A Republican-led effort to double the amount of money an individual donor can give to a political candidate each year is advancing in the Democrat-dominated General Assembly.
Legislation introduced by North Smithfield Republican Brian Newberry would raise the $1,000 annual individual contribution limit to $2,000 while making a number of other changes to campaign-finance law.
Among those changes is doubling the size of a contribution, to $200, that a candidate can receive without reporting the name of the donor. (Under current law, candidates can report all donations of less than $100 in the aggregate.)
The bill would also allow primary candidates for statewide office to qualify for public matching funds – something now only available to general election candidates.
And it would limit candidates’ ability to list services they’ve received as “accounts payable” without reporting them as expenditures or contributions.
Finally, it would set a definition of “fair market value” for campaign items.