Committee Advances Measure Directing Secretary of State to File Campaign-Finance Changes for 2027

The Senate Rules Committee advanced Senate Bill 1502 on Wednesday, a measure directing the Secretary of State to pre-file a proposed bill for the 2027 session recommending changes to Oregon's campaign finance limits and reporting rules based on implementation experience.

Ricardo Lujan Valerio, deputy chief of staff in the Secretary of State's office, told the committee that implementation work often surfaces issues that require statutory fine-tuning. "The bottom line is that reforms tend to struggle when they lack direction or aren't resourced to succeed," he said, pointing to examples in other states where implementation required delays, funding adjustments, or system replacements.

Tom Powers of Multnomah County asked for state-county alignment on technical issues such as small-donor committees, the number of committees, in-kind contributions and enforcement; he recommended interim work with county stakeholders. Attorney Dan Meek, representing Honest Elections Oregon, warned that SB 1502 "would not correct the severe damage to campaign finance reform that will occur if HB 4018 is enacted."

Senator Gold said the timing felt rushed and urged either extending deadlines now while studying the substance in the interim or bringing targeted deadline relief instead of passing a large, complex bill quickly. The committee moved SB 1502 to the floor with a 'do pass' recommendation after discussion; a roll-call showed several ayes and at least one no.

SB 1502 was described in committee as having minimal fiscal impact and no revenue impact; the measure directs the Secretary of State to file recommended statutory changes for the 2027 regular session, informed by implementation lessons from prior bills cited in committee.

What's next: SB 1502 will proceed to the full Senate following committee reporting.