Biweekly campaign finance reports to begin January 30, 2012

Denver, December 27, 2011 - Today, Secretary of State Scott Gessler followed legislative guidance and imposed campaign finance reports every other week beginning January 30 for committees active in 2012.

Last session, the legislature shifted the primary date from the middle of August to the end of June, which created a conflict in the state’s campaign finance reporting schedule.

Under state law, state candidates and committees file their campaign finance reports once every three months during off-years. The primary shift, combined with the technical language in another statute, required candidates and committees active in 2012 to file reports every other week for 12 months.

"In order to provide clear guidance for filers and avoid an unintended, absurd result, I pursued rulemaking to indicate which law candidates and their volunteers should follow," Gessler said.

On December 14, members of the Committee on Legal Services voted that the rule should not have been imposed and determined that the General Assembly was best equipped to address the conflicts in the state’s campaign finance reporting schedule.

Most filers will be required to submit their next campaign finance reports by January 17, 2012. Starting January 30, candidates and committees active in 2012 will begin filing reports every other week until the primary. According to Gessler, however, these campaign committees won’t be required to submit the bi-weekly reports for the past six months.

Gessler’s office will begin to notify candidates and committees of the new reporting schedule.

Read the Notice of Adoption (PDF)