After never getting a floor vote earlier this year, state lawmakers looking to overhaul Idaho’s campaign finance law could return to the capitol next year with several bills in hand.
The legislative committee is considering many changes to Idaho’s campaign finance law, including making candidates report more often. Local and county-level candidates could also have to begin filing financial records.
Republican Rep. Fred Wood co-chairs the interim committee. He says he also wants to give the Idaho Secretary of State’s office more teeth with which to fine potential offenders.
“We certainly want to give you the authority to make it absolutely clear that when people at 8 o’clock the next morning haven’t [filed their sunshine report] that you have the ability to get after them and get after them significantly,” Wood says.
Media outlets have found three candidates who missed a filing deadline this year, but only one of them had to pay a 50-dollar-a-day fine for each day they were late.
Utah officials can bump a candidate from the ballot for missing a filing deadline, which Wood said he’d vote for.
The committee made no decisions on which bills they might bring to the legislature in January and will continue working on them this fall.
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