Nevada committee hears bill to clarify PAC spending and allow defeated candidates to keep funds for four years

Assemblymember Steve Yeager opened the hearing on Assembly Bill 497, telling the Legislative Operations and Elections Committee that the bill "revises provisions relating to campaign finance" and aims to make the law clearer for PACs and former candidates.

The bill, as presented by Assemblymember Steve Yeager (Assembly District 9), would: (1) enumerate permissible uses of funds deposited in a PAC account—allowing transfers to candidates, legal defense funds, nonprofits, other PACs, recalls, political parties and party committees, and independent expenditures—while leaving existing candidate contribution limits in place; (2) clarify that nonprofit corporations are not automatically treated as PACs under the definition of a committee for political action; and (3) permit defeated candidates to use unspent contributions in a subsequent election if that election occurs within four years, subject to ongoing campaign finance reporting. Yeager framed the measure as a transparency and accountability bill for campaign money.

"You cannot use your political action committee as a personal slush fund," Yeager said, arguing donors do not expect PAC money to be spent on personal items. Bradley Schrager, an elections attorney with the law firm Bravo Schrager, told the committee that the bill replaces a vague regulatory environment with a defined list of lawful PAC expenditures and creates clearer, "bright-line" rules about unspent campaign funds.

Gabriel de Cara, chief deputy secretary of state, testified that the Secretary of State's office supports clarification in campaign finance law and that clearer rules would improve oversight.

Committee members asked technical and scope questions about the bill’s provisions. Questions included whether PAC funds could pay for event costs such as venue and food (Schrager said it would depend on characterization as an in-kind contribution or an expenditure under the bill) and whether the new four-year rule would create conflicts for candidates pursuing federal offices with different term lengths (Schrager said certain federal or judicial candidacies raise separate rules and that the bill focuses on state/local offices). Yeager and Schrager confirmed the bill applies to PACs generally and does not change existing limits on candidate-to-candidate contributions.

Yeager said the bill would require defeated candidates who retain funds to continue filing campaign finance reports while holding unspent funds and to dispose of those funds within 15 days after the end of a four-year period if they have not run in a subsequent election. Schrager described the proposal as clearing up a "thicket" of confusing statute and case-by-case interpretation that has complicated compliance and enforcement.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the committee during the hearing. Testimony was limited and no public callers registered support, opposition, or neutral positions during the allotted testimony windows.

The committee hearing record shows questions from legislators including Assemblymember Dickman, Majority Leader Hategui, Assemblymember Cole, and others. Yeager and his counsel indicated they plan to consider and may offer technical amendments before a deadline later in the week.

If enacted as written, the bill would (a) enumerate lawful PAC expenditures, (b) exclude nonprofits from the definition of PACs, and (c) permit defeated candidates to preserve unspent campaign funds for four years while remaining subject to reporting requirements. The measure did not include new appropriations for enforcement or implementation costs during the hearing.