Ask Governor Kotek NOW to Veto the
Campaign Finance Destruction Bill: HB 4018
Campaign Finance Destruction Bill: HB 4018
The Oregonian Editorial Board writes that HB 4018 was written in secret by big money lobbyists and politicians and "would gut provisions limiting donors" and create huge loopholes.
These and many other organizations urge Governor Kotek to veto HB 4018.
The League of Women Voters says HB 4018 is “a complete betrayal" of voters.
Common Cause says the Legislature acted “in bad faith,” “creating loopholes for big money, reducing transparency, and undermining enforcement.”
The Campaign Legal Center, the nation's leading experts on campaign finance regulation, states that HB 4018 contains “nonsensical” provisions, “weakens laws intended to prevent corruption," and creates “glaring loopholes in all of the contribution limits.”
All those organizations have called on Governor Kotek to veto HB 4018, in their Request for Veto and the Campaign Legal Center's veto letter.
Add your voice to the call for a veto!
Common Cause says the Legislature acted “in bad faith,” “creating loopholes for big money, reducing transparency, and undermining enforcement.”
The Campaign Legal Center, the nation's leading experts on campaign finance regulation, states that HB 4018 contains “nonsensical” provisions, “weakens laws intended to prevent corruption," and creates “glaring loopholes in all of the contribution limits.”
All those organizations have called on Governor Kotek to veto HB 4018, in their Request for Veto and the Campaign Legal Center's veto letter.
Add your voice to the call for a veto!
Send Email to the Governor
or phone the Governor at 503-378-4582
Tell her now to veto it. She has to announce all vetoes by April 11.
Tell her:
The Oregonian editors concluded:
Tell her:
- HB 4018 betrays the campaign finance reforms adopted by the Legislature in 2024 in response to a pending stricter ballot measure--and you signed that petition.
- HB 4018 was a 95-page amendment, drafted by big money lobbyists, first revealed less than one day before the only public hearing, where its opponents were allowed only 6 minutes to testify.
- HB 4018 punches such huge loopholes in the contribution limits and disclosure requirements that it makes them meaningless, confirmed by campaign finance experts.
The Oregonian editors concluded:
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The betrayal in this case is House Bill 4018. There are so many reasons to reject HB 4018 outright--the secret negotiations that excluded campaign finance reformers, the rushed nature of the bill, the changed limits, the weakening of protections and the impact on public trust.
And there’s only one reason to push the bill through — to retain the same entrenched system of big money politics that Oregonians have sought to defeat in ballot measure after ballot measure after ballot measure. |
See this List of HB 4018's Major Loopholes in the contribution limits and disclosure requirements. Here are some of the loopholes:
- allows anyone and any entity to multiply its allowed contributions by creating new entities
- creates a new unregulated category of political money with no limits and no disclosure requirements
- removes all penalties for making unlawful contributions during 2027-2030
- exempts most independent expenditures from original money source disclosure requirements
- delays all of the 2024 disclosure requirements until 2031 or 2032
- doubles the contribution limits into all political committees that support or oppose candidates
- cuts in half the allowable contributions to minor party candidates only