Nevada’s campaign laws fail in report

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005 | 8:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Nevada has one of the weakest campaign expense and contribution laws in the nation, a new report says.

The study, "Campaign Disclosure Project," gives Nevada an F for the second consecutive year and ranks it 46th in the nation for campaign-reporting laws.

In Nevada, candidates are required to make periodic reports on campaign contributions in excess of $100, the donors and how the money is spent. The reports are available in the secretary of state's office and on the office's Web site.

The Legislature has always been reluctant to tighten the law. Last session there were about 10 bills introduced dealing with campaign reporting, but fewer than five were approved.

The most significant bill passed requires candidates to report loans guaranteed by a third party, loans that have been forgiven and the total amount of written commitments for contributions received.

The study, conducted in December 2004 and upgraded in June, before the Legislature had passed the loan bill, was by the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law.

Among the shortcomings in Nevada's law are that it fails to give details on donors who contribute $100 or more, such as their occupation, employer and the cumulative amount they have donated, the study said.

The study also faulted the state's laws for providing insufficient details about how campaign dollars are spent and that enforcement is weak compared to other states.

Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, chairwoman of the Assembly Elections, Procedures and Ethics Committee, agreed that enforcement is weak, in part because of the limited resources of the secretary of state's office, which enforces the law.

In other states people are jailed for things that go on in Nevada without penalty, she said. Nevada law, for example, says a person who does not file a report can be fined up to $5,000 -- if a suit is filed to impose the penalty.

But Koivisto took issue with some of the report's conclusions, saying candidates are required to list cumulative donations.

The reports, she said, are difficult to fill out. "People are able to make things appear the way they want rather than the way they are."

Overall, Nevada received a failing grade along with 15 other states. Washington was ranked best in the nation, followed by Florida and California.

Nevada received an F for the degree of public access to the information because it "suffers from a lack of searchable data online, or even records that can be sorted or downloads."

The campaign reports in the secretary of state's office are organized by year, rather than by committee, which means that viewing all of one particular candidate's filings requires visitors to search through eight separate directories covering the years 1998-2005.

Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at cy@lasvegassun.com.