OLYMPIA – A bill to set up state level enforcement against illegal foreign donations in political campaigns in response to the Federal Elections Commission’s abandonment of campaign finance enforcement received a unanimous vote from the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“I was motivated to work on this bill after the Citizens United ruling, which opened up our elections to endless amounts of corporate influence,” said Sen. Jesse Salomon (D-Shoreline), the bill’s sponsor. “That ruling was a major step backwards in the effort to limit the influence of money in our elections. But one thing we can do to fight back is to ensure those influences are not coming from foreign entities.”
Foreign corporations, governments, political parties and individuals (except for those with legal permanent U.S. resident status) are prohibited by federal law from donating to political campaigns. But with the FEC effectively shut down as a result of vacancies left open by President Trump, the commission is no longer enforcing federal election laws.
“Due to the federal government’s abdication of its duties, it falls to the states to fight effectively against foreign political influence,” said Salomon. “Washington state has strong campaign finance disclosure and transparency laws, but without this bill those laws lack meaningful restrictions and enforcement mechanisms against foreign political influence.”
Senate Bill 6152 will prohibit foreign nationals from making donations to candidates for political office and for independent issue ads that have no spending or donation limits post Citizen’s United. Candidates running for office and issue campaigns will be required to certify that foreign nationals were not involved in donations to their campaigns.
The state Public Disclosure Commission and the Attorney General’s Office would be given authority to investigate complaints and issue punishments for violations.
Rep. Mike Pellicciotti, D-Federal Way, helped secure approval for SB 6152 in the House.
“We must do everything allowable under the Constitution to remove foreign corporate influence in our government, including stopping the flow of foreign money or involvement in our elections,” said Pellicciotti. “This legislation is a step forward in empowering Washington state to enforce laws which are not effectively being enforced at the federal level.”
The House made minor changes to the bill so that the law would not pre-empt local jurisdictions from passing laws to regulate campaigns in their jurisdiction. The bill will return to the Senate for a concurrence vote.
SB 6152 originally passed the Senate on February 13.
