News Alert! Colorado Lawmakers Have Proposed Several Bills Addressing Campaign Finance

Democrats serving in the Colorado Legislature have sponsored four bills designed to strengthen Colorado’s campaign finance laws.

1. Rep. Jeff Bridges and Rep. K.C.  Becker sponsored House Bill 1261, which would require dark money groups who spend millions of dollars on political commercials and mailers to disclose who paid for the advertisements on the communication itself. Political candidates are already required to make this disclosure, so it only makes sense that dark money groups, who are often from out of state, be required to follow the same rules.
2. House Bill 1262, also sponsored by Rep. Bridges and Rep. Becker, would close a loophole that allows groups to spend millions of dollars on political advertisements with little to no disclosure requirements.
3. Rep. Chris Kennedy and Sen. Stephen Fenberg have sponsored House Bill 1260, which places campaign contribution limits on various county level offices that currently have no limits on contributions.
4. Rep. Mike Weissman is sponsoring House Bill 1259, which requires independent expenditure committees created by candidates to abide by the same contribution limits the candidate committee is required to abide by. In other words, this prevents the exploitation of a loophole that candidates could use to circumvent campaign finances laws, especially when it comes to contribution limits.

These bills are a step forward in the effort to address the way we finance campaigns in Colorado and in the United States. We hope you’ll join Clean Slate Now in thanking these legislators for their efforts to move us toward a more transparent and fair campaign finance system.

If you found this information useful please consider becoming a member of Clean Slate Now so we can continue to keep you up to date on the latest campaign finance news.

Jon Biggerstaff

Executive Director, Clean Slate Now