Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

State Legislator Is Trying to Put Limits on Campaign Contributions, Again

Brian Grimmett
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake

State Representative Brian King will be running a bill to put limits on campaign donations during the upcoming legislative session.

This is the third year that Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake, will sponsor a bill that would put limits on the amount of money people and corporations could donate to political campaigns.

“I believe that the effect of unlimited campaign money coming into those campaigns is to increase the likelihood that unregulated money improperly influences the candidate,” he says.

Last year his bill narrowly failed in the House by three votes.

The legislation limits the amount that a candidate for statewide office can receive from a single donor to $10 thousand. It limits legislative candidates to $5 thousand. King says while those are still large numbers, he’s trying to work incrementally

“What we’re trying to do is get limits in place at all," King says. "And I think the only way to do that, initially at least, is if we have numbers that are going to cause most of the legislators that are voting on that bill to say, ‘well, that’s not going to effect me.’”

A new poll from UtahPolicy.com indicates that almost 70% of Utahns favor placing some limit in campaign contributions. Utah is only one of four states that doesn’t have any campaign contribution limits. 

KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.