Utah Legislature: Lawmakers considering campaign donation limits

SALT LAKE CITY — A long-awaited campaign contribution limit bill has finally been introduced, and it comes with a surprise.

Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, included in HB329 a repeal of the current law that says if a candidate for state office fails to file a financial disclosure report, his name is stricken from the ballot.

Ferry said that every time a candidate has failed to file, had his name removed, and then gone to court, the judge has ordered that he be put back on the ballot.

"Since the state has never prevailed, just recognize that and impose a fine," he said. His bill makes it a $300 fine for not filing, with a $500 per month fine each month after that.

"We figure that if (a candidate) never files a disclosure statement, the public will in effect take his name off the ballot" by defeating him at the polls, Ferry said.

The bill also would require an entity who runs an ad before an election that name's a candidate must file a report with the Utah Elections Office detailing who they are and where their money came from.

Otherwise, Ferry's bill reflects what GOP leaders had already agreed to — proposing the campaign donation limits set by the Governor's Commission on Strengthening Utah's Democracy.

Those limits for individuals, businesses and labor unions are:

$10,000 over a two-year period for candidates for governor, attorney general, treasurer and auditor ($20,000 over a four-year term).

$5,000 for legislative candidate over two years ($5,000 for a House member's term, $10,000 for a Senate member's).

$5,000 for a state school board candidate.

$5,000 for a judge.

$40,000 to a political party.

$10,000 for a political action committee.

$50,000 limit for any individual, business, PAC in aggregate giving.

Campaign donation limits are the most controversial of the GOP leaders' package of ethics reform measures moving through the 2010 Legislature.

Their future is uncertain, although Ferry's bill wouldn't place any donation limits on the 2010 election, only after that.

Rep. Craig Frank, R-Cedar Hills, who voted in favor of the limits as a member of the governor's commission, was originally going to sponsor the bill. But Frank says his constituents have since opposed the measure, so he's introduced a bill that requires more filing of contributions, but no limits.

"The question is whether to have just more transparency (Frank's bill), or more transparency and limits, as my bill does," Ferry said. "I don't know" which bill, or if either, will pass.

e-mail: bbjr@desnews.com