The Public Disclosure Commission has submitted request legislation for the 2026 legislative session intended to simplify pre-election expenditure reporting and increase transparency for voters.
The bill, introduced as Senate Bill 5840, is sponsored by Sens. Jeff Wilson and Javier Valdez, the ranking Republican and Democratic chair of the Senate’s State Government, Tribal Affairs and Elections Committee.
The PDC has proposed that all candidates and political action committees would file expenditure reports (C-4) by the 10th of each month, reporting on the previous month’s activity. From July to October, campaigns participating in the primary or general election of that year would file an additional C-4 report on the 25th day of those months.
The proposed changes to the C-4 schedule would enhance transparency in campaign spending activity. First, the monthly reporting would eliminate the current $750 threshold for filing, so there will be no uncertainty whether a candidate or committee has missed a deadline.
Second, the additional report due on 25th day of the months leading up to the primary and general election would replace the current 21-and 7-day pre-election reports that were tied to a single election day before the state changed to a mail voting period. The change to a static calendar date would make it easier for campaigns to track the reporting due dates year-to-year, and improve transparency by extending reporting within the critical time leading up to and including the mail voting period. Campaigns would also have an additional day (48 hours total) from the closing of the reporting period to the filing of the additional pre-election report.