Ohio Senate passes bill to stop foreign donations on ballot campaigns

at the State House Ohio lawmakers are trying to curb foreign interference in state elections so back in the year 2000 the state outlawed campaign contributions from individuals or groups outside of the country for candidates running for office but ballot issues don't have those same guidelines Columbus Bureau reporter Morgan trout tells us about a new bill that just passed the Senate which aims to change that money flooded into Ohio ballot initiatives in 2023 please spare 10 seconds as V ERS in

the state first weighed in on a push to make it harder to change the state constitution then whether to legalize recreational marijuana and enshrine Reproductive Rights into the Constitution money that state senator Rob moli says shouldn't have been allowed in it's a reaction in really in some ways to a disturbing Trend that we're seeing um across the country really it's not unique to Ohio and that is foreign money coming in to our our issues elections the state senate just passed his bill 25 it

would prohibit foreign Nationals from contributing to campaigns for or against state or local ballot issues this could be done by directly donating from outside the country or by donating to an entity like a dark money political action committee 1630 fund spent approximately $1 13.5 million in uh in Ohio issues elections last year uh the 1630 fund has been bankrolled in large part by a foreign National named hjor be out of uh switch PS do not need to disclose their donors which makes it difficu

lt to track who made donations to them however legislation like this is already in effect federally and it already applies to candidates in the state just not ballot initiatives Democrats say that the Republicans who introduced this measure are mad about their losses last year they are sore losers from last year and they're trying to make it more difficult again Democratic state senator Bill Deora says foreign interference is a problem but that this bill B goes too far because it also requires a

ll groups supporting a cause to be designated as a pack meaning filing disclosures with the government making it more difficult to collect signatures to get a proposal on the ballot this would affect the neighborhood groups trying to get a yard trying to get a stop sign that would affect liquor options that affects all these things but really what they're trying to do is hurt the hurt citizen groups but moli says it's about transparency you got to report your money the bill passed the state sena

te on party line and now heads over to the house at the Ohio state house I'm Morgan trout reporting