(The Center Square) – House lawmakers passed a proposal Thursday to amend statutes that require candidates in Washington state to prove they didn’t accept campaign donations from foreign nationals.
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon and Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, proposed House Bill 2123 ahead of the 2026 session. It follows recent national debates around pro-Israel groups donating to both major political parties. Supporters argue that HB 2123 clears burdens already codified in federal election law.
In 2020, the state expanded campaign finance laws to require certifications that foreign nationals were not involved in the financing or decision-making of any contribution. Federal law already prohibits such involvement. Despite clearing the red tape, HB 2123 faced criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
The House approved HB 2123 on Thursday by a 68-29 vote, handing the proposal over to the Senate.
“The law that we passed imposed, in hindsight, a pretty burdensome recordkeeping requirement on people running for office,” Fitzgibbon said Thursday. “We have the benefit of hindsight to see that that well-intentioned effort has not delivered much protection from foreign influence in our elections, but it has been a significant burden for people choosing to offer themselves up to serve their communities.”
The 2020 law requires candidates to submit statements attesting that they received the certifications from each donor, as previously explained. The initial version of HB 2123 proposed repealing that law, but the version approved Thursday sets a $6,000 donation threshold before requiring any certification.
Public testimony earlier this month highlighted issues campaign treasurers face obtaining certifications from donors “who are obviously not foreign-controlled.” Critics agreed that removing the certifications is a good idea, but warned against repealing state prohibitions on foreign national influence altogether.
Lawmakers responded by adding the $6,000 threshold; however, that also applies to ballot initiatives under HB 2123, thereby expanding the existing statute. This follows other proposals by Democrats to add red tape to the citizen initiative process, a move the Secretary of State has even testified against.
“The underlying policy, which we passed several years ago, was based on hoaxes and false reports of rampant foreign national influence,” Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said Thursday. “This bill and the bill that came before it don’t really do anything effectively to prevent foreign influence in our elections.”
Walsh argued that the $6,000 threshold would have no bearing on candidates in Washington state, but it does put additional burdens on the initiative process amid several high-profile measures. Democrats already refused to hold hearings on initiatives related to girls’ sports and parental rights this session.
Both initiatives from the political group Let’s Go Washington will appear on the general election ballot.
“If you’re going to unwind the pretzel,” Walsh said, “unwind it all the way — this is a half measure.”
The only other person who spoke on HB 2123 on the House floor was Corry, who voted in favor of the proposal despite criticism from Walsh, chair of the Washington State Republican Party. Two Democrats voted against HB 2123, with a dozen Republicans joining the rest of the majority party to pass the bill.
Corry agreed with Walsh that hoaxes around foreign influence led to the 2020 law as the state sought to protect itself from election interference. He said HB 2123 strikes the “right balance” to ensure that state law continues to take a stance against foreign influence as seriously as the federal government.
“There’s already a federal law that prohibits foreign dollars from coming in to support candidate campaigns in all 50 states,” Fitzgibbon said. “There’s not currently a federal law that prevents foreign dollars from influencing initiative campaigns, ballot measure campaigns of all kinds.”
