Oregon House passes ‘historic’ campaign finance reform after decades without limits
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday establishing limits to campaign donations and spending, while aiming to add transparency to campaign financing.
House Bill 4024A establishes campaign contribution limits and spending limits for candidates, political committees, and membership organizations.
The bill also allows local governments to create lower limits for local elections and directs the secretary of state to create an online dashboard that lists campaign contributions.
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Under the bill, candidates running for state Senate, state House, circuit court judge, and district attorney positions cannot accept more than $3,300 from individuals, $2,000 from political action committees, $5,000 from multi-candidate committees, and $15,000 from political party committees, and legislative caucus committees.
The bill now heads to the Oregon Senate. If signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek, the limits would be in place Jan. 1, 2027.
In a statement celebrating the bill’s passage, leaders Julie Fahey (D-Eugene) and Jeff Helfrich (R-Hood River) said, “Today, we made an important step to make reasonable changes in Oregon’s campaign finance system. We arrived at this vote today after countless hours of good faith negotiations which were successful because of the years of work on this topic by Speaker Dan Rayfield and other legislators who worked on campaign finance long before us.”
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“We believe this bill meets Oregonians’ need for reasonable contribution limits, transparency, and accountability, without simply shifting campaign spending into ‘dark money’ activities. It also protects the ability of community organizations and nonprofits to engage in the kind of grassroots political organization that has become a hallmark of Oregon’s democracy.”
“The legislation we passed today has agreement from good government groups, labor, business, community organizations, Democrats, and Republicans,” the leaders continued. “We recognize that our nation has a patchwork of state-level campaign finance regulations. Given the reality of the Citizens United ruling, there is no perfect campaign finance system. This policy is one that came about in the spirit of compromise to do the right thing for Oregonians.”
Officials said if the bill is signed into law, it will mark the first time in decades that Oregon has implemented limits on campaign spending.
Jason Kafoury with Honest Elections Oregon lauded the bill’s passage, noting contribution limits should still be lower.
“This is not a perfect policy. We think the limits are still too high and the transparency pieces still need a lot of work. But this is a giant leap forward for Oregon’s democracy. We worked hard to create a system that would give everyday Oregonians a chance to have their voices heard against millionaires and billionaires. In the last election cycle Phil Knight donated over five million directly to candidates, he will now be able to donate $3,300 just like everyone else,” Kafoury said.
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