Campaign finance reform bill signed into law

Monday, June 2, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Miller signed SB215 in Las Vegas, accompanied by Secretary of State Dean Heller who had led the fight for the reforms - including expanded contribution disclosures sought in Nevada for more than 20 years.

SB215 lowers the threshold for identifying individual contributors from $500 to $100 and also places stricter reporting rules on political parties.

"This is all about accountability and the public's right to know," Heller said. "How do the people run their government if they don't have access to it?"

Heller credited Miller for joining him early on to back the reform plan, adding, "I think that's what got it through." Miller and Heller held a news conference in January to state that campaign finance reform would be one of their top priorities for the 1997 session.

Miller has said passage of the bill "takes campaign funding out of the shadows and into the sunlight. Nevada voters are entitled to this legislation."

The two officials were accompanied by representatives of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, League of Women Voters and Common Cause at the bill-signing ceremony.

Heller credited the groups and the media for their roles in advocating and explaining the changes that will result from SB215.

According to PLAN, which sponsored a recent blitz of radio ads supporting SB215, 60 percent of the money legislators now get for campaigns goes unreported. In the 1996 elections, that meant about $4 million.