Sb 213 - Campaign Contributions Reporting

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 36 No. 1
• Publication year: 2019

SB 213 - Campaign Contributions Reporting

David R. Carducci

Georgia State University College of Law, dcarducci1@student.gsu.edu

Minho R. Seo

Georgia State University College of Law, mseo6@student.gsu.edu

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ELECTIONS

Ethics in Government: Amend Article 2 of Chapter 5 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Campaign Contributions, so as to Revise the Content of and Certain Reporting Times for Certain Campaign Disclosure Reports; Provide for Related Matters; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34 (amended)

Bill Number: SB 213

Act Number: 297

Georgia Laws: 2019 Ga. Laws 929

Summary: The Act amends Georgia's campaign contributions reporting requirements for public officials. Specifically, the Act amends the dates that campaign contributions must be filed by public officials during nonelection years from January 31, before the start of the legislative session, to June 30, after the end of the legislative session. The Act also amends an election year reporting date from March 31 to April 30. Furthermore, the Act requires that any person or independent committee that contributes to, accepts contributions for, or makes expenditures on behalf of candidates to file a December 31 campaign contribution disclosure report.

Effective Date: July 1, 2019

History

it is often said that transparency and the disclosure of political contributions are "one of the last defenses remaining against the

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corruptive influence of wealth in politics."¹ Though the federal government is slow to reform campaign finance laws, state governments are leading the way to ensure contributions are disclosed to the public.² Criticized in the past as having "some of the weakest ethics rules in the country," Georgia was historically slow to enact ethics reform laws.³ However, in a sea change, the Georgia General Assembly made sweeping ethics reforms in 2013.⁴ These reforms were largely in response to a "massive influx of media attention" pushing for ethics reform and a voter response to politicians' relationships with lobbyists.⁵

Amendments to how public officers and public office candidates submit campaign contribution disclosure reports and financial disclosure statements were part of the ethics reform bill passed in 2013.⁶ However, confusion with some of the new reporting dates "bubbled up several times" since passage of the ethics reforms.⁷ Further issues arose from other remnants of the previous reforms because of the rush to get them done "in the last minute in a hurry."⁸ The previous legislation's rushed adoption did not allow for proper vetting "to ensure there were no unintended consequences."⁹ Recognizing these issues, Senator Bill Heath (R-31st) reached out to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance

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Commission (the Campaign Finance Commission) "for suggestions on legislation that could be introduced to address the problems."¹⁰

Responding to these concerns, the Campaign Finance Commission ultimately fashioned and recommended Senate Bill (SB) 213.¹¹ Senator Heath sponsored the bill and ushered it through the committee process.¹² SB 213 addresses the campaign contribution issues by closing a loophole in Political Action Committee (PAC) reporting, amending the reporting date requirement by state elected officials during nonelection years, and granting officials enough time to accurately report contributions following election years by amending the reporting dates from January 31 to June 30.¹³

Furthermore, the bill resolves confusion about when public officials are required to reset their election cycle balances so that they are "not carrying forward [into the new election cycle] what [they] would have reported as contributions received during the [previous] election cycle."¹⁴ Whereas the prior legislation called for balances to reset on December 31, the confusion between "election years" and "election cycles" led many legislators to mistakenly reset their balances on January 31, because that was the first report due in their nonelection year.¹⁵ Keeping in form with what became the majority practice, the amendment specifies that balances will reset on the date the first report is filed after an election year—January 31.¹⁶ This will also "clear out a lot of the lingering election year expenditures" legislators have, thus making it more representative of the

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"expenditures made and contributions received" in the new election cycle.¹⁷

Bill Tracking of SB 213

Consideration and Passage by the Senate

Senator Bill Heath (R-31st) sponsored SB 213 in the Senate.¹⁸ The Senate read the bill for the first time on February 27, 2019.¹⁹ Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R) assigned the bill to the Senate Ethics Committee (Senate Committee).²⁰ On March 4, 2019, the Senate Committee amended the bill in part and favorably reported SB 213 by substitute.²¹

The Senate Committee substitute included almost all of the bill's text as introduced and merely changed or removed the text of a few subsections.²² First, the Senate Committee substitute changed some of the language found under subparagraph (b)(1)(D) of Section 1 of the bill beginning at line thirty-one.²³ The Senate Committee removed the language stating that cash on hand from the previous election cycle and total contributions covered by the report shall be reported on the "first report of an election cycle."²⁴ In its place, the Senate Committee substitute stated that such information must be reported on the "first report filed after an election year."²⁵ This same language change was made at line thirty-seven regarding the total expenditures covered by the report.²⁶ Finally, the language change was made a third time beginning at line forty-five regarding carrying

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forward the net balance on hand at the end of the election cycle when seeking reelection.²⁷

Additionally, the Senate Committee substitute made a minor change to the language found under subparagraph (b)(1)(F) of Section 1 of the bill at line fifty-five by adding the word "which" when detailing whether an investment sale occurs during the reporting period.²⁸ Further, the Senate Committee substitute changed a reporting date found under paragraph (c)(1) of Section 1 of the bill at line sixty-eight.²⁹ The language requiring the filing of campaign contribution disclosure reports in nonelection years on "January 31 and June 30" was removed.³⁰ In its place, the Senate Committee substitute changed the dates for nonelection year reporting to "June 30 and December 31."³¹

Lastly, the Senate Committee substitute changed the language found under subparagraph (c)(2)(C) of Section 1 at line seventy-three.³² The Senate Committee removed the language detailing that candidates or campaign committees accepting contributions are required to file reports within two business days "[d]uring the period of time between the last report due prior to the date of any election for which the candidate is qualified and the date of such election."³³ In its place, the Senate Committee substitute stated, "[d]uring the period of time seven days prior to the date of any election for which the candidate is qualified and the date of such election."³⁴

The Senate read the bill for the second time on March 5, 2019.³⁵ The Senate read the bill for the third time on March 7, 2019.³⁶ The Senate passed the Senate Committee substitute of SB 213 on March 7, 2019, by a vote of 51 to 0.³⁷

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Consideration and Passage by the House

Representative Joseph Gullett (R-19th) sponsored SB 213 in the House.³⁸ The House first read the bill on March 8, 2019.³⁹ Speaker David Ralston (R-7th) referred SB 213 to the House Committee on Governmental Affairs (House Committee), which made a few amendments to the bill.⁴⁰

The House Committee substitute included most of the bill's text as amended by the Senate Committee substitute; however, it revised some of the language in subsections (c) and (e) of the bill.⁴¹ First, the House Committee substitute revised paragraph (c)(1) of Section 1 of the bill beginning at line sixty-eight.⁴² The House Committee removed the language added by the Senate Committee substitute which stated that candidates or campaign committees must file campaign contribution disclosure reports "on January 31 and June 30" in a nonelection year.⁴³ In its place, the House Committee substitute added subparagraphs (c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(B), stating:

(A) Candidates for public office and public officers as defined in subparagraphs (A), (C), and (D) of paragraph 22 of Code [s]ection 21-5-3 shall file on January 31 and June 30.
(B) Candidates for public office and public officers as defined in subparagraphs (B), (F), and (G) of paragraph 22 of Code [s]ection 21-5-3 shall file on June 30 and December 31[.]⁴⁴

The House Committee substitute also revised paragraph (c)(2) of Section 1 of the bill at line seventy-six.⁴⁵ The House Committee removed the election year reporting date of "March 31"⁴⁶ and added "April 30" in its place.⁴⁷

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Lastly, the House Committee substitute added language to subsection (e) of Section 1 of the bill beginning at line 105.⁴⁸ Subsection (e) details when large campaign donors are required to file campaign contribution disclosure reports.⁴⁹ In addition to having donors file at the same time that the candidates they support are required to file, the Committee substitute added "and a December 31 campaign contribution disclosure report regardless of whether the candidate they are supporting has a December 31 campaign contribution disclosure report due."⁵⁰

The House read the bill for the second time on March 11, 2019.⁵¹ The House Committee favorably reported the bill by substitute on March 28, 2019.⁵² The House read the bill for the third time on March 29, 2019.⁵³ The House passed the Committee substitute of SB 213 without objection on the same day by a vote of 162 to 1.⁵⁴ Later on March 29, 2019, the House transmitted the bill back to...