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Committee approves narrower subvendor reporting for campaign finance reports
Summary
Senate Bill 451 would remove subvendor names from treasurer reports and instead require reporting of the products and services provided, plus date and purpose; the committee adopted a minor amendment and advanced the bill to the floor.
The committee voted to advance Senate Bill 451 after adopting a technical amendment that would reduce required detail in treasurer reports for campaign expenditures to subvendors.
Jason told the committee that under current law treasurers must list the subvendor name, amount, date and purpose on reports; under the bill "the vendor, the sub vendor name would no longer show up on the report. It would simply be the products and services provided by that sub vendor and the date and purpose of the payment." The change is intended to avoid requiring committees to list every subcontractor when a primary vendor procures goods or services from others.
Senator Faust Gadeau asked for a plain-language example, asking whether a treasurer would need to list "I got 52 yellow balloons." The chair and Jason responded that treasurers would list the primary vendor and the products or services provided rather than the backend subvendors. Jason said he expected the Disclosure Commission to update forms and guidance to align with the new statutory language.
Senator Blue moved that SB 451 be passed favorably as amended; Senator Francisco seconded. The committee approved the motion by voice vote and the bill was sent to the floor.
The change narrows the granularity of public reporting for campaign expenditures to primary-vendor descriptions rather than full subvendor lists; implementation details and guidance were expected to come from the Disclosure Commission if the bill becomes law.
