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SPONSOR: |
Feldman |
DATE TYPED: |
2/28/03 |
HB |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Amend Campaign Reporting |
SB |
22/aSRC/aSFC |
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ANALYST: |
Collard |
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APPROPRIATION
|
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
|
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
$40.0 |
Recurring |
General
Fund |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Responses
Received From
Attorney
General’s Office
Secretary
of State
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of SFC Amendment
The Senate Finance Committee amends Senate Bill
22 by striking SRC amendment three. This
amendment lowers the threshold for requiring political committee reporting from
$2,000 to $500 in expenditures.
Synopsis
of SRC Amendment
The Senate Rules Committee amends Senate Bill 22
by deleting the appropriation of $80,000 and the appropriation language. The committee also amends the bill by
changing the dollar limit of a person or organization expending funds in a
calendar year to conduct an advertising campaign or for a political purpose
from $500 to $2,000. Finally, the
committee amends the bill by making the effective date
Synopsis
of Original Bill
Senate Bill 22
appropriates $80.0 from the general fund to the Secretary of State for the purpose
of designing and developing an electronic campaign reporting system. This bill also amends the Campaign Reporting
Act to require the mandatory filing by electronic means of reports of campaign
contributions and expenditures with the Secretary of State, including county
reports.
Significant
Issues
The Attorney General’s office indicates the bill
lowers the threshold for requiring political committee reporting from $2,000 to
$500 in expenditures.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of
$80.0 contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the general fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY04 shall
revert to the general fund.
If county campaign
reports are required to be filed with the Secretary of State, the department
indicates a need for one additional FTE at $40.0.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The Secretary of State
indicates that policies and procedures will have to be drafted for use of the
new system. Currently, the Secretary of
State does not handle campaign reports from elected county officials, and the
office has never received a request for a county campaign report, since this is
handled by the county clerks. If county
reports will be filed with the Secretary of State, it will mean an increased
workload, and the department indicates a need for one additional FTE.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
The Attorney General’s office comments that
because the bill makes the Secretary of State the proper filing officer for all
campaign reports by all public officials, the definition of “proper filing
officer” in Section
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The Secretary of State
reports the bill should mandate electronic filing because less than 10 percent
of reports are filed electronically now.
Mandating electronic filing will increase efficiency in the Secretary of
State staff.
The Secretary of State
also would like to exempt county campaign reporting from this bill and continue
to file elective county campaign reports with the county clerks and not with
the Secretary of State’s office.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS