An Arkansas House committee Wednesday advanced a bill that would subject to campaign contribution limits any political advertising coordinated with but not financed by a candidate. The committee voted it down earlier in the day.
Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, told members of the State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning that House Bill 1425 would close a "huge loophole" in state campaign finance law by prohibiting "coordinated communications above and beyond contribution limits." He said most other states have a similar law in place.
The bill fell a short time later on a voice vote close enough that committee chairman Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, had to ask members to repeat their votes. Bell then ruled that the "no" votes outnumbered the "ayes" and no roll call vote was requested.
Information posted on the Arkansas State Legislature website indicated an amended version of the bill was considered later Wednesday and that the committee passed it, sending it on the the full House. The amended version includes language further defining the ads in question as ones where the "only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the presentation and content of the communication is that it is intended to influence the outcome of an election."
The Arkansas Ethics Commission in January considered a complaint about Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's appearance in an ad paid for by the national Republican Attorneys General Association and not reported as a campaign contribution. The commission ultimately dismissed the complaint.
It was the second vote for HB1425 after it fell in the same committee Monday. The version considered Wednesday was amended to remove a second provision that would have required the buyers of political radio and TV ads that name a candidate before an election to disclose their identities.