HB2724 is another Republican attack on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. Due to misleading ballot language, voters were tricked into voting Yes on Prop 306 in November 2018. (I have old videos with 306 details.)
Prop 306 prohibits Clean Elections candidates from buying any services from a political party (like access to the VAN voter database or basic support services like organizing volunteers). Voters were led to believe that Clean Elections candidates were donating to the Democratic Party, but that is already illegal. (Candidates who run traditional do donate some of their campaign funds to their parties.)
Prop 306 also weakened the campaign finance watchdog function of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) by placing it under the Governor’s Regulatory Review Commission (GRRC). GRRC’s members are appointed by the governor, and most of them are lobbyists!
Let’s put the formerly independent campaign finance watchdog commission under a group of Republican political appointees. What could go wrong?
HB2724 is what could go wrong. It furthers Prop 306 but diminishes the original Citizens Clean Elections Act. With HB2724, anyone in the state could complain about any action of the CCEC, even past actions. This could open the state to many unnecessary lawsuits and wasted time and money on wild goose chases.
Republicans have been trying to kill Clean Elections since the voters passed it in 1998. This is just another attack on the voice of the people. The people of Arizona like the Clean Elections system. They know the damage that unlimited cash in our political system has created.
If you are on Request to Speak, please use My Bill Positions to say NO to HB2724 or contact your Legislator.
UPDATE! HB2724 passed the House and Senate and came back to the House for final concurrene. On this final vote it failed to get 31 votes. Rep. John Fillmore voted NO. It has been the Democrats contention all along that this needed a 3/4 vote anyway.
Here are two old videos about Prop 306.