(The Center Square) — As political ads proliferate leading up to the General Assembly election in Virginia, so does talk about campaign finance reform.
Virginia has some of the most relaxed campaign finance laws in the country. The commonwealth has no cap on how much individuals or corporations can contribute to candidates and also allows those running for office to spend campaign dollars on personal expenses.
The topic has received coverage from several of Virginia’s major news sources since January – The Virginian-Pilot, the Virginia Mercury, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and others.
In his farewell speech from the floor during the General Assembly’s special session Wednesday, the retiring Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, mentioned his hopes for campaign finance reform after expressing concern over the undue influence big donors and donations might have on newer members.
“I hope that they… will come to their own decisions, rather than just relying on those who have funded their campaigns,” Barker said. “Particularly those who have as much or more than 80% of their funds for their elections being from one source.”
Two bills came before the state Senate in January – one to limit campaign contributions from individuals to $20,000, another to ban contributions from state-regulated utility companies, like Dominion Energy. Neither passed.
Derrick Max of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy can understand why a bill like the latter might be good. Dominion Energy is notoriously one of the biggest players in Virginia’s campaign finance during election seasons.
“It’s a regulated monopoly and it’s paid by ratepayers, so the money comes from taxpayers that don’t really have a choice but to give it to them,” Max said.
“I’ve heard Republicans say there should be some kind of law to restrict Dominion’s giving, but I don’t know if that’s ever gotten out of the gate.”
Virginia ranks 43rd on the Coalition for Integrity’s 2022 States with Anti-Corruption Measures for Public Officials Index. The index ranks states according to the stringency of their policies on ethics agencies and their ability to regulate campaign finance practices, gifts and donations to appointed officials and legislators; and contribution reporting and disclosure laws.
Virginia earned zeroes from the Coalition in several areas.
The commonwealth does have an ethics agency that oversees conflicts of interest for executive branch officials, local government employees, and General Assembly members, but the agencies have less powers than those of high-ranking states, according to the index.
In the category of “Campaign Contributions,” Virginia received straight zeroes because (as mentioned above) the state does not limit the contributions individuals, political action committees, corporations or labor organizations can make to candidates, nor does it limit the contributions those entities can make to state political parties.
The commonwealth also fared poorly when it came to thoroughly defining conduct that may count as coordination between campaigns and independent expenditure committees and safe harbor rules (it doesn’t have any).
Virginia’s strictest laws and, therefore, highest scores came in the categories of disclosure and filing requirements for contributions and expenditures.
Virginia-based elections lawyer Jason Torchinsky confirmed that there have been no substantial changes to Virginia campaign finance and ethics laws since 2022.
