Nonprofit organizations making campaign contributions in Alabama would have to report their donors under recently filed legislation in the Alabama Senate.
Senate Bill 220 by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would close what he calls a loophole in the Alabama Fair Campaign Finance Act in which 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations aren’t reporting their donors when making campaign contributions.
The bill would require nonprofits that make contributions to register as “political donor organizations” and report their activities on a schedule determined by the secretary of state.
Orr told Alabama Daily News he’s been trying to “prevent very opaque” campaign donations for years.
In 2010, the Legislature banned PAC-to-PAC transfers. In 2013, it required campaign finance reporting be available online and easier for the public to access. Campaigns are also now required to do more reporting up to and through election day.
In 2016, Orr sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the state “to regulate the disclosure of the raising and spending of money that may influence elections and governmental actions.” It did not become law.
“I could go on and on about the loopholes we ought to close if we can, and this is one,” Orr said about his latest bill.
There’s nothing prohibiting candidates in Alabama from accepting donations from nonprofits, but those contributions aren’t required to be as transparent as donations from individuals or PACs that have to report their donors. The bill wouldn’t affect a nonprofit group’s advocacy efforts or make them disclose donors to non-political efforts.
“(Contributions) would be allowed, we just need to know who is giving the money, and that’s what this bill does,” Orr said. “It doesn’t prevent it, it just says, who are the donors? The public has the right to know.”
Orr’s bill has been assigned to the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee. The meeting agenda for Wednesday hadn’t been finalized as of this morning.
The legislation would also make it unlawful for a PAC or candidate committee to accept donations it knows are from a nonprofit that is not registered with the secretary of state.
If passed, the new law will take effect Oct. 1.
Nonprofits’ contributions to Alabama candidates are common. Gov. Kay Ivey received four contributions totaling $2 million from Virginia-based Get Families Back to Work, a 501(c)4, in her 2022 reelection campaign.
More recently, GOP candidate for attorney general Katherine Robertson has accepted contributions from multiple politically affiliated 501(c)4s, including $1.1 million from First Principles Action, Inc., a nonprofit in Nashville run by the former executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
Last week, she received $300,000 from a nonprofit affiliated with a new super PAC near D.C.
Robertson’s GOP primary opponent, Jay Mitchell, has criticized the contributions as coming from shell groups.
“Dark money endangers Alabama election integrity and Sen. Orr is right to confront it,” Mitchell told Alabama Daily News.
Robertson’s campaign has said her contributions show widespread support among conservative groups and recognition of her leadership.
Other campaign finance-related bills include Rep. Jamie Lomax’s House Bill 221 to prohibit campaign contributions and expenditures from foreign nationals. It has passed the House and is in a Senate committee today.
Also, Orr’s Senate Bill 22 would prohibit campaign donations made via credit card if the card is registered to an address outside the United States. It is pending a Senate vote.