Senate Rules Committee adopts ban on soliciting or accepting campaign donations during session

The Senate Rules Committee voted to adopt a permanent rule prohibiting senators from knowingly soliciting or accepting legislative campaign contributions on any day the Senate is in regular or special session.

Senator Nethercott introduced the redraft, saying the committee aimed to clarify language from a version sent to the Senate last week. "No senator shall knowingly solicit and accept by affirmative act a legislative campaign contribution on any day during which the senate is in regular or special session," he read to the committee and framed as a tightening to require an "affirmative act." He and the committee also added a subsection to protect passive, unknowing receipts: "This section shall not apply where a campaign contribution is received by a senator under circumstances where the senator took no affirmative act to solicit the contribution nor to receive the contribution other than to discover that the contribution was made."

The committee called on Mister Shaw, the legislature's LSO attorney, to explain the choice between two drafting options. Shaw said option 2 — which prohibits either solicitation or acceptance — is more restrictive and thus easier to violate than language that required both acts. He noted the draft does not define "solicit" in detail and that other states have not uniformly parsed the term, so application will rely on reasonable, case-by-case judgment by the rules body.

Members asked how far the prohibition extends. One senator asked whether a "donate" button on a campaign website or paid social-media promotion should count as solicitation. Shaw responded that leaving a preexisting donate button in place differs from actively promoting it; the rules committee or full Senate will need to determine reasonableness in enforcement.

Supporters of option 2 cited a recent incident in the Capitol they called unacceptable. Senator Grier said, "Something happened in this building last week that was abhorrent to all of us," and argued the stricter language would prevent a situation where an unsolicited contribution could be used to allege a rules violation.

After debate and an exchange about whether subsection C adequately covers passive mail or online receipts, a motion to adopt option 2 was made and seconded. The committee proceeded to a roll call and recorded five ayes; the motion was approved and the rule will be included in the Senate's permanent rules at the start of the next session unless amended.

The committee closed public comment (none offered) and adjourned.