In the run-up to the Nov. 3 election, the final indication of who is spending money to support Kentucky candidates may not be available until after the election is already over.
Every election cycle, candidates and political action committees are required to turn in a report showing contributions and spending up to 15 days before the election. It’s the last snapshot that reporters and Kentuckians get of who is throwing around money and spending big to get their chosen candidates elected.
But thanks to a recent change to campaign finance laws, candidates get seven business days to file their reports instead of two. They also now have 5 days after that deadline to turn in their reports before being hit with penalties. In essence, a report that would have been due on October 21 can now wait until November 4 — the day after the election.
John Steffen, the executive director of the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, told lawmakers Tuesday that the new rule “totally negates” that last report before the election. He asked lawmakers to change the deadlines in the next legislative session, which begins in January.
“A candidate could wait until the day after the election to file their reports and without penalty. And I don't think that's the intention of this bill,” Steffen said. “Nor was it the intent when we went to the electronic reporting system. The intent of that was to get the information out there sooner to the public and to the other candidates.”
GOP Rep. DJ Johnson of Owensboro co-sponsored the election omnibus bill that made the change and chairs the House committee dealing with elections. After hearing Steffen, he said the lengthy timeline was not intentional.
“I'm sure we'll take that up in the next session. It was not intended that we stretch it out that far,” Johnson said. “I didn't realize it until I got that email and I went, ‘I got until when?’”
Kentucky Public Radio and other outlets rely on the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance to track spending and fundraising in state and local races. In the last several weeks, the reports revealed how political action committees have spent $1.2 million on independent ads to boost GOP legislative candidates while Democrats have been left almost entirely to their own devices — only $16,000 in independent expenditures to support their campaigns. The reports also showed what donors were contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance those PAC ads.
The report that captures the period 30 to 15 days before the general election often holds more key insights into who is bankrolling last-minute spending and final big advertising pushes just ahead of Election Day.
Steffen asked lawmakers in the Tuesday legislative hearing to talk to him or his staff before making changes to the election finance system.
“We're here to get a good product at the end. We're not partisan. We don't care about the underlying reasons. We just want a good bill, good language we can interpret, we can enforce at the end of the day,” Steffen said. “Let the bill drafter reach out to us, please, and we will happily work with them every time to get you what you want.”
House Bill 139, which started out as a nonpartisan election cleanup bill, was stuffed with a more controversial piece of legislation in the days ahead of the governor’s veto period earlier this year. Among a litany of other things, it increased campaign donor limits, restricted allowed voter IDs and permitted the sharing of private voter information with the federal government.
Specific to election finance, it increased how much donors are allowed to give a candidate per election from $2,200 to the federal limit, $3,500 per election. It also doubled the maximum amount a donor could give to a state or county political party per year from $5,000 to $10,000.
It also created a new carveout just for members of the General Assembly. Candidates generally are not allowed to transfer money raised for one candidate to support that person for a different political office; however, now members of the legislature seeking election to statewide constitutional office, like governor or attorney general, are the sole exception.
Kentucky Public Radio’s Joe Sonka contributed to this report.
