Conference committee backs amended campaign finance language for SB1377; proposal to add beginning/ending balances fails

A conference committee considering Senate Bill 1377 advanced a package of compromise changes late in the session and voted to recommend the bill with the amendments, while a separate proposal to require beginning and ending fund balances for legislative candidates failed.

The committee, chaired by Chair Steiner, voted to move the Rohrs proposal as outlined by staff member Dustin Richard; the first motion passed 6-0-0. Later, a motion to add beginning and ending fund balances for legislative candidates failed on a 4-2-0 vote. The committee then approved a "in place of" recommendation that incorporates the amendments agreed in committee; that recommendation passed 5-1-0.

Why it matters: the bill bundle revises how campaign contributions and reporting thresholds will operate for state elections, addresses disclosure of fund balances, clarifies who must report, and updates several technical provisions. Those changes affect candidates, political action committees and ballot-measure committees ahead of the next election cycle.

Senator Rohrs, who introduced the compromise language, said, "I am not happy with this this is not a…