The League of Women Voters of Virginia supports SB 854. This bill is an important first step to enhance the transparency of campaign funding by requiring information about the sponsors of political ads and their top donors be revealed. We respectfully request a possible amendment to require online political ads be subject to public archiving, as supported by Campaign Legal Center. The CLC believes that, in the absence of archiving, attempts to monitor and analyze ad sponsorship can be easily thwarted, because the ads or their landing pages are often available only briefly. (Kim et al., 2018. The stealth media? Groups and targets behind divisive issue campaigns on Facebook. Political Communications 33: 515-541)

It’s time for legislators to listen to citizens of the Commonwealth who want a campaign finance system where wealthy corporations and their owners don't distort the public policy debate. We want to know who is spending what on our candidates, both directly and indirectly, including through dark money ads. And we want reasonable limits so our political leaders don't get cornered by big money interests pressuring them to take positions that aren't good for the whole of the citizenry or for our long-term future. I ask you to vote "yes" on Sen. Barbara Favola’s SB 854, to increase disclosure requirements for organizations participating in the political process and spending money on advertisements meant to advantage specific candidates who support their financial interests or political agenda, and Senator Boysko’s SB1471 to limit use of campaign funds on non-campaign expenditures. Virginians have been waiting for years for common sense campaign finance legislation to be enacted into law. We want everyone to play by the same set of rules and a system is which everyone is held accountable. These bills begin to take us in the right direction. The majority of Virginians would respect a "YES" vote for these important campaign reform measures. Thank you in advance for your commitment to transparent and ethical governance.

The "Dark Money" arms race has equalized, and in fact one party that was woefully behind in 2016 federal elections started to pull ahead in 2018, and Democrats outspent Republicans in "uncoordinated" independent expenditures then and even outperformed GOP dark money groups as of the 2020 federal elections. I don't have the numbers for Virginia but I have seen GOP reps complaining on social media about rich donors behind Dem PACs as much as I have seen Dems saying the same about their GOP counterparts' funding. We need to shine a light on where that money comes from and Sen. Favola's SB854 makes a good start. In my 50th year of voting, I welcome this bill allowing me to read the top three donors in the ad in real time. I don't have to wait for a reporter to dig into IRS filings, and VPAP does not seem to go deeper than the PAC or 501 (c) (4) group name. We need to get down to the direct doners. Voters want to know to whom their representatives appear beholden. All you can do to help voters know who they can trust is vital. Claims of a need to protect donors' identities are phony excuses against this bill. Bid donors should not be ashamed of who they financially endorse; and knowing their name does not docx them for attacks. We can see foreign donors too, as there are fines for lying. I urge you to pass this much needed transparency that the U.S. Supreme Court said should soothe all fears of their Citizen United decision. No matter what Party you belong to, dark money disguised in a home-spun, Mom, Justice and Apple Pie name will come for you. Let your voters know who really is behind that group.

Please support Senator Favola's bill described as Sunshine Bill. It is an important step toward cleaning up Virginia's processes. It would improve accountability re: campaign advertisements; independent expenditures; electioneering communications; and disclaimer requirements. It broadens the scope of disclaimer requirements for campaign advertisements to include electioneering communications. The bill also requires an advertisement that is an independent expenditure or that expressly advocates for the passage or defeat of a referendum to contain a disclaimer providing the names of the advertisement sponsor’s three largest contributors.

Nancy Morgan and I’m one of the coordinators of the BigMoneyOutVA, a non-partisan group advocating for campaign finance reform. We support this bill (SB854) which we call the “Virginia Sunshine bill”. We should be reminded that many of the provisions in this bill came out of the 2021 bipartisan, bicarmeral meetings of the Sub-Committee on Campaign Finance. This bill has been expanded to include national best practice provisions suggested by national experts on campaign finance. These provisions have been adopted and passed in states like Arizona, Alaska, and Rhode Island, including requiring the disclosure of the top 3 donors of issue ads placed by dark money groups. This isn’t a partisan issue, 90 percent of Virginians, irrespective of party, want full disclosure. Just to remind you, after Citizens United was passed in 2010, the justices on the Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of full disclosure. Justice Scalia was quoted that “requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters public fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed”. We recognize that dark money groups like the Americans for Prosperity will argue that they need privacy to support election issues of interest & these disclosure requirements stifles their speech. However, Supreme Court justices agreed in their 2010 ruling, in a 8-1 vote that total disclosure is important for the public interest. I presume that you, in your role as representing the citizens of your district, agree with this statement. This bill is designed to protect legislators which are often the recipiants of attack ads from obscure donors during competitive primaries. It also enhances disclosure for voters so we know who is trying to influence our elections. It protects legislators when they are running for office and among voters it builds trust in government. It’s a win-win for voters and legislators. We hope that you pass this bill.

Well it’s about time we’re doing something about campaign finance reform! Please pass these bills as soon as possible.

The League of Women Voters of Virginia supports SB 1053. This bill would facilitate the transmission of required statements of organization and campaign finance disclosure reports to the State Board of Elections. It would also expand public access to reports filed by candidates for local and constitutional offices. The State already requires electronic filing of many documents (including, for example, Employer Withholding Tax, Sales and Use Tax), but provides waivers of the requirement in cases where it would cause undue hardship. This bill similarly allows exemptions for filers who lack access to the technology required for electronic filing.

The faster the information gets publicly released that better the transparency. Both these bills help get this information to the public faster. Please join the Senate in strong support to these measures.

Well it’s about time we’re doing something about campaign finance reform! Please pass these bills as soon as possible.

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The League of Women Voters supports SB1427. Voters have a need to access electronically filed information showing that a PAC has made a large campaign expenditure, particularly in the days just before an Election. Large PAC expenditures, as covered in this bill, evidence particular support for a candidate, which voters have a right to know when they go to the polls on Election Day.

The faster the information gets publicly released that better the transparency. Both these bills help get this information to the public faster. Please join the Senate in strong support to these measures.

Nancy Morgan, Coordinator of the non-partisan group, BigMoneyOutVA. We advocate on behalf of campaign finance reform in Virginia. We support this common sense disclosure recommendation on special filings related to large PAC expenditures. We wish that the legislation also covered Federal and out-of-state PACs, but this legislation moves us in the right direction. Recent Wason Center polling shows that nearly 90 percent of Virginians want full disclosure. It is bills like this which improve transparency on who is trying to influence our elections that builds trust in government . We urge you to support this bill.

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The League of Women Voters of Virginia supports SB1471. This bill addresses the League’s long held belief that the personal use of campaign funds should be disallowed. Bills prohibiting conversion of campaign funds to personal use have been filed for many years, and every year they've been defeated - sometimes by Democrats, sometimes by Republicans. State legislators currently have a lot of freedom over how they spend their campaign funds and they’ve been reluctant to relinquish that. This has come to the attention of the media and the reports are unflattering. The bill relies on the ‘irrespective test’ to define personal use, and we are pleased that it acknowledges childcare expenses as exempt from the personal use ban. The Federal Election Commission has a nice shorthand for the irrespective test: "if the expense would exist even in the absence of the candidacy or even if the officeholder were not in office, then the personal use ban applies". Because campaign activities often occur on weekends and during the evenings (i.e., outside of the ‘normal’ 9-5, M-F work hours), candidates who have dependent care responsibilities are subject to expenses that exceed those they would pay if they were not running for office. This exception was recently adopted by both West Virginia and Vermont. The Virginia Code currently includes no list of the acceptable uses of campaign funds, and along with the personal use ban, this bill would add such a list. The bill is a good start toward strengthening Virginia’s campaign finance laws. We encourage continued efforts to improve the state’s campaign finance laws and establish effective oversight.

It’s time for legislators to listen to citizens of the Commonwealth who want a campaign finance system where wealthy corporations and their owners don't distort the public policy debate. We want to know who is spending what on our candidates, both directly and indirectly, including through dark money ads. And we want reasonable limits so our political leaders don't get cornered by big money interests pressuring them to take positions that aren't good for the whole of the citizenry or for our long-term future. I ask you to vote "yes" on Sen. Barbara Favola’s SB 854, to increase disclosure requirements for organizations participating in the political process and spending money on advertisements meant to advantage specific candidates who support their financial interests or political agenda, and Senator Boysko’s SB1471 to limit use of campaign funds on non-campaign expenditures. Virginians have been waiting for years for common sense campaign finance legislation to be enacted into law. We want everyone to play by the same set of rules and a system is which everyone is held accountable. These bills begin to take us in the right direction. The majority of Virginians would respect a "YES" vote for these important campaign reform measures. Thank you in advance for your commitment to transparent and ethical governance.

Senator Boysko's SB1471 passed unanimously in the Senate. The House in 2021 passed a similar bill by a unanimous vote. The measure makes Virginia in line with personal use restrictions at the federal level and in the vast majority of states. The measure permits dependent care expenses related to campaigning; a concern raised last year. You know this is right. Don't let us think this is some weird ping-pong between the House and Senate - ok you look good and pass it unanimously this year and we kill it, and then the next year we will be the good guys and you kill it. Just do it! This is not a good area where people's lack of trust of politicians for Virginia to be an outlier saying "Just trust us to do the right thing, when the laws say we can spend it on anything."

Nancy Morgan, Coordinator of BigMoneyOutVA. We support this bill (SB1471). As you know, Virginia is unique in this country in that its legislators can take unlimited donations and spend the money on themselves, such as taking a vacation, paying off a mortgage, or financing your child’s school. Obviously, Virginians are amazed that this bill can’t get out of chambers, even after being introduced every year from 2014. Two weeks ago it passed out of the Senate P&E committee 15-0 and out of the Senate on a bipartisan 38-0 vote. This bill was discussed for hours during 2021 taxpayer-funded bicameral-bipartisan Joint Subcommittee. Unfortunately, the sub-committee didn’t see fit to meet this year but that is no excuse for not passing a common-sense bill. The bill addresses frivolous complaints through the establishment of a robust and confidential review process, builds on national best practices, in particular the Federal Elections Commission and moves Virginia forward in terms of good governance legislation. The voters of Virginia, 73 percent of whom, in recent polling by the Wason Center, support restricting the personal use of campaign funds, hope that you pass this bill.

Well it’s about time we’re doing something about campaign finance reform! Please pass these bills as soon as possible.