HOUSE COMMITTEE MOVES TO IMPROVE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS

(Apr. 30) – The House State, Veterans and Military Affairs committee passed Rep. Mike Weissman’s bill to better enforce Colorado’s campaign finance laws.

“Unaffiliated voters, Republicans and Democrats alike are all tired of the growing influence of money in politics and want to see our broken campaign finance laws fixed.” said Rep. Weissman, D-Aurora. “This bill will help give voters more confidence that the system works for them – not special interests and mystery money groups.”

SB19-232 would codify within the Fair Campaign Practices Act the rules of the Secretary of State to enforce state laws concerning campaign finance. This includes specifying procedures for filing complaints, review of complaints by the elections division, processes for curing campaign finance law violations, the investigation of unresolved complaints, the conduct of hearings, audits by the division of campaign finance, and the issuance of advisory opinions by the Secretary of State.

Together, these provisions create a robust system to make sure that political campaigns and organizations abide by Colorado’s disclosure and disclaimer laws, so that voters can track who is spending money to influence elections.

Sec. of State Jena Griswold testified in support of the bill.

The bill passed on a vote of 6-3 and now goes to the House Appropriations committee.