AR
Arkansas House Bill HB1707

Arkansas 2025 Regular Session

Arkansas House Bill HB1707 Compare Versions

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11 Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
2-Act 524 of the Regular Session
32 *SSS144* 03/06/2025 2:35:56 PM SSS144
43 State of Arkansas 1
54 95th General Assembly A Bill 2
65 Regular Session, 2025 HOUSE BILL 1707 3
76 4
87 By: Representatives Hawk, Underwood 5
98 By: Senator K. Hammer 6
109 7
1110 For An Act To Be Entitled 8
1211 AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING CAMPAIGN 9
1312 CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES; TO REQUIRE A 10
1413 CANDIDATE FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT, TOWNSHIP, OR MUNICIPAL 11
1514 OFFICE TO FILE REPORTS WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE; 12
1615 TO REQUIRE A CANDIDATE FOR COUNTY OFFICE TO FILE 13
1716 REPORTS WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO AMEND 14
1817 PORTIONS OF INITIATED ACT 1 OF 1996; TO DECLARE AN 15
1918 EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 16
2019 17
2120 18
2221 Subtitle 19
2322 TO REQUIRE CERTAIN CANDIDATES TO FILE 20
2423 REPORTS WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO 21
2524 AMEND PORTIONS OF INITIATED ACT 1 OF 22
2625 1996; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. 23
2726 24
2827 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 25
2928 26
3029 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 7 -6-208(c), concerning filing of reports of 27
3130 contributions for candidates for school district, township, or municipal 28
3231 office and resulting from Initiated Act 1 of 1996, is amended to read as 29
3332 follows: 30
3433 (c) Filing of Reports. 31
3534 (1)(A) The reports required by this section shall be filed with 32
3635 the county clerk in the county in which the election is held Secretary of 33
3736 State under subdivision (c)(2) of this section . 34
3837 (B) Reports shall be filed on the appropriate forms 35
3938 furnished by the Secretary of State. 36 HB1707
4039
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4241 (2)(A)(i) The Secretary of State shall establish a filing system 1
4342 for reports filed under this section. 2
4443 (ii) The reports shall be kept for eight (8) years 3
4544 from the date of filing, catalogued by candidate in chronological order, and 4
4645 made available for public inspection. 5
4746 (iii) For eight (8) years after the reports are 6
4847 filed under this section, the Secretary of State is the official custodian of 7
4948 those records. 8
5049 (B)(i) After the eight -year period, the Secretary of State 9
5150 shall turn the reports over to the Arkansas State Archives for maintenance 10
5251 and continued public inspection. 11
5352 (ii) After the eight -year period, the Arkansas State 12
5453 Archives is the official custodian of the records of the reports filed under 13
5554 this section. 14
5655 (C)(i) The campaign contribution and expenditure reports 15
5756 filed with the Secretary of State under this section shall be filed in 16
5857 electronic form through the official website of the Secretary of State. 17
5958 (ii) The Arkansas Ethics Commission shall approve 18
6059 the format used by the Secretary of State for the filing of campaign 19
6160 contribution and expenditure reports in electronic form under subdivision 20
6261 (c)(2)(C)(i) of this section to ensure that all required information is 21
6362 requested. 22
6463 (iii) The official website of the Secretary of State 23
6564 shall allow for searches of campaign contribution and expenditure report 24
6665 information filed in electronic form under subdivision (c)(2)(C)(i) of this 25
6766 section. 26
6867 (iv) The electronic format used for the filing of 27
6968 campaign contribution and expenditure reports on the official website of the 28
7069 Secretary of State shall aggregate total campaign contributions by a 29
7170 contributor to determine if they collectively reach the limitation for lawful 30
7271 campaign contributions under this subchapter. 31
7372 (v) The Secretary of State shall not accept paper 32
7473 filings under this subdivision (c)(2). 33
7574 (3) The Secretary of State shall furnish to the commission, no 34
7675 later than thirty (30) days after each filing deadline under this section, a 35
7776 report listing the: 36 HB1707
7877
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8079 (A) Names of all candidates who have filed for office; 1
8180 (B) Type of report filed by each candidate; and 2
8281 (C) Date the report was received by the Secretary of 3
8382 State. 4
8483 5
8584 SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 7 -6-209(c), concerning filing of reports of 6
8685 contributions for candidates for county office and resulting from Initiated 7
8786 Act 1 of 1996, is amended to read as follows: 8
8887 (c) Filing of Reports. 9
8988 (1)(A) The reports required by this section shall be filed with 10
9089 the county clerk in the county in which the election is held Secretary of 11
9190 State under subdivision (c)(2) of this section . 12
9291 (B) Reports shall be filed on the appropriate forms 13
9392 furnished by the Secretary of State. 14
9493 (2)(A)(i) The Secretary of State shall establish a filing system 15
9594 for reports filed under this section. 16
9695 (ii) The reports shall be kept for eight (8) years 17
9796 from the date of filing, catalogued by candidate in chronological order, and 18
9897 made available for public inspection. 19
9998 (iii) For eight (8) years after the reports are 20
10099 filed under this section, the Secretary of State is the official custodian of 21
101100 those records. 22
102101 (B)(i) After the eight -year period, the Secretary of State 23
103102 shall turn the reports over to the Arkansas State Archives for maintenance 24
104103 and continued public inspection. 25
105104 (ii) After the eight -year period, the Arkansas State 26
106105 Archives is the official custodian of the records of the reports filed under 27
107106 this section. 28
108107 (C)(i) The campaign contribution and expenditure reports 29
109108 filed with the Secretary of State under this section shall be filed in 30
110109 electronic form through the official website of the Secretary of State. 31
111110 (ii) The Arkansas Ethics Commission shall approve 32
112111 the format used by the Secretary of State for the filing of campaign 33
113112 contribution and expenditure reports in electronic form under subdivision 34
114113 (c)(2)(C)(i) of this section to ensure that all required information is 35
115114 requested. 36 HB1707
116115
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118117 (iii) The official website of the Secretary of State 1
119118 shall allow for searches of campaign contribution and expenditure report 2
120119 information filed in electronic form under subdivision (c)(2)(C)(i) of this 3
121120 section. 4
122121 (iv) The electronic format used for the filing of 5
123122 campaign contribution and expenditure reports on the official website of the 6
124123 Secretary of State shall aggregate total campaign contributions by a 7
125124 contributor to determine if they collectively reach the limitation for lawful 8
126125 campaign contributions under this subchapter. 9
127126 (v) The Secretary of State shall not accept paper 10
128127 filings under this subdivision (c)(2). 11
129128 (3) The Secretary of State shall furnish to the commission, no 12
130129 later than thirty (30) days after each filing deadline under this section, a 13
131130 report listing the: 14
132131 (A) Names of all candidates who have filed for office; 15
133132 (B) Type of report filed by each candidate; and 16
134133 (C) Date the report was received by the Secretary of 17
135134 State. 18
136135 19
137136 SECTION 3. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the 20
138137 General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that transparency in election 21
139138 contributions impacts the public peace, health, and safety as it ensures that 22
140139 elections are conducted fairly and properly; that this act increases access 23
141140 to reports of contributions for candidates for school district, township, 24
142141 municipal, and county offices; and that this act should become effective at 25
143142 the earliest opportunity to preserve the public peace, health, and safety by 26
144143 providing increased transparency in election contributions to ensure that 27
145144 elections occur in a fair and appropriate manner. Therefore, an emergency is 28
146145 declared to exist, and this act being immediately necessary for the 29
147146 preservation of the public peace, health, and safety shall become effective 30
148147 on: 31
149148 (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; 32
150149 (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, 33
151150 the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the 34
152151 bill; or 35
153152 (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is 36 HB1707
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156155 overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto. 1
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159-APPROVED: 4/10/25 4
158+ 4
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