Local politicians across Georgia would get a chance to avoid millions of dollars in outstanding ethics fines under a bill passed Wednesday by the Georgia Senate.
House Bill 370 would wipe the slate clean for thousands of county commissioners, mayors, school board members and other local officials who did not file campaign finance reports from 2010 to 2014, as long as they make amends by filing those missing reports by Dec. 31.
The legislation represents a compromise hammered out in committee between the state ethics commission and the lobbyists for the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia. The commission’s database of late filers currently has about 27,000 entries, most of which represent missing local reports.
The problem began in 2010, when the state started requiring local officials to electronically file their campaign reports directly with the commission rather than with local clerks — prompting a tidal wave of complaints and noncompliance over the state’s often balky and confusing online filing system.
In 2014, lawmakers changed the law back, once again returning the filing of local campaign reports to local filing officers. But by then the ethics commission’s late and nonfiler list had grown exponentially, filled with local politicians who were unable or unwilling to file with the state.
HB 370, which the Senate approved on a 47-6 vote, now goes back to the state House for sign-off before final passage.
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