NCPE at NV Legislature AB 335 - dealing with campaign disclosure
March 26, 2007
TO: Assemblywoman and Chair Ellen Koivisto, and Committee Members, Assembly Committee on Elections, Procedures, Ethics and Constitutional Amendments
Subject: Testimony in support of AB 335, with suggested amendments
Dear Chairwoman Koivisto and Members:
Here is the testimony we plan to present Tuesday, March 27th, at the hearing for AB 335 – unless previous testimony requires changes.
“Chairwoman Koivisto and Members:
My name is Craig Walton and I speak on behalf of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics. We have sought campaign disclosure improvements for some time, and welcome AB 335 as helpful step in the right direction. Here are some questions and suggestions:
I. Electronic filing: ± At p.3, Sec. 2, lines 7-16: There needs to be a place to insert the word “electronic” in the filing and posting of these campaign disclosure forms. Would it be best to insert that word here, in the phrase, “...shall design a single form to be used for all ....” , so that it would read, “...shall design a single electronic form to be used for all ....” ? It is time that Nevada moved from the paper age to the electronic age. This would do 2 things: it would facilitate filing these reports, and most importantly, it would facilitate getting them posted on the SOS website quickly. Also, concerning any fiscal note, we think this move would SAVE money by saving man-hours for transforming paper documents into website postable documents. Currently we have delays, sometimes long ones, caused by the SOS office having to perform the manual labor of transferring information from paper forms to electronic posting. The time is past when it is enough to say that citizens can always go down to the SOS office to look up who is giving what monies to whom. On KNPR, public radio in Las Vegas last week, the Sec. of State said that he thinks he needs authorization to make this move. We could give it to him, here. So, Please do insert “electronic” at some suitable place so that the SOS will not have to have a BDR in 2009, on this.
The same issue can also be faced at p. 10, Sec. 19, lines 14-19: #7 at lines 14-16 refers to the filing officer (city, county or state) and so it could be amended to read, “...and make the statements available for public inspection physically and electronically”, if we want to retain the paper method, or, eliminate the paper method entirely and insert “electronic” at line 13 for the means by which the statement is sent to the filing officer, and then explicitly or implicitly in the rest of that section, to line 19.
In fact, #8, lines 17-19 could be interpreted as allowing the SOS to create and require electronic filing, since it says the SOS “shall prescribe...procedures for the submission of statements....”. Since this is not clear, we suggest amending the sentence to read, “shall prescribe... procedures, including electronic filing for the submission of statements....”
Again on this issue, at Sec. 20, pg. 11, #6, lines 9-11, it would be helpful to insert ‘electronic’ so as to say, “..and make the statements available physically and electronically for public inspection”, or, again, cut to the chase and just say”...transmitted by electronic means” at line 5.
II. A Valuable exception:
± Pg. 4, sec. 4, lines 36-45, provides a valuable exception so that it would no longer be a “gift” if a public official took part in a professional or charitable organization’s workshop or conference where the organization pays the cost of registration or lunch. This kind of meeting should be seen as proper and even to be encouraged by the people of Nevada.
III. Both kinds of lobbying:
± At pg. 5, Sec. 5, line 4, we ask that the word “appointed” be inserted in the definition of lobbyist regulation. It would then read, “...activities of lobbyists who lobby elected and appointed officers of the county.” The same change is needed at line 18 concerning city officers. A considerable amount of lobbying is aimed at persons in administrative, appointed positions, and it would be too large a loophole to leave them out of the intent of this Section.
IV. Missing Details in Disclosure:
± At Sec. 21, p. 11, lines 24 - 27, this portion of the Financial Disclosure provisions is widely known to lack important details. We would like to suggest that greater detail be required here (that is, at 281.571.1 (f)). That section currently requires listing such involvements with business entitities as trustee, director, officer, etc. However, each of the following details is required in many other states. All states’ coverage of these financial relationships is followed routinely by the Center for Public Integrity. In October of 2006, Nevada rated an “F”compared to other states, for lack of these kinds of information. The details we ask Nevada to include are:
for businesses where one is employed: one’s job title with the entity if applicable, a description of what that employer does in that business, and the value range or income amount received, to include salary, bonuses, shares of stock, etc.;
for officers or directors of businesses or non-profit entities involving compensation, specific information as to one’s duty or role as an officer or director, to include salary, bonuses, shares of stock, etc.; and the same for one’s spouse if applicable;
for investment entities, a description of the entity’s activity, and the value of the investment;
for clients of self or spouse, information on the value or range of value of the services provided;
for all organizational leadership positions outside of one’s public office, those positions should be listed; and, finally,
for all entries, the State of Nevada should [1] be given auditing authority over these forms, [2] should routinely review these forms for accuracy, and [3] should publish a list of delinquent filers.
V. More timely Reporting Deadlines:
± We also suggest that an addition be made to NRS 281.561.1 (b), to amend it so that campaign financial disclosure statements would be filed quarterlyfor non-election years, instead of the current once-per-year filing. Those officers listed in NRS 294A.300, who may not accept contributions during and in the immediate periods before and after a legislative session, should report contributions and expenditures made up to 30 days prior to the legislative session, and again beginning the third calendar quarter of that year.
± And again at 281.561.1 (b), we suggest that the financial disclosure statements be filed monthlyin election years, with due dates so that reports would be due at least two weeks prior to the start of early voting for primary and general election dates (instead of the current rule for 7 days prior to a primary or general election + a final report Jan. 15th of the year after the campaign).
VI. Conclusion
AB 335, dealing with campaign disclosure, seems the ideal bill to include these needed improvements in the financial disclosure provisions of NRS 281. We request that they be added in to the bill draft.
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Craig Walton for NCPE
FROM: Dr. Craig Walton, President, and Members, Nevada Center for Public Ethics
Fax 1-702-395-2876
Go to other 2007 testimonies
AB 80, to require Limited Liability Corporations (LLC’s) to report contributions. As to the relationship to NCPE's 11 proposals, AB 80, is close to NCPE's proposal on p. 1 of our doc.
AB 109, - allows leftover campaign monies to go to a public-purpose Trust Fund.
AB 143, - changes the NV. Commission on Ethics deadline for completing an inquiry from 45 days to 1 year, and also allows the complainee to be told what is happening to his or her complaint.
SJR 1 - removes the requirement that affidavits be provided with ballot initiative petitions.
SB 79 - brings our statutes into line with a court ruling that the affidavit requirement for ballot petitions is a violation of the First Amendment.
SB 144, to require Limited Liability Corporations (LLC's) to report contributions.
AB 142 - to require ethics instruction and lobbyists to the Executive Dept. to register and report expenditures.
AB 335 - dealing with campaign disclosure
SB 425 - to new detail on political contributions, and to include legal defense funds in that category.
AB 605 requires ethics training for new public officers and also for lobbyists, forbids the use of one’s office staff or equipment for campaign purposes, and doubles the three levels of penalties for violating ethics laws.
SB 495 provides a one-year cooling offperiod for persons leaving the Public Utilities Commission, the Gaming Control Board, or “former public officers or employees”. Original Testimony Revised Comments
SB 494 - dealing with primary, general, and municipal elections, SB 494 changes the filing deadline for campaign contribution reports.
