Pending campaigns and elections legislation

As with every General Assembly, the Ohio Legislature introduces countless measures related to Ohio’s elections and campaign finance laws. These proposals range from amending Ohio’s laws for voter registration to allocating funds for new voting equipment to addressing the functions and procedures of County Boards of Election and much more than space permits to list.

Here is a small sample of the pending legislation that has been introduced during this General Assembly:

H.B. 185 (Hambley, S.) – Under current law, an individual can claim up to a $50 tax credit ($100 for joint filers) for contributions to candidates for the Ohio House, Senate, State School Board or one of the state’s constitutional executive offices. This proposal expands the scope of Ohio’s political contribution tax credit to candidates for any state, county, municipal or district office.

H.B. 610 (Clyde, K.) – This recently introduced legislation is titled the DISCLOSE Act. It requires 501(c)(4)s and LLCs to report their political contributors; increases the required disclosures of sources of funding in campaign finance reports; and prohibits political spending by foreign nationals as well as domestic corporations with foreign owners and decision makers.

S.B. 44 (LaRose, F.) – This legislation, which has already passed the Senate and is now pending in the House, expands the categories of entities that are permitted to file campaign finance statements electronically. If passed into law, the permissive authority for electronic filing is extended to Political Action Committees, Political Contributing Entities, partnerships, individuals, and other entities whose contributions and expenditures pertain only to local candidates and issues.