Sb 221: the Creation of Election Leadership Committees

• Jurisdiction: Georgia,United States
• Citation: Vol. 38 No. 1
• Publication year: 2022

SB 221: The Creation of Election Leadership Committees

Nolan Hendricks
Nhendricks3@student.gsu.edu

PJ Spina
pspina1@student.gsu.edu

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elections

Ethics in Government: Amend Chapter 5 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, Relating to Ethics in Government, so as to Provide for a Definition; Provide for Leadership Committees; Provide for Chairpersons; Provide that Such Committees May Receive Contributions and Make Expenditures; Provide for Disposition of Assets in Certain Circumstances; Provide for Filings and Reports; Provide an Exception from Contribution Limits; Provide for Certain Notices; Provide for Related Matters; Repeal Conflicting Laws; and for Other Purposes

Code Sections: O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34.2

Bill Number: SB 221

Act Number: 219

Georgia Laws: 2021 Ga. Laws 219

Summary: The Act primarily provides for the creation of leadership committees that accept contributions and make expenditures for the purpose of affecting the outcome of elections or advocating for the election or defeat of candidates. The governor, lieutenant governor, or a political party's nominee for those positions, and the Democratic and Republican leaders in the state Senate and House would control and chair such committees: specifically, one person designated by the majority caucus of the House of Representatives, one by the minority caucus of the House of Representatives, one by the majority caucus of the Senate, and one by the minority caucus of the Senate. Notably, these leadership committees will be able to raise funds and receive donations during legislative sessions—an ability

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previously reserved to the Assembly's political parties.

Effective Date: July 1, 2021

" 'Transparency' is the word of the decade. . . . Everything is transparent, and if it isn't, it should be."

Senator Jeff Mullis (R-53rd), Georgia Senate Floor Session, February 26, 2021

History

Political Action Committees (PACs) and independent groups exist and operate within the Georgia political arena and can receive unlimited funds from interested donors.¹ Laws, however, limit the amount of funds that PACs can contribute to an individual candidate.² Additionally, PACs cannot (and were never meant to) contribute to individual members of the Georgia General Assembly during the legislative session.³

In contrast to PACs, leadership committees established under Senate Bill (SB) 221, nicknamed the "Political Expenditure Transparency Act" by Senator Jeff Mullis (R-53rd), have no fundraising and contribution restrictions.⁴ SB 221 does, however, mandate these fundraising committees to comply with several reporting and disclosure requirements, which aim to free the Georgia democratic process from the "outside influence of . . . dark money."⁵

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Just as with PACs and candidate committees, SB 221 requires the leadership committees to register with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission and report their financial activity on periodic public disclosure reports.⁶

The contention and debate around the Act come from the exception given to the leadership committees, which is the ability of caucus leadership to manage funds directly rather than using the larger political party as an intermediary. From its opponents, the bill received the alternative nickname, "the Gold Dome swamp bill," which refers to the ethical concerns related to allowing unlimited funds to be given during session.⁷ On the other hand, proponents emphasize that the bill guarantees the mandatory disclosure of all money from PACs and influential outside money.⁸ But Senator Jennifer Jordan (D-6th) expressed concern that SB 221's provisions on financial disclosures would create anything but "transparency," explaining:

All the leadership committee has to disclose is that they got $100 million from [a PAC fund]. They don't have to talk about how it came from China, came from Kelly Loeffler, came from big tobacco, came from payday lenders. None of that. So, the whole idea that this stops "dark money," and this is transparent . . . is not true. And in fact, what it's going to do is it's going to make dark money more prevalent.⁹

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Bill Tracking of SB 221

Consideration and Passage by the Senate

Senator Jeff Mullis (R-53rd) sponsored SB 221 in the Senate with Senator Butch Miller (R-49th), Senator Mike Dugan (R-30th), Senator Steve Gooch (R-51st), Senator John Kennedy (R-18th), Senator Larry Walker, III (R-20th), Senator Dean Burke (R-11th), and Senator Bill Cowsert (R-46th) cosponsoring.¹⁰ The bill was prefiled on February 22, 2021, and the Senate first read the bill on February 23, 2021.¹¹ The Senate referred the bill to the Senate Rules Committee that same day.¹² The following day, the Senate Rules Committee favorably reported the bill as originally written.¹³

The Senate read the bill for a second time on February 25, 2021, and a third time on February 26, 2021.¹⁴ Senator Brandon Beach (R-21st) introduced a floor amendment to the bill; it aimed to add the following language to line 20 as introduced on the Senate floor: "[L]eadership committees can only spend funds on general election races or on incumbents in a primary election."¹⁵ The amendment failed, but the Senate adopted the bill by a vote of 30 to 21.¹⁶

Consideration and Passage by the House

Representative Trey Kelley (R-16th) sponsored SB 221 in the House.¹⁷ The House first read the bill on March 1, 2021, and a second time on March 3, 2021.¹⁸ The House referred the bill to the House Judiciary Committee, which favorably reported on the bill on March

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16, 2021.¹⁹ On March 18, 2021, the House read SB 221 for the third time.²⁰ The House then voted to pass the bill as introduced by a vote of 96 to 69.²¹

The bill was sent to Governor Brian Kemp (R) on April 7, 2021.²² The Governor signed the bill into law on May 4, 2021, and the Act became effective on July 1, 2021.²³

The Act

The Act amends Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, which regulates state elections, by adding Code section 21-5-34.2.²⁴ This section establishes and provides for the function of leadership committees not restrained by maximum contribution limits but subject those committees to mandatory financial reporting requirements for all donations they receive.²⁵

Subsection (a) outlines two different types of the leadership committees governed under this section.²⁶ First, the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, or a political party's nominee for either Governor or Lieutenant Governor during the year that they are nominated would chair a leadership committee.²⁷ Second, the majority and minority caucuses of both the Georgia House of Representatives and the Georgia Senate may designate up to two PACs as leadership committees.²⁸ The subsection, however, explicitly states that no one may serve as chairperson on more than one leadership committee.²⁹

Subsection (b) provides for the leadership committees' fundraising function.³⁰ The Act permits leadership committees to receive donations and contributions from any persons that support the cause or

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purpose of the specific leadership committee.³¹ This subsection, as well as the remainder of the bill, provides zero restrictions as to the source of donations to leadership committees.³²

Subsection (c) outlines the procedure for when committee chairpersons no longer hold elected office.³³ When a chairperson leaves office, that person's leadership committee must (1) "transfer [all the committee's] assets . . . to another leadership committee" within a sixty-day period, (2) name another person who complies with the requirements of subsection (a) as chairperson of the leadership committee within sixty days, or (3) dispose entirely of the leadership committee's assets in compliance with Code section 21-5-33.³⁴

Subsection (d) provides for the purpose and utility of the funds raised by leadership committees.³⁵ All funds obtained by leadership committees can "affect[] the outcome of any election," whether in support of a party candidate or advocating for the defeat of another.³⁶ Funds may also counterbalance or defray all expenses incurred by campaigns for a candidate's reelection or the retention of their office.³⁷

Subsection (e) attempts to achieve Senator Jeff Mullis's (R-53rd) goal of financial transparency by aiding the effort to expose "dark money" within Georgia state politics. Notably, a leadership committee must register and report all contributions exceeding $500 to the Georgia Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission within ten days of receiving the contribution.³⁸ Also, all communications funded and paid for...