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House repasses technical fixes to campaign finance law

A package of proposed technical changes to the state’s campaign finance laws are headed to the governor.

The House on Monday unanimously repassed the conference committee report on HF337/SF205*, the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board’s technical modifications bill. The Senate repassed it 37-27 earlier in the day.

A number of technical revisions are proposed in the bill sponsored by Rep. Tim Sanders (R-Blaine) and Sen. Jim Carlson (DFL-Eagan). Among them are measures that would:

  • modify filing standards for lobbyists by eliminating a 10-day grace period and increasing the fee for registering late to $25 per day, with a maximum of $1,000;
  • modify standards related to the late filing of a public official’s report on representation of certain clients by eliminating a grace period and increasing the late filing fee to $25 per day, with a maximum of $1,000;
  • establish a new trigger date for requiring the registration of a political committee, mandating that both the registration documentation and accompanying report need to be filed by the report due date if the $750 reporting threshold is met;
  • specify a new deadline by which an independent expenditure or ballot question political committee must register with the board; and
  • modify the definition of “contribution” to provide that an individual granting permission to post a message on their residential property — such as a lawn sign— advocating for or against a candidate does not qualify as a contribution.

House language makes up the bulk of the bill, Sanders said. Senate provisions adopted in conference committee made technical tweaks to the bill’s language, including replacing the phrase “supplementary” with “annual statement of economic interest;” and making data confidentiality changes related to candidate filings with the board. 


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