Campaign finance requirements for Rhode Island ballot measures

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Groups and individuals involved in ballot measure campaigns in Rhode Island must adhere to the state's campaign finance laws. These laws regulate the amounts and sources of money given or received for political purposes; in addition, campaign finance laws stipulate disclosure requirements for political contributions and expenditures.

Proponents of more stringent regulations and disclosure requirements, such as the Brennan Center for Justice, claim that current laws do not go far enough to mitigate corruption and the influence of undisclosed special interests. Others, such as the Institute for Free Speech, argue that strict disclosure requirements and contribution limits impinge upon the rights to privacy and free expression.

Rhode Island defines a ballot question advocate as any individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or other organization making expenditures of $1,000 or more in a election cycle towards the passage or defeat of a ballot question.

The laws and regulations that apply to ballot measure campaigns may differ from those that apply to candidates for political office. To learn more about campaign finance requirements for candidates, see this article.

Rhode Island ballot measures

See also: Ballot measure

A ballot measure is any question or issue that appears on an election ballot to be approved or rejected by voters. In 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., citizens may use the initiative and referendum process, which permits citizens to petition to place measures on the ballot and usually involves a signature collection process of some kind. Even in states without initiative and referendum processes, however, ballot measures exist. In all states, citizens may be asked to approve legislatively referred constitutional amendments, state statutes, bond issues or tax proposals.

In Rhode Island, ballot measures come in two forms: legislatively referred constitutional amendments and automatic ballot referrals.

Organizational requirements

In Rhode Island, a person or group advocating for or against a ballot measure is called a ballot measure advocate. Rhode Island law defines a ballot question advocate as any individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, or other organization making expenditures of $1,000 or more in a election cycle towards the passage or defeat of a ballot question.

Contribution limits

There are no contribution limits for ballot advocates in Rhode Island. Rhode Island allow corporations and labor unions to donate to ballot question advocates, but bars corporations from donating to candidates, candidate committees and PACs in support of a candidate. Additionally, if the ballot measure in question involves gambling, all ballot question advocates must disclose if a donor has a direct or indirect stake in a casino or gaming operation.

Reporting requirements

Rhode Island law requires ballot measure advocates to file initial, monthly, pre-election and post-election reports. The initial report must be filed within seven days after the end of the first month a ballot question advocate exceeds the $1,000 threshold for expenditures. After the initial report, an advocate must file a monthly report within seven days after the end of the month. However, in the month before an election, the advocate must instead file a pre-election report within seven days before the election. After the election, a final report must be filed within 30 days.

For all contributions exceeding $100 in a calendar year, a ballot measure advocate must report the name, address and employer of the contribution. Likewise, for all expenditures exceeding $100 in a calendar year, a ballot measure advocate must report the name and address of the recipient, as well as the purpose of the expenditure.

Year-specific reporting dates

2021

The table below lists relevant campaign finance report filing deadlines in Rhode Island in 2021.

Campaign finance reporting deadlines in Rhode Island, 2021
Report	Reporting period	Filing deadline
Quarterly report	January 1, 2021 – March 31, 2021	April 30, 2021
Quarterly report	April 1, 2021 – June 30, 2021	August 2, 2021
Quarterly report	July 1, 2021 – September 30, 2021	November 1, 2021
Quarterly report	October 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021	January 31, 2022
Source: Rhode Island Board of Elections, "2021 Reporting Schedule" accessed July 12, 2021

State agencies

See also: Campaign finance agencies in Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, there is one primary agency involved in campaign finance regulation.

Rhode Island Board of Elections

50 Branch Ave

Providence, RI , 02904

Telephone: (401) 222-2345

Fax: (401) 222-3135

Email: boe.elections@elections.ri.gov

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Rhode Island state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Rhode Island campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Campaign finance requirements for Rhode Island ballot measures - Google News

See also

• Campaign finance requirements in Rhode Island
• Campaign finance agencies in Rhode Island
• List of Rhode Island ballot measures

External links

• Rhode Island Board of Elections