Candidates in Missouri will no longer be able to collect automatic campaign donations without the explicit permission of the donor.
The Missouri House voted 101-47 on Tuesday to pass a wide-reaching elections bill that contains that ban. The Senate passed the same bill on Monday.
Because the House took up the Senate changes without requesting a compromise, the legislation now goes to Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Under the bill, a campaign committee seeking a recurring contribution must get consent from the person giving the donation. Affirmation does not include failing to uncheck a prechecked box authorizing the contribution.
The Senate added that portion to the bill on Monday. It was originally championed by Rep. Jim Murphy, R-St. Louis County.
"It clarified when you solicit a contribution that you actually tell them who's going to benefit from it and who's going to receive the money," Murphy said.
The legislation also shuts down recurring donations for or against a candidate or ballot measure once the election ends "except that recurring contributions made to any candidate who wins a primary election may continue until the general election."
When first presenting his bill in January, Murphy said he was compelled to file the legislation after reading about a Nebraska man who unknowingly contributed $1,050 to former state Sen. Bill Eigel's campaign for St. Charles County executive.
The House passed Murphy's standalone bill in February with a vote of 134-16. While it did not make it through the Senate on its own, Sen. Rusty Black added the language onto the election bill on Monday.
Black said the new provision helps with transparency.
"Once you say, 'Yes, I would accept those,' that somebody like myself or maybe my parent, my mother, would get a receipt on a regular basis so that they knew that they were contributing those funds," Black said.
Eigel has defended the strategy, telling St. Louis Public Radio that critics are trying to make it harder for candidates to establish a donor network.
In addition to his current St. Charles County executive race, Eigel's Missouri governor campaign used the same strategy. In that race, Eigel brought up President Donald Trump or national issues to get people to donate to his campaign.
Eigel said there is political motivation behind the legislation.
"It is absolutely about trying to weaken me versus an honest discussion about what fundraising is good, how we should manage fundraising, and what's appropriate in our current culture. It is absolutely an attack on me," Eigel said in February.
Other provisions of the bill
Election policy changes include moving some candidate filing dates so that they do not conflict with national holidays, as well as allowing authorities to send an election notification by email.
The bill alters the state's law on write-in candidates. While the new law will still allow for write-in candidates, those candidates will have to declare that they are a write-in candidate.
"What this is going to fix is people like if they vote for Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, things like that, the election authorities won't have to count those things because they're not real," Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, said.
The legislation also gives voting rights back to many people who are either on probation or parole.
Current law prohibits those who are either on probation or parole after conviction for a felony from voting until they are finally discharged from probation or parole.
The new bill changes that statute and instead only bars people from voting while on parole or probation after conviction for specific crimes, including murder, child endangerment and burglary in the first degree.
"Once they're released back out into society to go live and start paying taxes and be a law-abiding citizen, that is when it would be restored," Sen. Kurtis Gregory, R-Marshall, said.
Rep. Peggy McGaugh, R-Carrollton, is a former county clerk who has been trying to get some of these changes passed for years.
She expressed unhappiness over some of the Senate changes and the lack of sufficient time to reach a compromise before the session ends on Friday.
"I also know that we have to accept in the House what they do to our bills in the Senate. And that doesn't make it a bad bill, it just makes it a different type of bill that we will carry forward," McGaugh said.
The Senate change that received the most pushback is a provision giving election authorities greater power to limit electioneering at a polling place.
Under current law, electioneering activities on election day must be at least 25 feet away from the entrance of a polling place.
The new provision allows election authorities to move some of that electioneering to 50 feet away. The authorities would have to publicly place a notice at least six weeks before an election to make that change.
However, candidates will still be able to be within 25 feet of the entrance to engage with voters.
Several House members spoke against that provision, including Rep. Darin Chappell, R-Rogersville.
"The idea that candidates can be at 25 feet but staffers and other individuals who are supporting have to be at 50 feet, it's just another example of the elitist attitude that we see coming out of the General Assembly over again," Chappell said.
The Senate also added an amendment that allows candidates to use campaign funds for childcare costs.
Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, spoke in favor of the amendment, which was added by Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, on Monday.
"This job cost my family more money than we bring in. It doesn't cover the expenses. I'm very fortunate to have a husband who provides in a way that allows that to happen. But not everybody does," Coleman said.
No House Democrat voted against the legislation on Tuesday. Rep. Eric Woods, D-Kansas City, praised the bill during the House debate.
"These are common-sense election law changes that are going to not only help our county clerks but drive accountability and transparency, protect donors and voters," Woods said.
The legislation is HB 1871.
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