Thirteen state legislatures acted this year to move their state’s political disclosure records into the digital sunlight. In addition, 17 other states have mandatory or voluntary electronic filing and online disclosure systems in operation or in the works. Below is a round-up of state-by-state activities, based on reports published by the Center for Responsive Politics and Common Cause, and telephone interviews.

1. CALIFORNIA
The California Legislature this year passed SB 49, by a vote of 31-2 in the Senate, and 73-3 in the Assembly. The measure requires: digital disclosure by statewide candidates and ballot measure committees that raise or spend $100,000 during the 1998 General election; phased-in mandatory electronic filing by all statewide and legislative candidates raising or spending $50,000 during the 1999-2000 cycle; electronic filing by all other entities filing with the Secretary of State, including political parties, political committees, lobbyists, slate mailer committees and major donors; the Secretary of State to disclose online all late contributions and independent expenditures beginning with the 1998 General Election.

2. NORTH CAROLINA
The North Carolina Legislature approved SB 1 by a vote of 39-0 in the Senate, and 86-5 in the House. The bill requires: candidates for statewide office, political parties and PACs that raise over $5,000 to file campaign finance reports electronically; the Board of Elections to post campaign finance reports on the Internet; disclosure of the occupation of campaign donors who give more than $100; and PACs, parties and referendum committees to report large, last-minute contributions within 48 hours.

3. NEW YORK
Provisions for electronic filing and online disclosure were included in New York’s state budget this year, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor George Pataki. The new law requires candidates for statewide, legislative and judicial office who plan to spend more than $1,000 to file reports electronically after July 1999.

4. MARYLAND
The Maryland Legislature approved a bill this April, which was signed into law by Democratic Governor Parris Glendening on May 22, 1997. The new law requires statewide candidates to file computerized campaign finance reports starting in November 1997 and requires legislative candidates to begin electronic filing by November 1999.

5. ILLINOIS
The Illinois Legislature passed HB 729 this year, and the bill was signed into law by Republican Governor Jim Edgar. HB 729 requires: the State Board of Elections to computerize state and local campaign finance disclosure statements and make them available to the public through the Internet; and eliminates an intimidating requirement that citizens submit a form stating their reasons for viewing campaign finance reports.

6. CONNECTICUT
The Connecticut Legislature passed HB 8004 this year by a vote of 121-12 in the House and 30-4 in the Senate. The bill requires: candidates for statewide office who raise $250,000 or more to file their campaign finance reports electronically after January 1, 1999; the Secretary of State, to the extent feasible, to convert paper copy campaign finance reports to electronic format and to place the reports on the Internet;
and lobbyists to file disclosure reports electronically after January 1, 1999 and the State Ethics Commission to post the reports on the Internet.

7. PENNSYLVANIA
In May, 1997, the Pennsylvania Legislature approved $370,000 to finance Republican Governor Tom Ridge’s plan to computerize state campaign finance records. The plan includes a combination of voluntary electronic filing by candidates and data entry by the state elections agency in order to publish records on the Internet.

8. VERMONT
The Vermont Legislature passed H. 28 by a vote of 20-9 in the Senate and 121-17 in the House. The measure was signed into law in June, 1997 by Democratic Governor Howard B. Dean and requires the Secretary of State to computerize campaign finance reports and post them on the Internet.

9. VIRGINIA
The Virginia Legislature passed a bill this year which would direct the State Board of Elections to implement an electronic filing system by 1999. It is unknown whether Republican Governor George Allen has yet signed the measure.

10. OKLAHOMA
This year Oklahoma enacted legislation mandating electronic filing of campaign finance reports. Candidates for statewide office who raise more than $5,000, and political committees which raise over $10,000 will be required to file their campaign finance reports in an electronic format; electronic filing is voluntary for legislative candidates.

11. INDIANA
The Indiana Legislature passed a bill this year, signed by Governor Frank O’Bannon, that directs the Indiana Election Commission to: develop an electronic filing system; train candidates how to use it; and computerize all campaign reports by April 1998.

12. NEW JERSEY
The New Jersey Legislature appropriated $500,000 this year to its disclosure agency to develop an electronic filing system.

13. MINNESOTA
Minnesota’s Legislature passed a bill this year that provides funds to establish an electronic filing system.

In addition, 17 other states have mandatory or voluntary electronic filing and online disclosure systems in operation or in the works:

ALASKA’s public disclosure commission has received funding to develop a voluntary electronic filing program in cooperation with the state’s computer support center, which they hope to make available during the 1998 election.

ARIZONA has a voluntary electronic filing system in place, makes software available to filers, and published its 1996 disclosure data on the Web.

COLORADO enacted an electronic filing law in 1996; a voluntary system is expected to be up and running by December, 1997.

FLORIDA has a quasi-mandatory electronic filing requirement in place for statewide candidates, who can opt out of the mandate if they send a signed statement to the filing agency that they cannot file electronically.

HAWAII has mandatory electronic filing requirements for statewide and local candidates; the data is published on the Internet.

IOWA has been developing a free software program it is making available to candidates who want to file disclosure reports electronically.

KENTUCKY’s Department of Information Services is working on developing a new electronic filing system.

LOUISIANA’s Legislature passed a law in 1996 to develop a voluntary electronic filing system; the state Board of Ethics expects to begin testing the system by May 1998.

MAINE will be developing a voluntary electronic filing system, which was included in a campaign reform initiative passed by voters in 1996. The system is expected to be in place by 1998.

MICHIGAN is developing a voluntary electronic filing system; gubernatorial candidates who want public funding are required to submit their reports on disk.

MISSISSIPPI is developing a voluntary electronic filing program, which is expected to be tested in 1998.

MISSOURI’s Legislature passed a bill in 1996 requiring that a voluntary electronic filing system be up and running by January 1998. The Missouri Ethics Commission is also developing a Web site featuring disclosure data that is expected to be operating in January 1998.

OREGON’s elections office is developing a voluntary electronic filing program, which they hope to have operating for the 1998 elections.

TENNESSEE’s disclosure agency is in the first year of a three-year plan to implement an electronic filing system.

TEXAS has a voluntary electronic filing system in place. The Texas Ethics Commission provides free software to candidates who want to file by disk.

WASHINGTON has mandated electronic filing for gubernatorial candidates in 2000 and is working on the new system.

WEST VIRGINIA is working on setting up an electronic filing system, and hopes to have one up and running by 1998.

In addition, electronic filing programs are operating in several local jurisdictions, including Seattle, San Francisco and New York City. The Federal Elections Commission has also begun accepting disclosure reports in a digital format.

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