Compliance Notes - Vol. 6, Issue 2

RECENT LOBBYING, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE UPDATES

Campaign Finance & Lobbying Compliance

Georgia: The voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams and its affiliated action fund were fined $300,000 on January 14, 2025, for violating Georgia campaign finance laws in 2018 and 2019. The nonprofits admitted to violating Georgia campaign finance laws by spending more than $3 million to support Abrams and the Democrat ticket in the 2018 election and spending more than $600,000 on a local ballot initiative election in 2019. In both elections, the group spent money trying to persuade voters through its nonprofit, but state officials deemed that under state law, an independent committee should have done its election work. Similar to a super PAC in a federal election, such a committee would have had to file financial disclosure reports regularly, unlike a nonprofit, which can keep most of its spending and donors secret. (Brittany Gibson, Axios)