The Campaign Finance Subcommittee advanced a campaign finance portal modernization bill (HB 44) unanimously while carrying over a public financing option bill (HB 162) to 2027, rejecting an electronic petition filing bill (HB 89) for lack of a second, and allowing a federal super PAC transparency bill (HB 480) to die without a motion.
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Katrina Callsen argued: 'It's not really getting money out of politics, it's just providing a slight bump that raises everybody... The people who can fundraise a lot are still going to be able to bass out fundraise the average candidate.' Marcus B. Simon acknowledged the bill 'doesn't solve all the problems of campaign finance in the world' and that it 'shouldn't completely level the playing field unless you've got an unlimited fund.'
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“Sometimes what happens is the. Because of who's able and willing to do fundraising, we give a disproportionate voice in the selection of local government members to developers and others with interests before the county. And ordinary citizens don't necessarily have the opportunity to compete with that kind of money.”
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Sign in to subscribeGood morning, Mr. Chairman. Is this on? Yep. All right. It is early. I'm looking outside. I don't know that it's yet bright. I don't think the sun's yet come up. So we're here before the sun. So, Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, this Bill 162 is a bill that would allow localities the option of creating a system of public financing of local elections. And so, you know, what's the problem that we're trying to solve here? The issue is that even in local elections, you end up spending a lot of your time rather than reaching out and having contact with the voters, raising money, finding folks that want to help finance your campaign. In many cases with local elections in particular, the folks that are most interested in funding campaigns are also people that have a lot of business before the locality. And so sometimes what happens is the. Because of who's able and willing to do fundraising, we give a disproportionate voice in the selection of local government members to developers and others with interests before the county. And ordinary citizens don't necessarily have the opportunity to compete with that kind of money. So what…
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