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HB1788 • 2026

Modifies requirements for campaign contributions

Modifies requirements for campaign contributions

Elections
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Murphy, Jim (094)
Last action
2026-05-07
Official status
05/07/2026 - Placed on Informal Calendar
Effective date
2026-08-28

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide detailed information about the enforcement of the new rules and their potential impact on future campaign practices.

Changes Rules for Campaign Money

This bill changes how campaign money can be given and received by political committees in Missouri.

What This Bill Does

  • Removes old rules about campaign contributions and replaces them with new ones.
  • Limits the amount of cash that can be donated to a committee for an election.
  • Requires all large donations to be made through checks or other authorized electronic means, not cash.
  • Prohibits anonymous donations over $25 from being accepted by candidates or committees.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Political campaigns and committees
  • People who donate to political campaigns

Terms To Know

Contribution
Money given to support a candidate or campaign.
Anonymous contribution
A donation where the donor's identity is not known.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify what happens if someone tries to donate more than $100 without providing their name and address.
  • It is unclear how strictly these rules will be enforced or how they might change future campaign practices.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HA 1

5473H03.01H • Murphy

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes how political committees can accept recurring donations from contributors.

  • Political committees must get clear permission from a contributor before accepting recurring donations, and cannot rely on passive actions like not unchecking a box.
  • Contributors must be given detailed information about the frequency and duration of recurring contributions and have an easy way to cancel them.
  • If a committee violates these rules, they must return the donation immediately and face potential fines from the Missouri ethics commission.
  • The amendment text does not specify all details on how committees should handle returned donations or the exact process for imposing civil penalties.

Bill History

  1. 2026-05-07 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Placed on Informal Calendar

  2. 2026-04-16 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    SCS Reported Do Pass (S)

  3. 2026-04-07 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Executive Session Held (S)

  4. 2026-04-07 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    SCS Voted Do Pass (S)

  5. 2026-03-30 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Public Hearing Held (S)

  6. 2026-03-26 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Public Hearing Scheduled (S) - Monday, March 30, 2026, 2:00 p.m., Senate Lounge-3rd Floor

  7. 2026-02-26 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Second read and referred: Local Government, Elections and Pensions(S)

  8. 2026-02-09 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Taken Up for Third Reading (H)

  9. 2026-02-09 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Third Read and Passed (H) - AYES: 134 NOES: 16 PRESENT: 0

  10. 2026-02-09 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Reported to the Senate and First Read (S)

  11. 2026-02-04 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Taken Up for Perfection (H)

  12. 2026-02-04 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Title of Bill - Agreed To

  13. 2026-02-04 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    HCS Adopted (H)

  14. 2026-02-04 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Perfected with Amendments (H) - HA 1, adopted

  15. 2026-02-03 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Placed on the Informal Perfection Calendar (H)

  16. 2026-01-28 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Reported Do Pass (H) - AYES: 8 NOES: 1 PRESENT: 1

  17. 2026-01-27 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Executive Session Completed (H)

  18. 2026-01-27 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Voted Do Pass (H)

  19. 2026-01-22 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Referred: Rules - Administrative(H)

  20. 2026-01-20 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Executive Session Completed (H)

  21. 2026-01-20 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    HCS Voted Do Pass (H)

  22. 2026-01-20 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    HCS Reported Do Pass (H) - AYES: 12 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 1

  23. 2026-01-13 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Public Hearing Completed (H)

  24. 2026-01-08 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Read Second Time (H)

  25. 2026-01-08 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Referred: Elections(H)

  26. 2026-01-07 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Read First Time (H)

  27. 2025-12-01 Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate

    Prefiled (H)

Official Summary Text

Modifies requirements for campaign contributions

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 1788
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
5473S.04C KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To repeal sections 105.465 and 130.031, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections
relating to campaign finance, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 105.465 and 130.031, RSMo, are 1
repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be 2
known as sections 105.465, 130.031, and 130.039, to read as 3
follows:4
105.465. 1. Any person who registers as a lobbyist 1
shall dissolve his or her candidate committee. In the 2
course of dissolving such committee, such person shall not 3
disburse moneys from such committee, except for the purpose 4
of: 5
(1) Returning a contribution made to the candidate 6
committee to the entity responsible for making the 7
contribution to the committee; 8
(2) Donating moneys to a nonprofit entity qualified as 9
exempt from federal taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the 10
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; or 11
(3) Transferring moneys to a political party committee. 12
2. Notwithstanding subsection 1 of this section to the 13
contrary, no person who registers as a lobbyist shall be 14
prohibited from maintaining a candidate committee designated 15
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to seek election to a county, municipal, or school board 16
office, provided such person is not registered to lobby the 17
county, municipality, or school district for which that 18
person's candidate committee is designated to seek office. 19
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person from 20
changing the designated office sought by his or her 21
candidate committee, provided such person is never 22
simultaneously registered to lobby the public office for 23
which such person's committee is designated to seek office. 24
A candidate committee maintained under this subsection shall 25
make no expenditures or disbursements except to support the 26
candidacy of the person maintaining the committee or for any 27
purpose authorized by subdivisions (1) to (3) of subsection 28
1 of this section. 29
3. For purposes of this section, the term "lobbyist" 30
shall have the same meaning given to such term under section 31
105.470, and the terms "committee", "candidate committee", 32
"contribution", "office", "public office", and "political 33
party committee" shall have the same meanings given to such 34
terms under section 130.011. 35
130.031. 1. No contribution of cash in an amount of 1
more than one hundred dollars shall be made by or accepted 2
from any single contributor for any election by a continuing 3
committee, a campaign committee, a political party 4
committee, an exploratory committee or a candidate committee. 5
2. Each expenditure of more than fifty dollars, except 6
an in-kind expenditure, shall be made by check signed by the 7
committee treasurer, deputy treasurer, or candidate or by 8
other electronic means authorized by the treasurer, deputy 9
treasurer, or candidate and drawn on the committee's 10
depository or credit card in the name of the committee and 11
authorized by the treasurer, deputy treasurer, or 12
SCS HCS HB 1788 3
candidate. A single expenditure of cash shall not exceed 13
fifty dollars, and the aggregate of all expenditures of cash 14
during a calendar year shall not exceed the lesser of five 15
thousand dollars or ten percent of all expenditures made by 16
the committee during that calendar year. 17
3. No contribution shall be made or accepted and no 18
expenditure shall be made or incurred, directly or 19
indirectly, in a fictitious name, in the name of another 20
person, or by or through another person in such a manner as 21
to conceal the identity of the actual source of the 22
contribution or the actual recipient and purpose of the 23
expenditure. Any person who receives contributions for a 24
committee shall disclose to that committee's treasurer, 25
deputy treasurer or candidate the recipient's own name and 26
address and the name and address of the actual source of 27
each contribution such person has received for that 28
committee. Any person who makes expenditures for a 29
committee shall disclose to that committee's treasurer, 30
deputy treasurer or candidate such person's own name and 31
address, the name and address of each person to whom an 32
expenditure has been made and the amount and purpose of the 33
expenditures the person has made for that committee. 34
4. No anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five 35
dollars shall be made by any person, and no anonymous 36
contribution of more than twenty-five dollars shall be 37
accepted by any candidate or committee. If any anonymous 38
contribution of more than twenty-five dollars is received, 39
it shall be returned immediately to the contributor, if the 40
contributor's identity can be ascertained, and if the 41
contributor's identity cannot be ascertained, the candidate, 42
committee treasurer or deputy treasurer shall immediately 43
transmit that portion of the contribution which exceeds 44
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twenty-five dollars to the state treasurer and it shall 45
escheat to the state. 46
5. The maximum aggregate amount of anonymous 47
contributions which shall be accepted in any calendar year 48
by any committee shall be the greater of five hundred 49
dollars or one percent of the aggregate amount of all 50
contributions received by that committee in the same 51
calendar year. If any anonymous contribution is received 52
which causes the aggregate total of anonymous contributions 53
to exceed the foregoing limitation, it shall be returned 54
immediately to the contributor, if the contributor's 55
identity can be ascertained, and, if the contributor's 56
identity cannot be ascertained, the committee treasurer, 57
deputy treasurer or candidate shall immediately transmit the 58
anonymous contribution to the state treasurer to escheat to 59
the state. 60
6. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 5 of 61
this section, contributions from individuals whose names and 62
addresses cannot be ascertained which are received from a 63
fund-raising activity or event, such as defined in section 64
130.011, shall not be deemed anonymous contributions, 65
provided the following conditions are met: 66
(1) There are twenty-five or more contributing 67
participants in the activity or event; 68
(2) The candidate, committee treasurer, deputy 69
treasurer or the person responsible for conducting the 70
activity or event makes an announcement that it is illegal 71
for anyone to make or receive a contribution in excess of 72
one hundred dollars unless the contribution is accompanied 73
by the name and address of the contributor; 74
(3) The person responsible for conducting the activity 75
or event does not knowingly accept payment from any single 76
SCS HCS HB 1788 5
person of more than one hundred dollars unless the name and 77
address of the person making such payment is obtained and 78
recorded pursuant to the record-keeping requirements of 79
section 130.036; 80
(4) A statement describing the event shall be prepared 81
by the candidate or the treasurer of the committee for whom 82
the funds were raised or by the person responsible for 83
conducting the activity or event and attached to the 84
disclosure report of contributions and expenditures required 85
by section 130.041. The following information to be listed 86
in the statement is in addition to, not in lieu of, the 87
requirements elsewhere in this chapter relating to the 88
recording and reporting of contributions and expenditures: 89
(a) The name and mailing address of the person or 90
persons responsible for conducting the event or activity and 91
the name and address of the candidate or committee for whom 92
the funds were raised; 93
(b) The date on which the event occurred; 94
(c) The name and address of the location where the 95
event occurred and the approximate number of participants in 96
the event; 97
(d) A brief description of the type of event and the 98
fund-raising methods used; 99
(e) The gross receipts from the event and a listing of 100
the expenditures incident to the event; 101
(f) The total dollar amount of contributions received 102
from the event from participants whose names and addresses 103
were not obtained with such contributions and an explanation 104
of why it was not possible to obtain the names and addresses 105
of such participants; 106
(g) The total dollar amount of contributions received 107
from contributing participants in the event who are 108
SCS HCS HB 1788 6
identified by name and address in the records required to be 109
maintained pursuant to section 130.036. 110
7. No candidate or committee in this state shall 111
accept contributions from any out-of-state committee unless 112
the out-of-state committee from whom the contributions are 113
received has filed a statement of organization pursuant to 114
section 130.021 or has filed the reports required by 115
sections 130.049 and 130.050, whichever is applicable to 116
that committee. 117
8. Any person publishing, circulating, or distributing 118
any printed matter relative to any candidate for public 119
office or any ballot measure shall on the face of the 120
printed matter identify in a clear and conspicuous manner 121
the person who paid for the printed matter with the words 122
"Paid for by" followed by the proper identification of the 123
sponsor pursuant to this section. For the purposes of this 124
section, "printed matter" shall be defined to include any 125
pamphlet, circular, handbill, sample ballot, advertisement, 126
including advertisements in any newspaper or other 127
periodical, sign, including signs for display on motor 128
vehicles, or other imprinted or lettered material; but 129
printed matter is defined to exclude materials printed and 130
purchased prior to May 20, 1982, if the candidate or 131
committee can document that delivery took place prior to May 132
20, 1982; any sign personally printed and constructed by an 133
individual without compensation from any other person and 134
displayed at that individual's place of residence or on that 135
individual's personal motor vehicle; any items of personal 136
use given away or sold, such as campaign buttons, pins, 137
pens, pencils, book matches, campaign jewelry, or clothing, 138
which is paid for by a candidate or committee which supports 139
a candidate or supports or opposes a ballot measure and 140
SCS HCS HB 1788 7
which is obvious in its identification with a specific 141
candidate or committee and is reported as required by this 142
chapter; and any news story, commentary, or editorial 143
printed by a regularly published newspaper or other 144
periodical without charge to a candidate, committee or any 145
other person. 146
(1) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a 147
candidate from the candidate's personal funds, it shall be 148
sufficient identification to print the first and last name 149
by which the candidate is known. 150
(2) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a 151
committee, it shall be sufficient identification to print 152
the name of the committee as required to be registered by 153
subsection 5 of section 130.021 and the name and title of 154
the committee treasurer who was serving when the printed 155
matter was paid for. 156
(3) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a 157
corporation or other business entity, labor organization, or 158
any other organization not defined to be a committee by 159
subdivision (7) of section 130.011 and not organized 160
especially for influencing one or more elections, it shall 161
be sufficient identification to print the name of the 162
entity, the name of the principal officer of the entity, by 163
whatever title known, and the mailing address of the entity, 164
or if the entity has no mailing address, the mailing address 165
of the principal officer. 166
(4) In regard to any printed matter paid for by an 167
individual or individuals, it shall be sufficient 168
identification to print the name of the individual or 169
individuals and the respective mailing address or addresses, 170
except that if more than five individuals join in paying for 171
printed matter it shall be sufficient identification to 172
SCS HCS HB 1788 8
print the words "For a list of other sponsors contact:" 173
followed by the name and address of one such individual 174
responsible for causing the matter to be printed, and the 175
individual identified shall maintain a record of the names 176
and amounts paid by other individuals and shall make such 177
record available for review upon the request of any person. 178
No person shall accept for publication or printing nor shall 179
such work be completed until the printed matter is properly 180
identified as required by this subsection. 181
9. Any broadcast station transmitting any matter 182
relative to any candidate for public office or ballot 183
measure as defined by this chapter shall identify the 184
sponsor of such matter as required by federal law. 185
10. The provisions of subsection 8 or 9 of this 186
section shall not apply to candidates for elective federal 187
office, provided that persons causing matter to be printed 188
or broadcast concerning such candidacies shall comply with 189
the requirements of federal law for identification of the 190
sponsor or sponsors. 191
11. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any 192
person required to be identified as paying for printed 193
matter pursuant to subsection 8 of this section or paying 194
for broadcast matter pursuant to subsection 9 of this 195
section to refuse to provide the information required or to 196
purposely provide false, misleading, or incomplete 197
information. 198
12. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any 199
committee to offer chances to win prizes or money to persons 200
to encourage such persons to endorse, send election material 201
by mail, deliver election material in person or contact 202
persons at their homes; except that, the provisions of this 203
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subsection shall not be construed to prohibit hiring and 204
paying a campaign staff. 205
13. All solicitations shall state, in a clear and 206
conspicuous manner, the continuing committee, campaign 207
committee, political party committee, exploratory committee, 208
or candidate committee that will benefit from any funds 209
received as a result of the solicitation. The solicitation 210
shall also indicate what percentage of the donation will be 211
received by the committee and any business, corporation, or 212
other entity that will receive any part of the contribution. 213
14. (1) A committee soliciting a recurring 214
contribution for an expenditure or printed or broadcast 215
matter may accept the recurring contribution only if the 216
contributor gives affirmative consent for the recurring 217
contribution. The passive action of a contributor, 218
including but not limited to failing to uncheck a prechecked 219
box authorizing a recurring contribution, shall not 220
constitute affirmative consent. 221
(2) If a contributor affirmatively consents to making 222
a recurring contribution, the committee soliciting the 223
recurring contribution shall: 224
(a) Provide a receipt to the contributor for each 225
contribution that clearly and conspicuously discloses: 226
a. The frequency of the recurring contributions; 227
b. The duration of the recurring contributions; and 228
c. All information needed to cancel recurring 229
contributions; and 230
(b) At the request of the contributor, terminate any 231
future scheduled deductions prior to the next scheduled 232
deduction date. 233
(3) A committee that solicits and receives a 234
contribution in violation of this section shall return the 235
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contribution to the contributor immediately after receiving 236
the contribution. The amount of any contribution received 237
in violation of this section is an outstanding obligation of 238
the committee that solicited and received the contribution 239
until the contribution is repaid to the contributor. 240
(4) The Missouri ethics commission may impose a civil 241
penalty on committees violating this subsection of up to one 242
hundred times the amount of the contribution received in 243
violation of this subsection. 244
(5) Recurring contributions made under this subsection 245
to support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure shall 246
automatically end after the election at which the candidate 247
or measure appeared on the ballot, except that recurring 248
contributions made to any candidate who wins a primary 249
election may continue until the general election. 250
130.039. A candidate for a state office shall not make 1
contributions to his or her own candidate committee in 2
excess of the contribution limitation applicable to the 3
elective office sought pursuant to the Missouri Constitution 4
or statute, whichever is applicable. 5
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