ARIZONA STATE SENATE

DANIEL LAWLER

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH INTERN

ANNA NGUYEN

LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST

FEDERALISM COMMITTEE

Telephone: (602) 926-3171

RESEARCH STAFF

TO:                  MEMBERS OF THE SENATE

FEDERALISM COMMITTEE

DATE:            February 6, 2025

SUBJECT:      Strike everything amendment to S.C.R. 1012, relating to campaign finance reform

Purpose

Urges the U.S. Congress to send to the states for ratification, a constitutional amendment to clarify that the states within their respective jurisdictions may regulate and limit the spending of money to influence campaigns, elections or ballot measures.

Background

A campaign committee must submit a campaign finance report to the respective filing officer. The campaign finance report must include the amount of cash on hand at the beginning of the reporting period and contributions from in-state and out of state sources, candidate committees, political action committees and political parties (A.R.S. § 16-926).

Established in 2022 by voter initiative, Proposition 211 outlines mandatory disclosures of campaign media expenditures for statewide and other political campaigns. Statewide campaign donations and expenditures more than $50,000 for campaign media spending must disclose an initial disclosure report to the Secretary of State. For other campaigns not at the statewide level, the disclosure threshold is $25,000. The contents of the disclosure report must include the identity of each donor of original monies who contributed, directly or indirectly, more than $5,000 of traceable monies or in-kind contributions for campaign media spending during the election cycle. The Secretary of State must make the disclosure report information available to the general public and electronically provide the information to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (Proposition 211; A.R.S. Title 16, Chapter 6.1).

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1. Urges the U.S. Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification, a constitutional amendment to clarify that the states within their respective jurisdictions may reasonably regulate and limit the spending of money to influence campaigns, elections or ballot measures, and that in doing so the states may distinguish between natural persons and artificial entities, such as corporations, unions and artificial intelligences.

2. Requires the Secretary of State to send copies of the resolution to the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and each member of Congress from Arizona.