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A move to head off "political ambushes" through more frequent political disclosures took a first step on Tuesday.
SB65 was passed unanimously by the Senate Government Operations and Political Subdivisions Committee, and now goes to the full Senate.
Its sponsor, Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, said it would require candidates, former candidates with active political accounts, political action committees, political interest committees and others to file annual mid-year and end-of-year disclosures, as well as seven days before elections or conventions.
He notes that under current law, some groups do not need to disclose their expenditures until after elections.
"So we saw ambushes [with attack ads] occurring from time to time and no one knew who it was because there was no requirement to file" until after elections for PACs, PICs and former candidates, Valentine told the committee. "SB65 is an effort to bring everybody onto the same schedule."
Mark Thomas, state elections director for Lt. Gov. Greg Bell, supported the bill — but suggested that it be amended at some point to require corporations also to file their disclosure reports on the same schedule.