OLYMPIA — A campaign finance reform bill to require more disclosure of political spending appears dead in the Senate weeks after that chamber voted unanimously for a previous version of the measure.
Senate Bill 5153, which would require nonprofits that spend more than $25,000 on campaigns to identify their 10 biggest donors of $10,000 or more, failed a Senate floor vote Wednesday when Democrats moved to bring it up for consideration. The bill was written to identify the sources of so-called “dark money,” which has funded liberal and conservative nonprofits’ campaign spending on negative advertisements and other measures.
The Senate passed the original version of the bill March 11 in a 49-0 vote, but the House added some technical amendments that required the Senate’s approval.
Bill sponsor Andy Billig, D-Spokane, told The Seattle Times that Senate Republicans had decided not to allow the amended bill to come up for a floor vote. The Times reported that business groups lobbied against the bill after it first passed.