Tester bill boosts transparency in Senate campaigns

Bipartisan legislation requires electronic campaign finance disclosure reports

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Senator Jon Tester wants to boost "transparency, accessibility and sunshine" to future U.S. Senate campaigns by requiring all campaign committees to file their financial disclosure reports electronically.

Currently, Senate campaign committees are the only federal political committees not required to file their disclosure reports online.  Instead, they file paper reports with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which spends months plugging the information into a database before the information is available to the public online.

That's why Tester teamed up with several other U.S. Senators from both sides of the aisle to sign on to the Campaign Disclosure Parity Act.  The legislation streamlines the process by requiring campaign committees to file their financial disclosure reports electronically.  All U.S. House and Presidential candidates have had to file electronically with the FEC since 2001.

Tester said the new legislation will allow the public to have access to campaign finance information within a matter of days instead of months.

"Since my first day as a member of the U.S. Senate, I have worked to pass reforms that bring more transparency, accessibility and sunshine to government," Tester said.  "This legislation provides all Americans quick access to information that is critical for a functioning democracy."

Tester is an outspoken supporter of open, transparent government.  He was the first member of Congress to post his daily schedule online, and the first to hold a self-imposed ethics audit of his office.

The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act is S. 223.