legislation makes several changes designed to increase the frequency of reporting, adjust the campaign finance limitations, and improve enforcement by creating an improved fine structure.
FISCAL NOTE
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This legislation will require one (1) full-time equivalent position (FTP) for a Campaign Finance Specialist within the Secretary of State’s office. The position has an hourly wage of $32.00 ($66,560 annually). When fixed and variable benefit costs are added, the total personnel costs are $94,300. Additionally, there are one-time capital outlay costs of $5,000. While these costs will need to come from the General Fund, it is expected that they will be covered by additional fine revenue that will be deposited to the General Fund, resulting in zero cost to the General Fund. This legislation also requires the Secretary of State’s office to create a digital Ad Library that is available to the public through its campaign finance disclosure application. The Ad Library will require one-time funding of $144,600 for the software build, with ongoing annual costs of $25,200 for storage and bandwidth from the General Fund.
LATEST ACTION
Reported Printed and Referred to State Affairs
BILL INFO
- Session
- 2025
- Chamber
- house
- Status date
- Mar 11, 2025
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