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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
A campaign finance bill that could prove detrimental to conservative political candidates whose campaigns are underfunded will be heard in the House Elections and Finance Subcommittee on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025.
The six-page bill sponsored by Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville-District 7) would make several changes pertaining to campaign finance requirements and procedures, many of which may not serve conservatives well as the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance has a history of targeting conservative individuals and organizations.
Senate Bill 0229 (SB0229) and it’s corresponding House Bill 0653 (HB0653) sponsored by Representative Tim Hicks (R-Gray-District 6) also funnels more money to the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance.
Some of the proposed changes include:
• Requiring certain executive branch officials to receive ethics training from the bureau.
• Distributing 80 percent of the privilege tax collected from lobbyists to the bureau to update their twenty-year-old website and offset other costs.
• Allowing the Registry of Election Finance to skip audits or investigations of complaints against financial reports and instead go straight to show cause hearings.
• Requiring local candidates whose jurisdiction covers more than one county to register a political treasurer for each county.
• Instituting an annual $150 fee to be paid by political campaigns to the Registry of Election Finance to offset costs incurred by the registry in regulation political campaign committees, otherwise known as political action committees.
• Increasing the limit from $100 to $250 for campaign related contributions involving events hosted at a supporter’s home, or other real property.
• Designating expenditures used for litigation in the defense of a candidate’s standing or reputation within a community as prohibited “personal use” of campaign funds.
According to Briggs, the legislation was brought to him by the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance.
The proposed legislation would make all sworn complaints filed with the ethics commission public record. Current law has commission members and staff keep such complaints confidential until they are either dismissed or a show cause hearing is set. The bill would also do away with any civil penalties – up to $10,000 – for a member of the commission or staff member who knowingly discloses confidential information, presumably because all information would become accessible to the public.
Contact information for the House Elections and Finance Subcommittee members can be found below.
Rep.tim.rudd@capitol.tn.gov, rep.rush.bricken@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dan.howell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.tom.leatherwood@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jerome.moon@capitol.tn.gov, rep.jason.powell@capitol.tn.gov, rep.dave.wright@capitol.tn.gov
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
