Ban on personal use of campaign funds passes Senate, in discussion in House

The Senate’s 35-4 vote during this General Assembly to pass a bill banning personal use of campaign funds comes after years of work by Fairfax legislators and others.

The bill, SB 377, passed on Feb. 6, will prohibit any person from converting contributions to a candidate or their campaign committee for personal use. The law previously only prohibited the conversion of contributions concerning payment of a surplus of funds to a campaign or political committee but will now consider any amount used for personal expenses.

The bill will direct the State Board of Elections to adopt emergency regulations similar to those promoted by the Federal Election Commission and publish an updated summary of Virginia campaign finance law that reflects the State Board of Elections’ and the Attorney General’s guidance.

The issue of campaign funds has been a problem for years in Virginia. The Associated Press published an article titled “No rules means no accountability for Virginia campaign funds” that explored the topic during the 2016 Virginia General Assembly. The article stated that Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax County, carried a bill to prohibit using campaign funds for personal expenditures.

Simon’s bill, HB 6, prohibited any person from contributing money, securities, or intangible property that has been contributed to a candidate, a campaign, a committee or a political committee to the personal use of any other person.

The bill would also require the State Board of Elections to provide and publish, upon request, formal advisory options regarding the permitted and prohibited uses of contributions. Although similar to the bill approved in 2024, HB 6 was continued to 2017 in Privileges and Elections by voice vote.

In a debate on HB 1929 in the General Assembly 2019 session, Simon said that he thought that the court needed more transparency for all committees including campaign committees.

“We don’t need a situation where we have folks that can hide behind an out-of-state corporation and donate up to $49,900 and not have to file any kind of report,” Simon said.

HB 1929 would have required all campaign finance reports to itemize each contributor who is not a resident of Virginia and disclose certain information regardless of the amount of contribution. This bill failed to report in Privileges and Elections and was defeated 7Y to 7N.

Earlier in the 2024 General Assembly, Del. David L. Bulova proposed a similar bill on Jan. 9 regarding campaign finance. HB 874 would prohibit people from making any single contribution, or any combination of contributions that exceeds $20,000 to any candidate for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general or the Senate of Virginia.

This is also true for the value of $10,000 to any one candidate for the House of Delegates in an election cycle. Civil penalties for violations of HB 874 may equal up to two times the excess contributions amount.Bulova’s bill was referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections and is awaiting further action.

“Virginia is one of a handful of states with no limits on campaign contributions, which has contributed to spiraling cost of running for public office,” Bulova said on his website.