The House approved a bill Monday that would require lawmakers to file their campaign finance reports in a computerized database.
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House Bill 1427, by Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, aims to increase donor transparency by allowing the public to track donation trends across candidates and races. It passed 82-5.
"It does one thing and one thing only," she told lawmakers. "It requires that candidates that file with secretary of state to file their campaign finance reports electronically instead of on paper."
The state mandates that candidates file campaign-finance reports that specify who gave them money and how they spent it. The reports may be handwritten and need not be typed into a database or spreadsheet.
The secretary of state's office, which oversees elections, keeps the finance reports on file for elections for statewide and regional offices, such as Congress and the Legislature.
Della Rosa led an unsuccessful push to mandate electronic disclosure in the 2015 regular legislative session. It was approved by a committee, but failed by three votes in the House.
HB1427 passed as the Arkansas secretary of state brings a new $670,000 electronic finance reporting system online. The new system should silence criticism about the old system, which was considered clunky and unreliable, Della Rosa said.
She said system is expected to go online July 1.
"What we got out of that system is a much better interface and a lot more security that the information we enter in is actually calculated correctly," she said. "What the people of Arkansas were supposed to get out of the expenditure is a usable, searchable database. If we don't participate in the system as this bill requires, they will not get their usable, searchable database."
To assuage the concerns of lawmakers who lack access to the Internet, Della Rosa's bill allows candidates to attest that they don't have technology necessary to file the reports electronically. They would be able to file paper reports.
In 2016, at least 31 states mandated electronic disclosure, according to the state Bureau of Legislative Research.
Metro on 02/14/2017