Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, introduced a bill in the Idaho Senate on Monday that would lower the threshold for timely campaign contribution or expenditure reporting from $1,000 to $500.
According to Idaho Code, candidates for office in Idaho must submit monthly reports of campaign contributions and expenditures in the year of the election. In off years, only contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported within 48 hours of receiving the donation.
If the bill were to pass, candidates would start filing monthly reports upon receiving or spending $500 or more, even in an off year.
Lodge said individuals contacted her asking for the change after the Idaho Secretary of State changed its campaign finance system in January to a more user-friendly interface that clearly lays out contributions and expenditures for each candidate and their donors.
“For transparency’s sake, they’re asking if you spend or receive $500, then you start reporting at that time,” Lodge said during the committee meeting. “The reporting is so much easier than what it used to be … and it’s for those who are collecting a lot of money and it’s not being reported, and then all of a sudden in January you see that $20 million has been placed into our campaigns and there’s no transparency on it.”
The committee voted to print Senate Bill 1337, and it could receive a hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee in the coming days of the session.
