House approves bill requiring disclosure of who pays for campaign polls

The Utah House passed a first-substitute bill on Feb. 6 that would require those who conduct certain campaign-related polls to disclose who paid for them, a move backers said will bring transparency to political messaging and critics said risks free-speech chill.

Representative Hughes, sponsor of the substitute, told the chamber the measure is aimed at “push polls” — surveys that can be designed to influence rather than measure voters — and said legitimate polling firms supported a disclosure regime. The substitute narrows the statute to polls connected to candidates or ballot measures and creates an exemption for small focus groups of roughly three to 12 people, Hughes said.

The bill also ties enforcement to existing campaign-violation penalties and includes language intended to prevent fabricated payor names, Hughes said. “It gives you at least a trail,” he told colleagues, adding the change is not perfect but preferable to the current lack of disclosure.

Opponents, including Representative King and Representative Briscoe, argued the measure could chill protected political speech and might not fully unmask the sources of funding when third-party entities or committees are used to hide contributors. Representative Briscoe asked how deep the reporting requirements would go and warned that committees with generic names could mask underlying funders. “We certainly don’t want to make perfect the enemy of good,” he said, while expressing hope the bill goes far enough.

Supporters said the bill strikes a compromise by requiring disclosure of the entity paying for the poll rather than tracing every underlying contributor. Representative Moss described being targeted by anonymous push polls and called the bill a needed transparency measure.

The House approved the first substitute, which passed on a 64-8 vote. The measure will be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration.