Free‑speech group urges higher disclosure thresholds, redactions and internet exemptions for state campaigns

David Keating and Brad Smith of the Institute for Free Speech framed campaign‑finance choices through First Amendment doctrine and urged policy changes to reduce compliance burdens while preserving transparency where it matters.

Keating said Kansas's contribution and disclosure thresholds are outdated and often frozen for decades. "The thresholds from what we can tell have been frozen literally for decades," he told the committee, and recommended raising donor‑disclosure thresholds (for example, $2,500 statewide, $500 for legislative races) and indexing limits for inflation.

He and Smith also suggested a two‑part approach to protecting donors: maintain regulator access to contributor names and addresses for enforcement while redacting street addresses from publicly posted reports to reduce risks to donors. "Continue reporting the contributor names and addresses to the regulator... but redact the street addresses from public disclosure," Keating said, citing practices in Texas and California.

The Institute urged an internet exemption for unpaid online communications and recommended that Kansas adopt clearer rules so that regulators use the least speech‑restrictive interpretation of ambiguous statutes. "If there's more than one reasonable interpretation, you should interpret that provision to maximize the right of freedom of speech," Keating told the committee.

Some committee members argued these changes might reduce voter information about donors; others said higher thresholds could reduce chilling effects on small donors. Keating and Smith said the reforms would simplify compliance and refocus disclosure on donors and transactions with a higher risk of undue influence.

The committee recorded the Institute's recommendations for further consideration alongside other policy options.