Davis County Commission adopts amended campaign disclosure ordinance with post-convention reporting

Davis County commissioners voted to adopt amendments to the county campaign financial disclosure ordinance, known as Ordinance 2025-9, during their Nov. 25 meeting.

County staff said the amendments add three main elements: a requirement for a financial report following a political party convention, new reporting obligations for candidates filling vacancies to reflect recently enacted statutory language, and preservation of the term "office holder" in the ordinance so final disclosure obligations for departing officials remain in place. "We thought that would be appropriate" to add reporting after conventions, staff said during the presentation.

Commission discussion focused on whether the county should simply mirror state statute or keep additional local reporting requirements. One commissioner urged aligning the ordinance with state law to avoid future discrepancies; another described the added convention report as a transparency measure. When the motion to adopt Ordinance 2025-9 was called, Commissioner Krauss announced a nay while other commissioners voted aye; the motion passed. Staff noted the ordinance will take effect after the county completes publication and the applicable waiting period so it will be in place before candidate filing begins Jan. 2.

The ordinance amendment was presented as an amendment to the county code; staff said the statute requires counties to adopt an ordinance but allows counties to impose additional reporting requirements beyond the statutory minimum. Specific implementation steps include publication and observing the waiting period prescribed by Utah law before the ordinance becomes effective.

Next steps: county staff will publish the ordinance and confirm the effective date after the waiting period required by statute.