A push for campaign finance and election reforms in the Mississippi Senate and House have passed through the first of many hurdles.
But there are more hurdles to come.
If the opposition seen in the Senate committee that many of the bills passed out of on Tuesday was any sign, it will surely be slog before the state will see election and campaign finance reforms.
By Tuesday evening, the Senate committee, albeit against some opposition, advanced legislation to establish a 15-day early voting period, several bills to amend and add enforcement to campaign finance laws and even a bill to require online filing of campaign finances.
The House Apportions and Elections Committee also advanced its own campaign finance law legislation earlier in the session.
In Mississippi, campaign finance laws are antiquated and, in some cases, even contradictory of each other. Efforts to reform some of the “mess” of legal codes regarding elections was attempted in the 2024 session, but the legislation died by a legislative deadline.
Here is a look at some of the bills:
E-filing system bill for campaign finance reports
On Tuesday, the Senate committee advanced a bill that would, if passed, establish an online filing system through the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.
The bill, Senate Bill 2650, would designate the creation of the platform and also require candidates both at the state and local levels to submit online campaign finance reports.
In Mississippi, candidates currently submit campaign finances to the Mississippi Secretary of State via an online platform, but they are submitted as pdfs or even mailed in. Often, reports are handwritten and sometimes are illegible.
The new system would allow viewers to search for individual donors and find other information quickly, much like the Federal Election Commission’s campaign finance website.
Before the bill passed out of committee, it faced some opposition from members and Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, who questioned whether it would be a good idea to ask non-state level candidates to file those types of reports.
Elections Chairman Sen. Jeremy England, R-Ocean Springs, offered an amendment of a reverse repealer, which means if the bill passes it would be repealed upon becoming active, as a way to continue discussions before a vote on the Senate floor is had.
Other campaign finance bills
The committee also advanced SB 2608, which would give the Secretary of State more power to investigate and claw back corporate campaign donations from candidates who receive more than $1,000 in donations from corporations.
Those funds would then go into the state’s Election Support Fund.
Currently, it would be up to the Attorney General to claw back those dollars and prosecute those who receive and send illegal campaign donations. Attorney General Lynn Fitch has not prosecuted a campaign finance violation case.
The bill would also give the AG more time to determine if her office can bring forth a case against violators.
Another piece of legislation, SB 2649, would restrict foreign nationals from donating to campaigns related to ballot initiatives and ballot referendums.
Early voting
Last week, the Senate committee also advanced a bill to establish a 15-day early voting period.
The bill would eliminate the 45-day in person absentee voting period and replace with the 15-day early in-person voting at the local circuit clerk’s office.
The bill also faced some opposition from committee members, but passed out of the committee with only one opposition vote.
The bills would now head to the Senate floor, and England will have until Feb. 13 to get them passed onto the House for even further consideration.
Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
