S.B. 321 Municipal Election Amendments: transcript

You very much. Uh, is that working? Pull That over or push it. I can't remember. Hello? Yeah. Okay. That works. Yeah. How you doing? Radio voice. Okay. Um, I learned this this last, uh, year. Um, I, uh, am near and dear to someone who participated in municipal elections. And what the question came up when, uh, when she was finished with her municipal election, what do I do with any cash on hand? How do I report it? What happens as a result of this? And we dug into the code, and guess what we found out? There are no requirements after the person leaves office to file financing reports while there is balance in those campaign reports. So as a result, they live in unmitigated, you know, anonymity for a long time. The other thing that happens is if you are, if you do not run for reelection, right? You get elected to a four year term and you don't run for reelection four years later, right? No one has any record because the only time you're required in some municipalities to file a financial report for your campaign is the year that you're running for election and no year after that. And so this will require a filing every year while there's a balance, even after the person is elected. It, there's an easy way to solve this reporting problem. Just donate the rest of your campaign to someone else that you support for whatever purposes. And then the end is there. But if you tried to do homework on a municipal candidate or where their finances are, you cannot find it on most city websites beyond that present election year. So that is the purpose of the bill. I'm happy to answer any questions from the rudimentary, rudimentary standpoint.

Yeah. Thank you Mr. Chair. Yeah. Appreciate the, you know, actually the bill. It's, it's interesting. I didn't know that. I assume, have you mirrored kind of what we our requirements are?

Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. And is there kind of limitations on what they can do to dispose of the money to Yes. As they close the account out? Yep. The, the exact same limitations exist for both. The only difference is, is there's no transparency for it.

Yeah. Right. Okay. And so a candidate, you know, tho all those rules of what you can use the money for are still applica applicable to municipal candidates.

That doesn't change. This just requires transparency for every year that you're in office. And then every year after you're in office, while you have a balance in that account, that's all it is.

Okay. Thanks. Interesting. Okay. I, it blew me away because we were trying to answer this question for my wife and it was, yeah, it was super interesting. So,

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would make a motion to be favor recommend Senate Bill 3 21.

Uh, the only thing I will say is it is late in the session when we learned that this was a problem. And so we adopted this, you know, this was a late bill ad so if the committee feels so enlightened, there has not been any objections thus far. And I feel like it's just something that's just been missing from code. I'd be happy to, I'd be happy if the committee would consider it for consent, promising that if any concerns or anything else comes up that while it's in the house, ID just like to give this a house committee as well. And that's what I'm racing against time. So Will that speed it up?

Uh, good question. I mean, we might get to it sooner, I guess. I don't know. Um, I can, um, let's just, I don't, you know, let's just leave it where it is.

President. Senate Bill 3 21 is, uh, a bill that I think honestly until you're, uh, someone close to you runs for municipal office, you, you might not catch it. Uh, Senate Bill 3 21 is dealing with financial disclosures as it relates to, um, uh, municipal candidates right now during the election year, candidates in in cities are required to disclose their campaign finance reports and they do that through the city process. What happens after that during the rest of their time doesn't get reported until the year that they run for reelection. And if they never run for reelection, there is no account of that money that is in those, uh, that is in those accounts. So the idea with how with Senate Bill 3 21 is, make it so that their financial reporting will be much like, uh, the state financial reporting and require, uh, those clerks at the local municipal level to maintain and, uh, and have, uh, financial disclosures. And also make sure that those disclosures are done every year and require a candidate to continue to disclose until those balances are at zero. And uh, with that, Mr. President, I'm happy to yield for questions.

Thank you very much, president. I'll move that Senate Bill 3 21 municipal election amendments. Be read for a third time. Thank You. And the question is, shall Senate bill 3 21 be read a third time roll call

Uh, realize there's a loophole that doesn't require candidate reporting at the municipal level on an annual basis. Uh, and this basically codifies that requires that annual reporting and also requires reporting for campaign accounts and candidate reporting for municipal elections after, uh, you know, throughout the term until, uh, and even after they're elected, while they have a balance in their account or they report a balance in their account. With that Mr. President, I'm, uh, happy to yield the questions.

Okay. I'll move that. Uh, Senate bill 3 21 municipal election amendments. Uh, pass. Thank

Senator Kwan, Mr. President, move to circle sponsors off the floor.

Senator Johnson. SB three 19 is about restoring

Mr. Speaker, thank you. This bill improves the transparency and financial disclosures and the municipal elections. It now requires that candidates have to file a financial disclosure every year. And if they haven't closed their account out officially, then they have to do it by January 10th. This also, it gives a, it tells how to what, what needs to be in the bill, and it also says that you can, how to expend that money. So if you have money and you're going to close your account, then you can return it to a donor. You can donate to a 5 0 1 C3, or you can do a legal expenditure for political purposes. It authorizes a $250 fine if the report isn't filed. And it allows the municipality, which I think this is a great, to have more, more stringent laws if they wanna put that in into their ordinances. So I would say that this bill is actually just a common sense Bill, if you're playing Bingo. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's my presentation.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to circle That motion is in order. Would I seek speak to It? I would just, uh, with the lack of the committee hearing on our side, just wanted to circle it and, uh, give people a chance to look at It. Thank you, representative.

Representative Shepherd on the motion to circle. I Just say it's been on the board for more than 24 hours, but if the body needs more time, that's okay.

Thank you. I've already spoken to it and said everything. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to do it. I'll just remind you, this is about the municipal elections and financial disclosures and making sure they have it every year. That they give us disclosure of their expenditures and their contributions and, uh, and the ability to do a fine and also that they can adopt more stringent rules. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I'd like to move Amendment one in my name.

I would thank you very much. Uh, I support the underlying bill and the effort. Uh, we just discovered that the, the fine if you don't file a yearend report as a municipal candidate would be $250. Whereas the fine if a state candidate, uh, like those of you in the legislature don't file that report is $100. This amendment just makes the fines the same amount so that we're not saying the municipal, you have to pay a larger amount than the state, uh, candidates do. If we want to in a future year, raise fines on ourselves, I'm fine with that, but I think we should be fair and not, uh, find municipal candidates more than the, the fine for state candidates. So this level, the field.

Um, I'll leave that to the body. Okay.

On that motion, I'll Waive. Let's be fair with everyone.

You. I'll waive summation has been waived.

Thank you President. I'd like to make a motion to concur with the house amendments.

The house made a change. Uh, we had a fine in the bill, uh, for $250 for violation of the reporting requirement. The state, the current state filing requirement is a hundred dollars for a fine. So we figured it Municipal races, state races, we could treat 'em all the same, have the same fine. So I don't know how we caught that differently when we were drafting the bill, but the house made a good decision, made the amendment and, uh, I support it.

I move. That Senate refused to recede. Motion To refuse to recede Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye.