HARRISBURG – Rep. Jamie Barton of Berks & Schuylkill Counties is circulating a co-sponsorship memo for legislation to increase transparency by requiring campaigns and campaign organizations to itemize reimbursements on campaign finance reports. He said, “Donors give to campaigns with the expectation that their funds are going to be used for legitimate campaign expenditures and they deserve to know specifically how that money is being spent.” Currently, PA’s campaign finance law only requires campaign finance reports to list an expense as a reimbursement, without the need to itemize the nature of the reimbursement on the public report. To receive an itemized accounting of reimbursements, should it not be voluntarily provided in the filing, a person must request the itemized list through the PA Department of State. Barton added his legislation will create a better process for understanding how campaign money is spent by requiring itemization up front, in the campaign finance filing.
REP. JAMIE BARTON