To continue to ensure Minnesota has strong campaign finance and disclosure rules, legislation was passed off of the floor of the Senate this week. It contains some notable and substantial changes:
- Increases the late filing fee to $25 per day ($1,000 max) for lobbyist registrations, representation disclosure filings, and campaign finance registration.
- Requires the filing of an annual supplemental economic interest statement for all officials, even if their interests have not changed.
- Requires judicial candidates to identify the seat they are running for and formalizes a fixed contribution limit in every 2-year segment.
- Transfers the oversight of the prohibition of accepting corporate contributions from the Office of Administrative Hearings to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
- Extends the penalty for willfully issuing a political contribution refund receipt to someone who did not make a contribution to a candidate.
- Eliminates the requirement that the Board must release reports of all party units at the same time.
- Requires recipients and donors to report registration numbers on campaign finance reports filed with the Board.
- Provides greater clarification to the “prepared and paid for” disclaimer.
(S.F. 205)
