Committee advances amended campaign finance recodification, endorses new Secretary of State "checkbook" filing system

The Government and Veterans Affairs Committee voted to advance an amended campaign finance recodification bill, House Bill 2156, and endorsed a new Secretary of State electronic filing system that will let filers enter contributions and expenditures like a digital checkbook.

Representative Heidi Steiner, sponsor of the committee amendment, told members the bill largely consolidates existing Century Code provisions into a new chapter and updates technical reporting rules while adding features to support a forthcoming Secretary of State software rollout. "The secretary of state's office is getting new software ... so a large part of this bill is to be able to transfer it over into the software," Steiner said.

Committee members said the changes aim to improve timeliness and reduce calculation errors while keeping small contributions private. The bill raises the reporting threshold that triggers individual disclosure from $200 to $250 (matching provisions in a separate vehicle, referenced in committee as House Bill 1577), clarifies that the deposit date will determine which reporting period receives a contribution, and preserves aggregated reporting for contributions at or below $250 so donors' names are not published. The Secretary of State's office also…