Good government advocates blast lawmakers for moving to delay campaign finance limits for years
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Good government advocates blast lawmakers for moving to delay campaign finance limits for years
Lawmakers want to delay limits on political contributions until at least 2031. They want more time to make changes to the state’s campaign finance system. Supporters of the law say it is needed to make the system more efficient. Opponents say it will make it harder for people to run for office and will hurt the economy. The law would limit campaign contributions to $3,300 per person, $10,000 for a family, and $15,000 per person for non-profit groups, among other things. It would also require the state to update its system for tracking campaign contributions and expenditures to make sure they are accurate and accurate. The bill is expected to be voted on by the House of Representatives on Wednesday, with a vote on the measure expected later in the week. It is the first time the law has been delayed since it was passed in 2010. The measure was passed by a vote of 54-3, with the support of the governor, who has said he will sign it if it becomes law.
That proposal was made public Tuesday after Secretary of State Tobias Read, whose office must carry out the provisions of a historic 2024 bill that will eventually limit the amount of money in Oregon politics, said his team needs more time, guidance and funding to effectively implement the law.
If legislators decide to delay the law’s key provisions by four years, limits on political contributions wouldn’t go into effect until at least 2031. Oregon is one of just five states without such limits.
Good government advocates, who have for months pressured lawmakers to make technical fixes to last year’s bill, slammed the proposed delay as an attempt to “dodge” contribution limits and continue allowing massive amounts of money to flow to political candidates.
“It’s telling that in these times of deep political polarization, lawmakers are still able to work across the aisle, but it’s to undermine reform,” Kate Titus, executive director of Common Cause Oregon, told the House Rules Committee during a public hearing Wednesday. “I think Oregonians deserve better than this backroom deal to stall campaign finance reforms, and I ask you on the committee not to be complicit in this.”
Lawmakers appeared supportive of the proposal on Wednesday, saying they want to ensure the Secretary of State’s Office has enough time to implement the technical, complicated provisions required in last year’s bill.
A committee vote is scheduled for noon on Wednesday. If the committee approves the bill, it’s unclear if it would have enough support or momentum to clear both chambers by the end of this year’s session, which by law must end by Sunday.
With no campaign finance limits, massive amounts of money have flowed to political candidates in Oregon in recent years. For example, Read raised nearly $1 million last year while running for secretary of state. House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby, who proposed the delay, raised more than $22 million during the 2022 gubernatorial race that saw record amounts of spending.
Lawmakers last year moved to implement campaign finance limits only after it became clear that Oregonians would likely see competing ballot measures that would have capped political contributions in the state. One of those measures, crafted by good government groups, would have established stricter limits than the other proposal, put forward by labor unions.
Instead of allowing voters to decide between the measures, lawmakers collaborated with good government advocates, business representatives and labor unions to hastily craft a major campaign finance bill. In return, those groups agreed to withdraw their ballot measures.
As written, the law would limit contributions from individuals to just $3,300 to any candidate for statewide office, the state House or Senate or district attorney per election, meaning a primary or general election contest. It would also limit political parties to contributing $30,000 to any statewide candidate and $15,000 for other candidates per election, among other provisions.
The law also requires the Secretary of State’s Office to overhaul the state’s outdated campaign finance tracking system and replace it with a comprehensive, modernized dashboard that tracks troves of data related to political contributions between individuals, unions, corporations, industry groups and political candidates.
At the end of last year’s legislative session, lawmakers promised to return this year and make technical fixes to the law. But with only days left until the current session ends, they have yet to follow through with that pledge.
On Tuesday afternoon, Drazan proposed an amendment to House Bill 3392 that would delay the limits on political contributions by four years, pushing them to 2031.
She did so after Read urged lawmakers in a June 19 letter to delay some of the law’s provisions. He said the complicated provisions would be difficult for his office to effectively implement in time and laid out a list of technical challenges, particularly regarding the massive technological infrastructure overhaul that would be required.
On Wednesday, Read told lawmakers that his team could implement the bill on its current timeline. But doing so would require a rushed process and would likely lead to unintended consequences, he said, such as harsh penalties on political contributors who accidentally violate the state’s campaign finance laws because the system is too convoluted.
“The challenges with (the law) can be boiled down to this: We need more guidance to get this right, and time is short,” said Read, who entered office this year. “Unfortunately, the choice now is between getting this done fast or getting this done right.”
Read pointed out that Oregon has a weak track record of implementing large technical policies, such as the state’s massive failure in implementing the online health exchange Cover Oregon about a decade ago. Allowing more time to implement campaign finance limits, he said, would allow the state to avoid a similar catastrophe.
Several Republican lawmakers on the committee expressed support for delaying the law’s provisions and thanked Read for being forthcoming about the potential glitches. Democrats, who hold majorities in both chambers and will ultimately decide whether the bill moves forward, did not indicate support or opposition.
“I think it’s important to remember that this bill in the (2024) short session was a little bit under duress,” said Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany. “And I think actually one of the most responsible things we can do right now is hit the pause button and to assess the situation as you’re doing, and so I think that that’s very responsible.”
Good government advocates criticized lawmakers and Read for proposing a delay instead of collaborating with them and other stakeholders to improve the law and implement it on time.
They pointed out that the Secretary of State’s Office has until 2027 or 2028 to implement the most technical and complicated aspects of the law, which they said is more than enough time to do so. They asserted that other states and cities have implemented campaign finance reform in shorter time periods.
“How bad is this going to look to the public, if the Legislature at the last second (of the session) kicks campaign finance limits out for six or seven years?” said Jason Kafoury, an attorney and longtime supporter of campaign finance reform in Oregon. “It’s going to look like (lawmakers) want millionaires and billionaires to continue to give unlimited donations in our state.”
A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, a Tigard Democrat who chairs the rules committee, declined to comment.
— Carlos Fuentes covers state politics and government. Reach him at 503-221-5386 orcfuentes@oregonian.com.