Campaign Finance & Elections - Timely Reporting & Access to Information
LWVAL Action Priority Level I (Highest) - Monitoring and action of highest priority. Major area for resource expenditures.
Click a bill to see sponsor(s), summary (including link to full text), League action and justification for that action, and progress of the bill through the legislative process.
Legend: = LWVAL's support for the legislation. = LWVAL's opposition to the legislation. = new bill activity; change from previous week's report such as new progress in the legislature and/or League action. Bill may be one newly added to the report. These updates are in green font.
LWVAL has taken a position on this bill:
HB246 - Election, regulation of campaign contribution, Honest Campaign Act.
Sponsor(s): Representative Black
Summary/Synopsis: Under existing law, failure to file a reporting requirement of the Fair Campaign Practices Act is a criminal offense. This bill would provide for the Honest Campaign Act of 2012. This bill would provide that a candidate who does not timely file a report of contribution and expenditures to the Alabama Secretary of State shall be subject to a fine of $100 for each day past the deadline that the report is due. It also would provide that the Alabama Secretary of State shall charge a $100 fine for each candidate who is required to file an amended report of contribution and expenditures.
League Action and Justification: LWVAL supports HB246.LWVAL believes legislation related to financing campaigns should ensure the public's right to know and combat corruption and undue influence. .
Bill Progress in Legislature: 2/9/2012: Read for the first time and referred to the
2/16/2012: 2nd reading and placed on the calendar; pending 3rd reading and favorable from E&CF. 5/09/2012: Indefinitely postponed.
LWVAL is monitoring these bills:
SB224 - Campaign statements and reports, filing procedures for candidates in Municipal Election where municipality lies in more than one county, file in county where city hall is located, Sec. 17-5-9 am'd
Sponsor(s): Senators Holtzclaw and Orr
Summary/Synopsis: Under existing law, all statements and reports required to be filed by a candidate must be filed in each county where the election is scheduled. This bill would provide that in the case of candidates for a municipal office where the municipality is located in more than one county, the statements and reports shall be filed in the county where the city hall of the municipality is located. It would further provide that the judge of probate of the county where the report is filed, if the municipality is located in more than one county, shall provide a copy of the report to the judge of probate of the other county where the municipality is also located.
02/21/2012: 2nd reading and placed on calendar; pending 3rd reading and Favorable from CCFE&E. 03/20/2012: 3rd reading passed; Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted (30-0-0) 03/20/2012: Read for the first time in the House and referred to the
4/26/2012: Read for the 2nd time and placed on the calendar; pending 3rd reading and favorable from E&CF
SB497 - Elections, campaign finance reporting, eliminate duplicate and multiple filings, provide full month and weeks reporting periods, Sec. 17-5-8 am'd
Sponsor(s): Senators Orr and Brooks
Summary/Synopsis: This bill would amend campaign finance reporting requirements to eliminate duplicate or multiple filings for certain time periods previously reported; would provide that monthly and weekly reports include activity for the full prior month or week; would provide that required daily reports would include the reporting day and all days not previously reported; and would provide that all required periodic reports include all information for the time periods not previously reported.
League Action and Justification: LWVAL is monitoring SB497.
The legislation makes some changes to the campaign finance reports. Rather than making them due on the last day of the reporting period, they would be due right after the end of the period (2nd business day of the month for monthly reports; following Monday for weekly reports) so that they could cover the entire reporting period. In addition, if daily reports are needed, no weekly report for the same period is needed. Similarly, if weekly reports are needed, no monthly reports for the same period are needed. While the first part of the change makes a great deal of sense -- so that the report can be complete -- the second part of the change eliminates some cumulative reporting, which could be a problem.
Bill Progress in Legislature: 4/10/2012: Read for the first time and referred to the
4/12/2012: Read for the 2nd time and placed on the calendar; pending 3rd reading and favorable from CCFE&E. 4/26/2012: 3rd Reading passed; Motion to Read a 3rd Time and Pass adopted (27-0-0) 5/1/2012: Read for the first time in the House and referred to the
5/2/2012: Read for the 2nd time and placed on the calendar; pending 3rd reading and favorable from E&CF.
5/10/2012: House – 3rd Reading Passed; Motion to Read a 3rd Time and Pass adopted (97-0-0); Senate – Passed Second House; House – Signature Requested; Senate – Enrolled. Forwarded to the Governor at 4:00 p.m.
= LWVAL's support for the legislation. 
= LWVAL's opposition to the legislation.
= new bill activity; change from previous week's report such as new progress in the legislature and/or League action. Bill may be one newly added to the report. These updates are in green font.