Legislation introduced today by Sen. Andy Billig, D-Spokane, would bring increased transparency and accountability to reducing the prevalence of dark money in Washington’s campaign finance system.
SB 5153 would require any organization participating significantly in Washington political campaigns to follow the disclosure requirements for political action committees regardless of their non-profit status. SB 5153 has a bipartisan list of co-sponsors, including Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, and Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch.
“Whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat or an independent, the people of this state count on free and fair elections when making their voting decisions,” said Billig. “As more and more money gets spent in political campaigns in new and different ways, we need to ensure that our campaign finance standards keep up and provide the disclosure and transparency that voters count on and our democracy depends on.”
The limits of Washington’s campaign finance disclosure laws have been made clear in the past two years. In 2013, political committees on both sides of the aisle used their non-profit status to avoid disclosure of millions of dollars in donations. The Grocery Manufacturers’ Association, for example, avoided disclosure for donors after spending more than $11 million to fund a committee opposed to Initiative 522. It was only after the discovery of a specific fundraising e-mail that the attorney general was able to require disclosure. 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.
The issue returned to Washington in 2014, when an independent organization spending money in a legislative election was able to use its non-profit status to avoid disclosing its donors. SB 5153 would have applied to all of these cases and required timely disclosure of donors.
A bill largely similar to this current proposal, SB 6098, was introduced in 2014 and received support from newspapers across the state including the Spokesman-Review, the Seattle Times and the Olympian. SB 6098 was passed out of committee but was not brought to a vote on the Senate floor.
“It’s clear that we need to act to combat the rise of dark money in politics,” said Billig. “This is a bipartisan issue and this bill is a bipartisan solution. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill and bring the transparency that voters expect and deserve.”
