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Committee agrees to accept House changes to bill barring foreign campaign donations to local races
Summary
A committee conference concluded the Senate will accept the House version of a bill that bars foreign donations to local campaigns; senators clarified the measure is complaint-driven, imposes no new routine reporting duties on local candidates, and was placed on the consent calendar before an objection removed it from the Senate consent list.
A committee conference on a Senate bill about foreign influence in elections ended with the Senate side agreeing to accept the House’s amendments and place the measure on the consent calendar.
Senator Lang said she met with the secretary of state and that her principal concern was scenarios in which a foreign entity could use in‑state intermediaries to influence procurement or elections. After that meeting, she recommended the Senate accept the House position.
"My biggest concern about this bill was what I call a Lenovo problem," Senator Lang said, describing the risk that a foreign entity might use local intermediaries. She added that the secretary of state confirmed the House changes addressed election‑related issues rather than procurement.
Senator Rosenwald said she supports efforts to prevent foreign meddling but warned the House version could overreach at the local level and "could be a barrier to someone running for a local office," pointing to very small races such as library trustee or a fire commission seat.
Senator Lang and other supporters repeatedly clarified the bill does not create a new, blanket reporting duty for every local candidate. "There's no reporting requirement," she said, explaining the proposal is complaint‑driven: if someone believes a foreign entity donated to a local campaign, they may file a complaint with the Public Integrity Unit at the Attorney General's office for follow up.
Committee members noted the House committee had spent "about 2 and a half to 3 hours" overhauling the bill and that the intent is to close a perceived loophole that would allow foreign entities to fund local candidates and ballot measures. A statute referenced in the discussion was described in the transcript as "6 64," which members said is complex and the subject of the line‑by‑line adjustments made by House authors.
The Senate side moved to accede to the House position; a voice vote was taken and the chair announced, "The ayes have it." Several representatives were called and signaled assent during a roll check. Members then agreed to put the bill on the consent calendar, and the committee adjourned after an objection was raised to the Senate consent placement.
Next steps: the bill will appear on the appropriate calendar consistent with the Senate’s decision to accede to the House changes; no further votes were recorded in this transcript.
