Legislation introduced today by Sen. Andy Billig would bring increased transparency and accountability to Washington’s campaign finance system.
“The people of Washington should know who’s paying for political campaigns in this state, and we all count on a robust and transparent campaign finance reporting system to make that happen” said Billig, D-Spokane. “Recently we’ve seen examples from both sides of the political spectrum of non-profits participating in elections in a huge way without disclosing their donors. When groups are spending large sums of money to influence an election, the people need to know where that money is coming from.”
Disclosure of campaign donors by 501(c)4 and other non-profit organizations has been a concern for campaign transparency advocates all over the nation and the issue came barreling into Washington State during 2013. Last year, the Grocery Manufacturers’ Association (GMA) avoided disclosure for donors after they spent over $11 million to fund a committee opposing Initiative 522. It was only after the discovery of a specific fundraising e-mail that the attorney general was able to require disclosure. Without that e-mail, current law would not have required the GMA to disclose their campaign donors. Also in 2013, Working Washington — a registered nonprofit — raised more than $250,000 in support of the SeaTac minimum wage initiative but did not release the names of its donors during or after the November election.
Billig’s SB 6098 would require that any organization making expenditures in political campaigns of $100,000 or more for statewide elections or $20,000 for local or legislative elections to follow the disclosure requirements for political action committees, regardless of their non-profit status. Those disclosure requirements include filing a statement of organization and monthly campaign finance reports with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC).
“We have more campaigns spending more money than ever, and organizations shouldn’t be able to hide their donors because of non-profit 527 and 501(c) designations,” said Billig. “Everyone should be held to the same fair and transparent standard.”
The bill contains other needed fixes to Washington’s campaign finance laws. It updates reporting requirements to reflect the new primary date, which was moved up in 2011, to ensure donor transparency throughout the campaign cycle. It also cleans up the statutes by deleting unnecessary and duplicative language.
