Bill Description: Senate Bill 1218 would require that contributions from donors who give less than $50 in aggregate to a single candidate be reported to the secretary of state and publicly disclosed.
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Does it in any way restrict public access to information related to government activity or otherwise compromise government transparency, accountability, or election integrity? Conversely, does it increase public access to information related to government activity or increase government transparency, accountability, or election integrity?
Senate Bill 1218 would amend sections 67-6607, 67-6610, and 67-6628 Idaho Code, to remove the current exceptions that allow contributions from donors who give less than $50 in aggregate to a single candidate or political committee to be anonymously reported as unitemized contributions.
From the perspective of those who view both political candidates and their donors as public actors, this change can be seen as increasing government transparency. That’s because the identity of these donors will be made publicly available (and searchable) through the secretary of state's website.
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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?
There is another relevant perspective here, however. It is that political donors, if not political candidates, still have a right to privacy even when they engage in the political process. There is an argument to be made that reporting requirements stifle political involvement by exposing donors to retaliation, which has only accelerated with the escalation of cancel culture driven by woke social media mobs who target those they 'out' as conservative donors.
At present, there are many donors who intentionally make donations of $49 or less specifically because they do not want their names and addresses exposed to those who might use the information against them. The changes proposed by Senate Bill 1218 may well have a chilling effect on small political donors by stripping away the remaining vestiges of privacy available to them.
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