OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
HB-7093
AN ACT CONCERNING REFERENDA, INDEPENDENT
EXPENDITURES AND OTHER CAMPAIGN FINANCE CHANGES.
Primary Analyst: TM 4/2/25
Contributing Analyst(s): BP
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 26 $ FY 27 $
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Resources of the Citizen's
Election Fund
CEF - Potential
Savings
Minimal Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund CEF= Citizens' Election Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill makes a variety of changes regarding campaign finance and
election laws including independent expenditures and political action
committees resulting in the fiscal impacts outlined below.
Section 4, raises existing campaign finance reporting thresholds and
makes a variety of changes around disclosures and campaign filings and
increases the civil penalties that the State Elections Enforcement
Commission (SEEC) may impose resulting in potential revenue to the
resources of the general fund. The bill increases the maximum penalty
for failing to report an independent expenditure from $10,000 to $20,000
or twice the amount of the unreported independent expenditure. The
bill also raises existing penalties for willful failure to file from a
maximum of $50,000 to a maximum of $50,000 or ten times the
unreported independent expenditure. The potential revenue will
depend on the total number of violations and the penalties imposed. 2025HB-07093-R000516-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
This section additionally expands what may be considered a false
statement, which results in potential revenue gain to the General Fund
from fines. Few, if any, additional violations are expected to occur.
Section 22, creates an additional requirement that candidates
participating in the Citizen's Election Program (CEP) receive a number
of qualifying contributions from in-state residents resulting in potential
minimal savings for the resources of the Citizens' Election Fund. The
exact impact will depend on the number of candidates who would no
longer qualify for grants because of this provision.
The remaining sections of the bill make a variety of changes that
result in no fiscal impact to the state or municipalities.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation and the number of penalties
imposed.