A bill that would limit campaign contributions in port commission elections is moving to the state Senate after passing the House with near-unanimous approval.
“It’s about fairness, transparency and accountability,” Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, the sponsor of House Bill 2647, said in a news release. “This legislation makes sure that our port districts follow the same laws as everybody else. Like the Legislature, ports are public entities, accountable to the public, so we need to ensure that port districts are responding to constituents and not special interest groups.”
There are 75 public ports in Washington, but only ports with more than 200,000 people in their district — the ports of Seattle and Tacoma — currently are subject to campaign finance law.
Those laws say state and caucus political parties are allowed to contribute a total of up to $1 per registered voter to any particular candidate in a port district. County central committees and legislative district committees can give a combined 50 cents per registered voter. Individuals, unions, business, or political action committees are limited to an aggregate of $2,000 per election per candidate.
The legislation comes just months after the million-dollar race for a seat on the Port of Vancouver commission between Don Orange and Kris Greene.
Greene’s campaign raised just under $600,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. The majority came from Vancouver Energy and the organizations that supported its desire to build an oil terminal at the Port of Vancouver.
Orange, who was against the project, raised about $430,000 — $290,000 of that was in in-kind contributions from the Washington Conservation Voters.
Orange won the election, giving project opponents a majority on the port commission.
The proposed legislation would make all ports, regardless of the number of district voters, subject to the same laws.
“Several of us from both sides of the aisle, who live and work in Clark County, got behind this legislation because we believe in transparency in elections,” one of the bill’s co-sponsors Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, said in a press release. “Our state leads the nation in this area, and we believe when our community members look at a race on the ballot, they would like to know who is really weighing in.”
The bill passed the House 97-0 with one absent. It now moves to the Senate.
