Committee restricts foreign and out-of-state contributions on constitutional amendment campaigns

The Federal and State Affairs Committee adopted an amendment to House Bill 2106 and then passed the bill out favorably. The underlying bill would prohibit contributions from foreign nationals to campaigns that promote or oppose state constitutional amendments; the committee amendment extended that prohibition to contributions from out-of-state persons.

Jason (committee staff) summarized the bill as one that “amends the election statute regarding campaign finance regulations on persons who engage in promoting or opposing amendments to the state constitution” and said the bill “would require that no one would receive contributions for those activities from foreign nationals.”

An amendment offered by Senator Tyson and explained by Jason expanded the prohibition to include “out of state person,” defined in the amendment as any individual not a resident of Kansas or any entity organized under the laws of, or domiciled in, a state other than Kansas. Tyson said the change was intended to reduce external influence in constitutional amendment campaigns: “I would like to see it that you can't even have donations out of district. But, to start with we could at least stop out of state donations.”

Committee members discussed the constitutional and litigation risks of restricting political contributions in light of U.S. Supreme Court precedent such as Citizens United. Senator Clifford cautioned that the measure was “well intentioned” but likely to be challenged in court. The amendment passed and the committee later voted to pass HB 2106 out favorably as amended; the transcript records voice votes and no roll-call tallies.

The bill would go into effect on July 1 if enacted. Supporters framed the change as a way to limit outside influence on state constitutional questions; opponents and some members warned of legal vulnerability and potential First Amendment challenges.