Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney is now presenting a series of draft bills for various campaign finance reforms that were discussed at the Legislature’s ethics and campaign finance work group’s last meeting, and the lawmakers on the panel are suggesting various changes to the drafts or raising concerns about their wording. The topics of the drafts are:

1 – Forbid a PAC from accepting a contribution of $1,000 or more per election cycle from another political committee, unless that other committee, whether in-state or out-of-state, registers with the state and complies with Idaho campaign finance reporting requirements.

2 – Require a PAC to disclose its board of directors “and any other person who participates in decision-making for the committee.” Lawmakers had questions about how that would work, suggesting “any other person” was too broad, and noting that PACs aren’t required to have boards of directors; some wondered how the proposed law could be enforced.

3 – Allowing a legislative candidate who switches from one house to the other to transfer his or her entire account, rather than just make a $1,000 donation. Denney said he believes donations are intended for a candidate for the Legislature, regardless of which house. Lawmakers on the committee asked whether the change would prevent a candidate from also having a PAC; Denney said no.

4 – A lengthy draft to remove exemptions from reporting requirements for local election contests or measures. Any candidate or committee who raised or spent $500 or more would fall under reporting requirements, regardless of whether it’s “a cemetery district or a school district,” Denney said. That proposal would remove the current threshold for reporting in school elections that exempts small school districts. “I appreciate this,” said Sen. Todd Lakey, R-Nampa. “I think this is going the right direction. Folks are spending money on local issues, it should be subject to the sunshine laws.”

5 – A five-page draft that would include social media and email in definitions of electioneering communications, and clarify that an expenditure is considered to have been made “at the time the funds have been obligated or committed, whether by oral or written agreement.”

6 -  A two-page draft adding a new section to Idaho’s sunshine law requiring twice-a-year reporting by candidates in non-election years, and monthly reports during election years. It also would still require 48-hour reporting of contributions of $1,000 or more within the 15 days before a primary or general election.

When there was a pause without questions, Denney joked that everybody must like the proposal. Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, took exception to that. “It’s burdensome, at least from the candidate’s point of view,” he said. “I appreciate the fact that we want to have as much transparency as possible. But pretty soon what we’re going to have to do, we’re going to have to have paid treasurers to keep up with all this stuff. It really creates a dilemma. ... We’ll comply if it passes.” But he said he wanted to make it clear that not everybody likes it.

Other lawmakers questioned whether Denney had the staff to handle the increased reports. He said if there was time to gear up and get the appropriate software – say, a year and a half to implement the proposed new law – it “wouldn’t be all that big a deal.” He added, "Most of this reconciliation could be done electronically."