Commissioner of Political Practices says office can absorb small reporting changes within current budget

Commissioner Chris Gallus, commissioner of political practices for the state of Montana, told the Legislature's Section A budget subcommittee that his office can manage proposed reporting changes and routine workload with existing resources while seeking only modest personnel adjustments.

Gallus told the committee the commissioner's office was created in 1975 and handles enforcement under Montana's Corrupt Practices Act, campaign finance reporting, lobbying reports and ethics oversight for state officials. "My name is Chris Gallus, last name g a l l u s," he said during his opening remarks as he described the agency's duties and structure.

The agency operates with a small staff of seven employees, including a newly made-permanent chief legal counsel position and a combined investigator/compliance specialist and an outreach specialist. Gallus said the office helps candidates, political committees and lobbyists file reports and addresses flagged filings. He told the committee the office managed complaints and the docket in 2024 without a substantial backlog.

Why this matters: the commissioner enforces disclosure rules and lobbying filings that provide transparency for Montana elections and policymaking. The agency's staffing and technology determine how quickly reports are processed and how accessible campaign and lobbying information is to the public.

Budget and decision packages The Department of Administration's budget analysis presented to the subcommittee shows the commissioner of political practices' 2027 biennium House Bill 2 request totals about $1.9 million, all from the general fund. The agency's requested appropriations for the 2027 biennium are about $44,000 (roughly 2.4%) higher than the fiscal 2025 base; the primary driver is statewide present-law personal services adjustments (DP 1) that add roughly $84,000 across the biennium, while fixed costs (DP 2) are projected to decrease by about $40,000.

Gallus said the office handled about 76.6% of its FY24 $897,000 modified House Bill 2 appropriation and that lower-than-expected legal and court costs reduced expenditures for the year. He told the committee that, absent a major platform redesign, the office does not expect to need additional program funds for the current session.

Electronic reporting and lobbying thresholds Gallus said the office will monitor legislation affecting third-party political entities and lobbying reporting. He described two likely near-term changes emerging from the legislative audit committee: eliminating a hard-copy filing option in favor of all-electronic reporting, and aligning an off-session lobbying reporting threshold with the session threshold ("so that things are consistent, we would have that 5,000 match up with whatever we index to, which is 3,000 during the legislative session"). He said the electronic reporting system already exists and that those two changes would not be a major cost driver for his office.

PACs and public access to committee data When asked about political action committees and public access to their filings, Gallus explained the legal definition and where to find committee registrations and disclosures. He summarized the statutory threshold and paperwork that drive public disclosure: "Basic definition for a political committee, which you can find in 131101 is two or more individuals ... making contributions or expenditures or engaged in election activity to support or oppose candidates or ballot issues," Gallus said. He said committees file statements of organization (C2) and that committee communications should include disclaimers naming the committee and treasurer, information that the public can look up on the office's website.

Staffing and legal counsel Gallus described the permanent legal counsel position the agency secured in the last session and said the attorney hired to fill the job, Shelley Hendrickson Scott, has been heavily occupied with caseload and agency work. Kim Trujillo, a supervisor in the office who oversees compliance and the staff, also appeared before the committee and told members that IT upgrades are likely a future need but that the office is not planning major IT work in the coming two years: "we'll have to address [IT] eventually... but I think that's we're not even thinking about addressing any of those for at least a couple of years," she said.

Context and next steps Budget staff and the governor's budget office characterized the commissioner's budget as small and conservative, saying it covers routine work and that the agency has recently used carryforward authority and vacancy savings. The committee did not take formal action during the hearing; committee staff moved the process forward to the next agency presentation.

Ending The subcommittee moved on to the State Auditor's Office after the commissioner's presentation and follow-up questions from members.