Oregon Legislature     2023


​Will Oregon Legislature Take Useful Action on Campaign Finance Reform?
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Democrats have majorities in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature in the 2023 session.

The Legislature had conducted no hearings on any campaign finance reform bill.  The bill that the Democratic Leadership is pushing -- HB 2003 -- is largely a recycle of HB 2680-1 from the 2021 session.

As stated by Bill Vollmer for Act for Democracy and the Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network (COIN):​
The status of campaign finance reform bills at the Oregon Legislature as of late April was described by The Oregonian on April 25 and by Oregon Public Broadcasting on April 27.  Both reported dim prospects for meaningful reform.

​​The Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network (COIN) is an affiliation of grassroots organizations throughout the state that promote progressive causes and legislation. Act for Democracy is a Portland-based member of the COIN Network. This testimony is being submitted on behalf of both entities.

In 2020, Oregon voters passed BM107 by a 78% - 22% margin, making crystal clear their desire for real campaign finance reform. Voters in Multnomah County and Portland adopted comprehensive campaign finance reform measures, including “ad paid for by” requirements, by overwhelming margins (over 87% “yes) in 2016 and 2018. Yet despite this evidence of overwhelming voter support for good campaign finance reform, the Legislature has yet to pass any meaningful legislation addressing the issue.

Three key goals of meaningful campaign finance reform on which I’m sure we can agree are:
  1. give more voice to regular Oregonians, especially those from marginalized communities, by limiting the ability of wealthy individuals, businesses other special interest groups to dominate our election process;
  2. build in strong transparency and accountability to restore public confidence in our elections;
  3. don't favor any one political party over others; and
  4. avoid loopholes and other ways to game the system.

HB 2003 is essentially the same as HB 2680-1, which met strong opposition when Rep. Rayfield introduced it in the 2021 legislative session. We believe that HB 2003 would not meaningfully achieve the goals of good CFR as listed above. Instead, exploitable loopholes in the bill would allow big donors and special interests to continue to engage in the campaign process in much the same way they have in the past simply by routing their money through corporations, “clubs” and committees. Our key concerns are summarized below.
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The key concerns are outlined in these two documents.  The first one is a shorter summary of the concerns.

As noted above, HB 2003 is very close to the same as HB 2680-1 from the 2021 session.  That bill was opposed by a wide variety of democracy-focused groups, including the League of Women Voters of Oregon, Common Cause, OSPIRG, and Honest Elections Oregon.  These groups and many others sent a Letter to the Legislature stating their opposition to HB 2680-1.  The Editorial Board of The Oregonian issued a scathing editorial against it on May 26, 2021, entitled Campaign Finance Reform Bill -- Missing the ‘Reform’, concluding that the bill was more loopholes than limits.

Virtually all of the flaws in HB 2680-1 are copied into HB 2003, and the HB 2003 Problems documents  (see above) show that even more flaws have been added.​

Meanwhile, Senator Jeff Golden has introduced a campaign finance reform bill worth supporting, SB 500.  He is going to submit amendments to that bill that will fully incorporate the provisions of two Honest Elections Oregon proposed statewide ballot measures for 2024, Initiative Petition 9 and Initiative Petition 23.
January 13, 2022:  The Senate Rules Committee in the Oregon Legislature is having a hearing on campaign finance reform.  Our testimony is here:  Testimony of Daniel Meek.