SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW PAC agrees to $6,000 fine for late reporting of more than $430,000

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission today approved a $6,000 fine to settle a case against a political action committee that admitted late reporting of hundreds of thousands of dollars of expenditures in 2024.  

SEIU Healthcare 1199 NW PAC reached a settlement with PDC staff in which the committee agreed that it had violated state law and would pay a penalty.

The Commission voted in favor of the settlement at its May 22 meeting. Under the settlement, the PAC agreed to a $6,000 penalty with $3,000 suspended provided the committee pays the unsuspended portion within 30 days of the order and remains in compliance with PDC reporting requirements. 

PDC staff charged the PAC with reporting more than $430,000 in expenditures late during 2024 and the failure to timely disclose a $2,400 contribution to a candidate made within 21 days of the November election.

In the first charge, PDC staff alleged SEIU reported five expenditures late, totaling $432,400. Three of the expenditures were made Oct. 3, and should have been reported by Oct. 15, but were reported on Nov. 11. The other two were made Oct. 21 and should have been reported by Oct. 29, but were not reported until Nov. 11. 

The last-minute candidate contribution was made on Nov. 1, and was reported 36 days late. 

Mandatory expenditure reports are due 21 and 7 days before a primary and general election when a committee is participating in those elections. Organizations have 24 hours to report contributions of $1,500 or more made within 21 days of the general election.

The total amount of the late-reported expenditures made up more than two-thirds of the PAC’s total of $613,845 in expenditures in 2024.

While the PDC found no evidence to suggest that the PAC’s failure to timely file the reports was intentional, and the PAC was cooperative with the investigation, staff also noted that the committee previously complied with pre-election reporting deadlines, meaning they knew or should have known the requirements in this case. 

At its last meeting on April 24, the PDC settled a similar case with a ballot measure committee. In that case, AARP No on 2124 Sponsored by AARP Washington agreed to pay a $5,000 fine with $2,500 suspended for late reporting of more than $400,000 in contributions.