| Making Democracy Work® The methods of financing political campaigns should enable candidates to compete equitably for public office and protect from corruption and undue influence in government. Issue Team Chair: Cindy Madigan, cmadigan@lwvwa.org |
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Overview for 2023 Legislative Session We expect to see legislation requested by the Public Disclosure Commission and others strengthening our campaign finance disclosure laws. We look forward to the introduction of new legislation supporting public financing of statewide legislative races through expanding the successful democracy voucher program.
League priority bills are in bold below.
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| House Bills | House | Senate | After Passage | |||||||||
| Bill # | Bill Name (Brief Title) | League Position | Take Action | In Committee | On Floor Calendar | Passed | In Committee | On Floor Calendar | Passed | Passed Legislature | On Governor's Desk | Signed |
| HB 1317 | Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure | Supports | x |
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| HB 1330 | Campaign Contributions by Controlled Entities | Supports | x |
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These weekly updates will provide you with a "deep dive" into the progress of each bill, along with more analysis of the potential impact of the bill if it should pass.
- Weekly Report 1.15.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 1.22.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 1.29.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.5.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.12.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.19.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 2.26.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.5.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.12.23— Read Here
- Weekly Report 3.19.23— Read Here
HB 1317 Grassroots Lobbying Disclosure - at request of Public Disclosure Commission. Improves transparency in grassroots lobbying disclosure.
HB 1330 Adjusts threshold for candidate contribution certifications related to foreign nationals – This threshold would reduce the requirement to provide a document with every contribution that certifies the entity is not financed or controlled by foreign nationals.
SB 5207Concerning campaign contributions by controlled entities – Adds requirements to ensure campaign contribution limits are not exceeded when an individual controls another entity
SB 5284 Campaign Finance Disclosure - at request of Public Disclosure Commission. Updates reporting deadlines, identification of digital advertising, use of the public disclosure transparency account for technology and reporting improvements.
Bills No Longer Seeing Action This Session:
HB 1677 Campaign Finance Disclosure - at request of Public Disclosure Commission. Updates reporting deadlines, identification of digital advertising, use of the public disclosure transparency account for technology and reporting improvements.
HB 1755 Establishing the democracy voucher program for contributions to state legislative candidates - This will create a public financing system for legislative elections using a statewide Democracy Voucher Program, similar to the Seattle Democracy Voucher Program. It will provide four $25 vouchers to constituents in each LD to give to participating candidates of their choice. This will strengthen the voice of everyday people in state government by promoting broad, diverse, fair, and undistorted citizen influence and participation in electoral politics.How To Be Involved
- Local Leagues in Washington have action chairs who coordinate action teams. Some local Leagues have democracy teams to take action locally. Contact your local League action chair to find out and join.
- Volunteer to help with research. Do you like numbers and data-mining? Join us as we use the excellent tools provided by the https://www.pdc.wa.gov/political-disclosure-reporting-data to dig deep into the data.
- You may also express your opinion on legislation with the LWVWA issue chairs. We will take your perspectives under considerations as we determine our support for legislation and prepare testimony. Contact: Cindy Madigan, Elections Issue Chair, cmadigan@lwvwa.org.