Ohio Rep. John Becker recently introduced campaign finance legislation to simplify and modernize current state law. House Bill 502 would put an end to paper filing for local candidates and committees and phase in electronic filing over the next 3 years.

County-wide candidates could begin filing electronically in 2017, school board candidates in 2018, and city and village candidates in 2019. Local filings would be submitted in the same manner as state filings on the secretary of state’s website.

Other provisions of Becker’s proposal include rounding contribution limits to the nearest $100, eliminating campaign finance filing requirements for committees and political contributing entities raising or spending less than $2,000 in a reporting period, delaying post-general campaign finance reports until the first week of January, and eliminating the itemization requirement when reporting income or expenses for a single entity totaling less than $100.