NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee lawmakers are hoping to make a few changes to the state’s campaign finance laws, including allowing religious organizations to be exempt from the Campaign Disclosure Act of 1980 in certain circumstances, changing the designations of certain political committees, and eliminating party fees for candidates. Here are the bills filed that deal with financial issues for elections and candidates.
HB0134/SB0203: Exempts churches and other religious organizations from the Campaign Financial Disclosure Act of 1980 with respect to expending funds in favor of or in opposition to single or multiple issue measures related to questions of public or private morality, including, but not limited to, alcohol, drugs, abortion, marriage, or gambling.
HB0183/SB0160: Designates “political campaign committees” and “multicandidate political campaign committees” as “political action committees”; makes various changes to campaign finance laws and the duties of the registry of election finance.
HB0486/SB0865: Requires political campaign committees to report contributions and expenditures for a local election to the registry of election finance rather than to the local county election commission; requires complains on statements of local political campaign committees to be filed in the office of the registry of election finance rather than with the local district attorney.
HB0732/SB0725: Prohibits a political party from requiring a person to pay a fee in order to run as that political party’s candidate for public office.
HB0751/SB0796: Authorizes the use of campaign funds for the child care expenditures of a candidate that are incurred by the candidate as a direct result of the candidate’s participation in campaign-related events and activities.
