The Colorado House on Tuesday approved a bill to establish a statewide limit on donations made to candidates in local elections, sending the proposal to the Senate for further consideration. 

If made law, House Bill 1245 would cap donations from individuals and political parties at $400 and donations from small-donor committees at $4,000 in municipal elections, among other records and reporting requirements. 

House lawmakers voted 45-16 to pass the bill, with all Democrats in support and all Republicans except for Rep. Richard Holtorf of Akron in opposition. 

“I’m really excited about the opportunity to increase transparency in municipal elections, to increase accountability in municipal elections and, most importantly, to ensure that there’s a level playing field for both candidates as well as donors in the campaign process,” said Rep. Jenny Willford, D-Northglenn, who is sponsoring the bill with Rep. Jennifer Parenti, D-Erie. 

Proponents of the bill said it is intended to decrease the role of money and wealthy individual donors in local elections, while critics said it would put more administrative burden on local governments and violate local control. 

During the House debate on the bill, several Republicans described the bill as insulting to local governments. 

“That’s making the assumption that we are not transparent in what we do,” said Rep. Rick Taggart, R-Grand Junction. “We work very, very, very hard to be transparent. We are required the same restrictions under CORA. I don’t understand why we continually bring these bills forward as if those of us in local government have been nontransparent, have been corrupted.” 

The bill comes as local elections in many Colorado cities have gotten increasingly expensive in recent years.

Even with the city’s contribution limits, the candidates in Denver’s ongoing mayoral race have raised $10.7 million, compared to the 2019 race, which saw only $4.6 million raised in the entire election and runoff. This year, the two candidates who qualified for the runoff were the top fundraisers by far, with the two accounting for more than 55% of the total fundraising from the 25 candidates. 

In Colorado Springs – a city without any caps – developers, business interests and outside groups heavily backed certain candidates in the April 4 election. Defend Colorado, a nonprofit that does not have to disclose its donors, has given $300,000 to two committees backing City Councilman Wayne Williams for mayor. At the same time, a committee backed by a Denver-based business called Stand Against Monopolies LLC has put $100,000 into ads blasting Williams.

Both Denver and Colorado Springs are home rule cities. As Denver has its own campaign donation limits, HB 1245 would not apply to the city. However, there is some question about whether the bill would apply to Colorado Springs despite being home rule, since it doesn’t have its own limits.

“Once again we are looking at a piece of legislation that usurps local control,” said Rep. Lisa Frizell, R-Castle Rock. “It gets in the way of citizens in a community deciding what is right for that community. We’re saying that we know better. … We need to let those citizens and those communities make the decision, not us.”

Though the bill’s opponents said local campaign contribution limits shouldn’t be treated as “one size fits all,” proponents argued that all Coloradans deserve to hold equal influence as voters.  

Rep. Junie Joseph, D-Boulder, spoke of running for the Boulder City Council, which limits contributions from individuals to $100. Joseph said this kept wealthy individuals from being able to unfairly influence the election, and encouraged candidates to connect with more people in the community.

“It brings people into the process who probably would not be part of it,” Joseph said. “If you have to raise your money through low-dollar amounts, you’re going to have to go into the community. You’re not just going to throw a couple of parties and raise thousands of dollars.” 

The bill would also require campaign contribution reports to be kept on file for six years instead of the current one year; the reports to be made publicly available; and, candidates to report contributions 90 days, 60 days, 30 days and 15 days before an election, and 30 days after an election. Currently, the earliest report is due 21 days before an election. 

House lawmakers amended the bill to raise the contribution limits to $400 for individuals and $4,000 for small-donor committees, up from the original $250 and $2,500 caps. Other amendments reduced the report keeping requirement from 10 years to six years, and allowed fees to be charged for records requests. 

The Senate is expected to vote on HB 1245 in the coming weeks.