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League of Women Voters of Oregon
Common Cause Honest Elections Oregon Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network (COIN) |
Independent Party of Oregon
Pacific Green Party Oregon Progressive Party Alliance for Democracy Portland Forward . . . and many others |
The Democratic Leadership in the House of Representatives bypassed the Senate Rules Committee (where Senator Jeff Golden sits) by sending the bill to the Joint Ways & Means Committee, which advanced it to the floor of both the House and the Senate with no public hearings whatever.
There is ample documentation for the huge loopholes in HB 4018 A:
HB 4018A dismantles key aspects of campaign finance law and delays others. This bill is being described as minor technical fixes by some of the largest political spenders in Oregon politics, but in reality the changes are deep, substantive, and destructive, as confirmed by all involved good government groups in Oregon and nationwide.
The League of Women Voters of Oregon said it’s “a complete betrayal of the deal made in 2024.” Common Cause Oregon says the Legislature is acting “in bad faith” and “creating loopholes for big money, reducing transparency, and undermining enforcement.”
The Campaign Legal Center, the nation's leading experts on campaign finance regulation, stated that HB 4018 contains “nonsensical” provisions; “would weaken laws intended to prevent corruption and provide voters with information about who is spending big money to influence their vote”; and would create “a glaring loophole in all of the contribution limits.”
Here are some examples of some of the huge policy changes in the bill (details in table):
1. Allows big spenders to evade the limits by creating multiple entities, with each allowed to make contributions, as long as evading the contribution limits is not “the sole purpose” of the entity. This effectively eliminates the contribution limits for big spenders.
2. Creates two new categories of totally unregulated campaign spending, neither of which are subject to contribution limits or required reporting in ORESTAR:
● Removes “coordinated expenditures" from the definition of “contribution,” which eliminates all limits on coordinated expenditures supporting candidates.
● Deems some coordinated in-kinds as not coordinated, and therefore not a “contribution,” as the Campaign Legal Center confirms.
3. Removes all penalties for contributors giving unlawfully large contributions during years 2027-2030, no matter how large the violations.
4. Repeals the requirement that entities making over $50,000 in independent expenditures per year disclose the real sources of their funds, if they spend less than $50,000 per candidate per year.
5. Increases the special limits on in-kind contributions from an aggregate limit per candidate per year to a limit per contributor per candidate per year. So if a candidate has 100 contributors, the in-kind contribution limit becomes 100 times higher than the current $2,500 per year in food and beverages and $2,500 per year in transportation services.
6. Newly allows massive in-kind contributions by membership organizations to any candidate for any local government office, including over 2,000 hours of staff time per year to each candidate from each organization.
7. Doubles the limits on contributions into multicandidate committees by changing the denominator from “per election cycle” (2 years) to “per year.”
8. Cuts in half the allowable contributions to minor party candidates. HB 4018A deletes the provision allowing minor party candidates to receive contributions during the primary election, which cuts in half their allowable contributions and allows major party candidates to receive double the contributions for the same offices.
9. Allows political parties to transfer unlimited amounts from their federal PACs to their state political party committees, regardless of Oregon limits on contributions into those committees.
10. Changes transparency requirements so that independent spenders that are not political committees permissibly “may” disclose the true source of their funds.
The League of Women Voters of Oregon said it’s “a complete betrayal of the deal made in 2024.” Common Cause Oregon says the Legislature is acting “in bad faith” and “creating loopholes for big money, reducing transparency, and undermining enforcement.”
The Campaign Legal Center, the nation's leading experts on campaign finance regulation, stated that HB 4018 contains “nonsensical” provisions; “would weaken laws intended to prevent corruption and provide voters with information about who is spending big money to influence their vote”; and would create “a glaring loophole in all of the contribution limits.”
Here are some examples of some of the huge policy changes in the bill (details in table):
1. Allows big spenders to evade the limits by creating multiple entities, with each allowed to make contributions, as long as evading the contribution limits is not “the sole purpose” of the entity. This effectively eliminates the contribution limits for big spenders.
2. Creates two new categories of totally unregulated campaign spending, neither of which are subject to contribution limits or required reporting in ORESTAR:
● Removes “coordinated expenditures" from the definition of “contribution,” which eliminates all limits on coordinated expenditures supporting candidates.
● Deems some coordinated in-kinds as not coordinated, and therefore not a “contribution,” as the Campaign Legal Center confirms.
3. Removes all penalties for contributors giving unlawfully large contributions during years 2027-2030, no matter how large the violations.
4. Repeals the requirement that entities making over $50,000 in independent expenditures per year disclose the real sources of their funds, if they spend less than $50,000 per candidate per year.
5. Increases the special limits on in-kind contributions from an aggregate limit per candidate per year to a limit per contributor per candidate per year. So if a candidate has 100 contributors, the in-kind contribution limit becomes 100 times higher than the current $2,500 per year in food and beverages and $2,500 per year in transportation services.
6. Newly allows massive in-kind contributions by membership organizations to any candidate for any local government office, including over 2,000 hours of staff time per year to each candidate from each organization.
7. Doubles the limits on contributions into multicandidate committees by changing the denominator from “per election cycle” (2 years) to “per year.”
8. Cuts in half the allowable contributions to minor party candidates. HB 4018A deletes the provision allowing minor party candidates to receive contributions during the primary election, which cuts in half their allowable contributions and allows major party candidates to receive double the contributions for the same offices.
9. Allows political parties to transfer unlimited amounts from their federal PACs to their state political party committees, regardless of Oregon limits on contributions into those committees.
10. Changes transparency requirements so that independent spenders that are not political committees permissibly “may” disclose the true source of their funds.
