TALLAHASSEE ? The Florida House voted Friday to open the doors to more money flowing directly into the coffers of state candidates as part of a sweeping campaign-finance reform that also shines more light on givers and bans some types of fundraising through slush funds.
The bill, HB 569, moves the contribution limits from $500 per election to $5,000 for candidates for governor, Cabinet-level offices and judges on the Florida Supreme Court. Legislative candidates could accept $3,000 checks directly to their campaign.
It requires more rapid disclosure online of who contributed and where the money was spent, mirroring federal law in the final 10 days before a general election with daily disclosure.
And it outlaws the Committees of Continuous Existence lawmakers have used to raise large sums of money from companies like Florida Blue, U.S. Sugar, AT&T and Disney, which hold out-sized influence over legislation.
Rep. Rob Schenck, the Spring Hill Republican carrying the bill, said no one wanted to admit that no matter what they do, the same money will flow into the political process.
The $500 limit in place since the 1990s, ?just forces more money into the shadowy, third party organizations everybody in this chamber has derided over the last two days,? he said.
?One of the ways to flush out the insects that do that is to raise the limits and therefore shine a brighter light on them to know where the political money is going.?
But critics noted the CCE ban would just re-shuffle where the money winds up, not reduce its influence. The bill passed 75-39 largely along party lines. Rep. Mike Clelland, D-Lake Mary, was the only local Democrat who broke with his party and voted for the bill.
In particular, Democrats objected to a provision allowing candidates to transfer unspent cash into their next campaign ? a $50,000 ?rollover? allowance Republicans reduced to $20,000 in an amendment Friday.
Critics said that would still prohibit challengers from competing against incumbents.
Rep. Dwight Dudley, D-St. Petersburg, called it a ?brazen incumbent protection plan.?
?This approach ensures a smaller pool of people being able to run for office,? he said.
In the 2012 elections, state candidates and committees spent $196 million. Only about 17 percent ? or about $34 million ? of that came directly from the funds the House wants to abolish, called Committees of Continuous Existence, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of campaign-finance data.
Of the 53 lawmaker-controlled CCEs, $9.6 million was transferred to other funds and $1.2 million was spent on ?consulting,? a description that can cover anything from salaries to dinners.
With six weeks left in the session, the House has differences to work out with Senate leaders, who want a $3,000 cap for statewide candidates but to keep legislators capped at $500.
The Senate also applies its quicker disclosure requirements to political parties, which the House has refused to consider. More than one-third of total spending in the 2012 cycle came from the state political parties.
Gov. Rick Scott has also expressed skepticism about the higher limits.
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