Committee sends overhaul of Idaho's campaign finance law to House

BOISE — A major overhaul of Idaho’s campaign finance law moved to the House floor Monday.

Secretary of State Phil McGrane and House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, presented House Bill 442, which would increase campaign expenditure reporting frequency, increase individual contribution limits and include a trigger to significantly increase contribution limits if a legislative candidate has $50,000 spent against them.

McGrane and Moyle previously said the rewrite of Idaho’s Sunshine Law was a priority this year in response to a spike in spending in the 2024 election cycle.

The 40-page bill rewrites and reorganizes the Sunshine Law, which had been enacted through a voter initiative in 1974.

“It’s been updated and reviewed along the way, but it’s really never had a substantial review to match modern campaign practices in modern times,” McGrane said of the existing law.

House State Affairs members sent to the floor an updated version of the bill.

The main topic of debate in negotiating the bill, McGrane said, was a provision that would create a completely new process of triggering a massive increase in allowable individual contribution limits in races to respond to a high level of negative independent expenditures.

Political action committees, or PACs, are not limited in how much they can spend in independent electioneering — which can include TV ads, mailers and other election-related messaging that either supports or opposes candidates.

Under the bill, if a legislative race garners $50,000 in independent expenditures opposing a candidate, then all the candidates in that race would be able to ask to have their individual campaign contribution limits raised to $10,000.

An individual is currently limited to donating up to $1,000 to a candidate per election, or $2,000 total for the primary and general contests.

The bill’s increase in the contribution limit was initially proposed to be up to $25,000 at Monday’s committee meeting, but was lowered per a suggestion by Rep. Stephanie Mickelsen, R-Idaho Falls.

“What you’re dealing with before you today is a problem that’s going to get worse in Idaho if we don’t figure out how to get some exposure on what’s going on,” Moyle said. “Remember, the PACs are not constrained, you are.”

In the 2024 primary, Moyle’s campaign saw nearly $189,000 in independent expenditures opposing him. Former longtime Senate leader Chuck Winder had more than $107,000 spent in opposition to him, and Winder lost that race.

Moyle told committee members he would support changing the individual contribution limit to $10,000 under the trigger but advocated for keeping it in the bill.

“I think you need to give yourself some avenues when they attack you to respond,” he said.

The trigger for statewide elected office would be $100,000 in expenditures and $250,000 for the gubernatorial race.

The bill would also increase the regular individual donor contribution limit from $1,000 per election to $1,500 per election for legislative, judicial and local offices. For candidates for statewide offices, the contribution limit would increase from $5,000 per election to $6,000 per election.

The bill would create an “ad library” for independent expenditures, which starting in January 2026 would require a PAC or group that spends money on an electioneering communication to provide an electronic copy of the advertisement or flier in its campaign expenditure report.

The bill would also amend the fines for violation of reporting rules, including changing the reporting fine from a maximum of $250 for a candidate and $2,500 for a PAC, to a structure of $50, plus 5% of the monetary value of anything not reported.

Rep. Clint Hostetler, R-Twin Falls, said he would not support the bill. He had a number of concerns, including “free speech,” “privacy” and “surveillance.” He did not specify what parts of the bill prompted those concerns or why.

“There’s a huge Pandora’s box here,” Hostetler said.

Rep. Shawn Dygert, R-Melba, countered, “Pandora’s box is already open, and it’s already flowing.”

He said he supported the bill to try and allow candidates to “defend themselves” from the funding from large out-of-state groups.

Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he would support moving something forward, even if the right balance of limits wasn’t perfect.

“This is a monstrous piece of legislation here, and most of it is really good legislation,” Alfieri said. “I don’t know that we’ve got all the numbers right or even the timing ... I think the test is the market, and the market is to implement this and to see how it works.”

The committee sent the bill to the full House, with Reps. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard; Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens; and Joe Palmer, R-Meridian being recorded as voting no.