Provides for revisions to the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act (EN +$97,000 GF EX See Note)
HB 693 is a comprehensive rewrite of Louisiana’s Campaign Finance Disclosure Act. It updates definitions, reporting thresholds, contribution limits, and filing rules for candidates, political committees, principal campaign committees, subsidiary committees, independent expenditure-only committees, leadership committees, and persons making election-related expenditures outside of candidate committees. The bill also creates a formal framework for leadership committees, expands and clarifies joint fundraising rules, and revises rules governing coordinated expenditures, excess campaign funds, loans, anonymous contributions, foreign-national contributions, and the use of campaign funds for personal purposes.
The bill also modernizes reporting and enforcement provisions. It changes several dollar thresholds upward, requires or permits electronic filing in more circumstances, adjusts deadlines and reporting periods for primary, general, and second-party-primary elections, and revises recordkeeping and disclosure requirements. It also updates the powers and procedures of the Supervisory Committee on Campaign Finance Disclosure, including investigations, subpoenas, advisory opinions, and civil enforcement, while repealing certain older provisions and directing the Louisiana State Law Institute to renumber and conform definitions. The act includes delayed effectiveness for some sections and requires updated forms and instructions by January 15, 2026.
HB 693 substantially amends Title 18 campaign finance law and a related abandonment provision in Title 9. It raises multiple reporting and contribution thresholds, adds new statutory definitions and committee categories, and expands the legal rules governing campaign fundraising, spending, and disclosure. It also changes how excess contributions are returned and treated under unclaimed property law, and repeals selected provisions tied to proposition-election regulation and other outdated campaign finance language. The bill affects candidates, political committees, leadership committees, independent expenditure-only committees, political parties, donors, and the Supervisory Committee on Campaign Finance Disclosure.
The bill appears to have been generally supported, as reflected by its strong final passage votes in both chambers and concurrence in Senate amendments. The House initially rejected a motion to modify time limits, but the bill then advanced with a large bipartisan margin on final passage. The Senate also passed it comfortably. Overall, the voting pattern suggests broad agreement on the need to update and reorganize campaign finance law, even if some procedural or substantive details drew resistance.
The main points of contention appear to have centered on the scope and timing of the revisions, especially the bill’s changes to contribution limits, reporting thresholds, and the creation of leadership committees and expanded fundraising structures. The failed House motion to modify time limits suggests at least some concern about legislative procedure or the pace of consideration. Substantively, the bill’s broader changes to campaign finance regulation, including higher thresholds and new committee categories, likely affected interests on both sides of the campaign finance debate: reform advocates seeking clearer disclosure and enforcement, and opponents wary of expanded fundraising flexibility or altered compliance burdens.