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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Sanchez, M.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/28/08

2/07/08 HB

SHORT TITLE Limit Certain Campaign Contributions

SB 387/aSRC/aSFl#1

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB264

Relates to HB250

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

Secretary of State (SOS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SFl#1 Amendment

The Senate Floor amendment to SRC amendment of Senate Bill 387 adds an new subsection that

exempts qualified political parties from contribution limitations.

Synopsis of SRC Amendment

The Senate Rule Committee amendment includes limits to campaign contributions from political

committees and makes the provisions of this act applicable to candidates for non-statewide office

on or after January 1, 2009 and statewide office on or after January 1, 2011. The following table

highlights the contribution limits.

Senate Bill 387/aSRC – Page

2

CONTRIBUTIONS

FROM A PERSON

FROM A POLITICAL

COMMITTEE

TO A NON-STATEWIDE

CANDIDATE

$2,300 per primary;

$2,300 per general election

$5,000 per primary;

$5,000 per general election

TO A STATEWIDE

CANDIDATE

$5,000 per primary;

$5,000 per general election

$7,500 per primary;

$7,500 per general election

TO A POLITICAL

COMMITTEE

$15,000 per primary;

$15,000 per general election;

$15,000 per statewide special

election

$15,000 per primary;

$15,000 per general election;

$15,000 per statewide special

election

It also changes the date of annual contribution increases to begin on January 1, 2009 and on.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 387 adds a new section to the Campaign Reporting Act limiting an individual’s

aggregate amount of contributions to a candidate to $2.3 thousand during the primary election

and that same amount during the general election. The bill allows for annual contribution

increases based on the consumer price index. The Secretary of State shall publish by October 1

the adjusted contribution limits.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Attorney General’s Office indicates that currently there are no limits on campaign

contributions.

It additionally explains that the bill fails to limit contributions to “political committees", as

defined by the Campaign Reporting Act, including political parties. Without limitations on

contributions to these third parties, the harm that this bill intends to remedy may simply be

channeled through political committees—which was the experience of early federal campaign

laws. Federal law currently limits contributions to “political action committees" and political

parties.

The Secretary of State explains that the state political financial reporting system will need to be

enhanced to reflect the change in the law; the Secretary of State’s Office currently believes it can

absorb the costs of these enhancements.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Duplicates SB264

Relates to HB 250, which also amends the Campaign Reporting Act, Section 1-19-25 et

seq

.,

NMSA 1978, by requiring quarterly filing of finance reports during non-election years, instead

of annually as currently provided by the law.

Senate Bill 387/aSRC – Page

3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to the Secretary of State, Senate Bill 264 will have minimal impact on most

candidates. However, the lack of any contribution limits for state campaigns contributes to New

Mexico’s consistently low score in national surveys of good campaign finance laws.

EO/mt