H-0729.1 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 1268
_______________________________________________
State of Washington 53rd Legislature 1993 Regular Session
By Representatives Dunshee, Wolfe, Linville, Riley, Quall, Grant, Pruitt, Romero, R. Meyers, Zellinsky, Eide, Veloria, Karahalios, Brough, Brown, Kessler, Edmondson and Finkbeiner
Read first time 01/20/93. Referred to Committee on State Government.
AN ACT Relating to spending in election campaigns; adding a new section to chapter 42.17 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 29.80 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The tremendous increases in the costs of election campaigns, when coupled with recently enacted limits on campaign contributions, creates a situation favoring the election of wealthy candidates able to spend substantial amounts of their own resources for the purpose of winning elections. In order to decrease the advantage of candidates' wealth in election contests, the legislature enacts this law directing the adoption of voluntary campaign spending limits for state election contests and disclosure of those candidates who agree to abide by the voluntary limits and those who do not.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 42.17 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The public disclosure commission shall adopt recommended spending limits for candidates for the following offices: Governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, attorney general, commissioner of public lands, insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, member of the state senate, member of the state house of representatives, justice of the supreme court, judge of the court of appeals, judge of the superior court, member of the United States senate, and member of the United States house of representatives. In adopting such recommended spending limits, the commission shall consider the average expenditure amounts for the candidates who received the highest and next highest number of votes in the 1992 general elections for each office for which the commission is required to recommend a spending limit. Unless the commission finds it would be inappropriate or unrealistic, the commission shall base its recommended spending limits on such average expenditure amounts.
(2) Each candidate for an office subject to a recommended spending limit may execute, and file with the commission, a promise that the candidate will stay within the limit. A candidate's promise that is executed and filed in conformance with this section and with the rules adopted by the commission to implement this section shall be binding on the candidate. Any candidate who violates his or her promise to stay within the voluntary spending limit is in violation of this chapter. The commission shall remove the name of such a candidate from the list prepared under subsection (4) of this section.
(3) The commission shall prescribe the form which shall be used for executing a promise under this section and the date by which the promise must be filed.
(4) The commission, during an election campaign, shall periodically publish a list identifying each candidate who has executed a binding promise under this section.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 29.80 RCW to read as follows:
The secretary of state shall add to each candidates' pamphlet a list of the campaign spending limits recommended by the public disclosure commission for each of the state offices for which the statements of candidates appear in the pamphlet and a brief explanation of the effect of a promise filed with the commission under section 2 of this act.
In preparing the candidates' pamphlet for publication, the secretary of state shall secure from the public disclosure commission its most current list of candidates who have promised to limit spending, as that list is specified in section 2 of this act. Using this list, the secretary shall add a prominent notice in the candidates' pamphlet following the statement of each person on the list. The notice shall state: "This candidate has promised to abide by the campaign spending limit for the office recommended by the state's public disclosure commission." Following the statement in the pamphlet of each other candidate for state office, the secretary shall add a prominent notice which states: "This candidate has not promised to abide by the campaign spending limit for the office recommended by the state's public disclosure commission."
For the purposes of this section, "state office" means the offices listed in section 2(1) of this act for which the public disclosure commission has adopted recommended spending limits.
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