A major upgrade for the state's electronic campaign donor disclosure system will go online Sept. 1.
Secretary of State Mark Martin's office is putting the finishing touches on a new system for candidates to report contributions to their campaigns online. The system is aimed at shedding light on money in politics.
It complements Act 318 of 2017 by Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, which requires candidates to use the online system in most circumstances starting Oct. 1.
"For the public, the search engine in it is really nice," she said. "You can search by any information that we're entering. Or, you can download the entire database ... so you can sort through it, add it -- whatever you want to do with it. That's leaps and bounds ahead of what we had before."
The system allows candidates to report who donates to them in a format that's easily searchable. Instead of downloading copies of paper financial reports, searchers will be able to find the total amount given by specific donors across different candidates and races.
Della Rosa said the system also benefits candidates. It will track donors, making it more difficult for candidates to accept more money from a person than allowed. It makes clear which political action committees are registered. And it adds up contributions over time.
"People make honest mistakes and just forget to carry the one," she said. "It cleans up a lot of easy mistakes, honest mistakes. It makes it a lot easier to report properly in a timely manner."
More information about the filing system is available at sos.arkansas.gov/elections/Pages/financialDisclosure.aspx
The state had a computer system that allowed candidates to report their donations, but lawmakers said it was unreliable and donations had to be entered one at a time.
Della Rosa led an unsuccessful push to mandate electronic disclosure in the 2015 regular legislative session. She has said the previous online system contributed to her bill's failure.
Chris Powell, a spokesman for Martin, said the new system cost $761,575, including three years of maintenance and support. It was built by PCC Technology Inc.
Lawmakers appropriated money for the system under Act 269 of the 2016 fiscal session.
"The new financial disclosure site will have several ways to search and explore reports from its home page," Powell said. "This will be a more visual and functional site than our previous system."
Lawmakers can opt out of electronic filing if they sign a notarized affidavit declaring they "do not have access to the technology necessary to submit reports in electronic form" and "submitting reports in electronic form would constitute a substantial hardship."
So far, Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, is the only one to send in an affidavit, but Powell said more are likely to follow.
Vaught did not return a request for comment Friday.
Della Rosa said some lawmakers do not have reliable access to the Internet and their constituents will keep them honest about the matter.
Otherwise, "I really don't want to give a future opponent that kind of ammunition against me," she said. "They could making fun of me saying, 'Oh, you can't work the Internet.'"
A list of lawmakers who opt out will appear on the front page of the search engine, Della Rosa said. Their written reports will be scanned and put online.
At least 31 states mandate electronic disclosure, the Bureau of Legislative Research said last year. The bureau said systems in other states have cost from $150,000 to more than $2 million.
Metro on 08/26/2017