Idaho Campaign Finance Rules: A Plain English Guide

The Signal March 27, 2026 ~15 min read

Idaho's campaign finance laws are governed by Idaho Code Title 67, Chapter 66 (soon to be Title 74, Chapter 3 if SB 1422 passes). The rules are not complicated. They are just scattered across enough statutes and Secretary of State guidance documents that a first-time candidate could easily miss something. This guide consolidates all of it into one place. Every rule is cited to its statute. Every dollar figure is current as of March 2026.

Contribution Limits

Idaho Code §67-6610A sets contribution limits per election. Primary and general elections are treated as separate elections, so a donor can give the maximum to both.

For statewide candidates (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Controller, State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction): individuals, corporations, PACs, and other recognized legal entities may each contribute up to $5,000 per election. State central party committees may contribute up to $10,000 per election.

For legislative, judicial, and local candidates (State Senate, State House, county, city, school board): individuals, corporations, PACs, and other recognized legal entities may each contribute up to $1,000 per election. State central party committees may contribute up to $2,000 per election.

There is no limit on what a candidate can contribute to their own campaign. Self-funded candidates have an unlimited advantage. Recall and special elections use the same limits as general elections.

PACs and Unlimited Money

Contributions to political action committees are unlimited. Idaho Code §67-6610A limits contributions to candidates, not to PACs. A corporation, individual, or other entity can give $200,000 to a PAC in a single contribution. This is legal. It happens. JFAC co-chair Sen. C. Scott Grow's PAC received a $200,000 contribution in March 2026, tied for the largest single PAC contribution of the year.

PACs are limited in what they can give to candidates: the same $5,000/$1,000 per election limits as everyone else. But PACs can make unlimited independent expenditures on behalf of or against candidates. They can run ads, send mailers, and fund campaigns without coordinating with the candidate and without any cap on spending.

This is the architecture of legal corruption. The contribution limit to a candidate is $1,000. The contribution to a PAC that supports that candidate is unlimited. The PAC spends unlimited money on the candidate's behalf. The limit exists on paper. In practice, money flows around it.

Getting Started as a Candidate

Before you announce your candidacy, accept a single dollar in donations, or spend any money on your campaign, you must file a C-1 form (Appointment and Certification of Political Treasurer) with the Idaho Secretary of State. Idaho Code §67-6604 requires this as the first step. You can appoint yourself as your own treasurer.

You file through the Sunshine Campaign Finance Portal at sunshine.voteidaho.gov. Create an account, select your office, and submit the C-1 electronically. Paper forms are available for county and local offices.

Once you have raised or spent $500, Idaho Code §67-6603 requires you to begin filing campaign finance reports. If you are running for a small local office and never raise or spend $500, you are exempt from reporting. You still need the C-1 on file.

The $50 itemization threshold matters for donor disclosure. Idaho Code §67-6607 requires that any contributor whose aggregate contributions exceed $50 in a calendar year must be itemized by name, address, occupation, and employer in your campaign finance reports. Below $50, you can report the contribution without identifying the donor.

Reporting Requirements

All campaign finance reports are filed electronically through the Sunshine Portal. Idaho Code §67-6623(g) requires online submission. The Secretary of State may grant individual hardship exemptions, but the default is electronic filing.

The reporting schedule for 2026 is published as a PDF on the Sunshine Portal. Key deadlines include pre-primary reports, pre-general reports, and annual reports. The 2026 schedule adds a new requirement: reports must be filed three days before both the primary and general elections.

Contributions of $1,000 or more require a 48-hour notice filing. If you receive a large contribution close to an election, you cannot wait for the regular report. You must file within 48 hours.

No extensions are available. The Sunshine Law does not allow the Secretary of State to grant filing extensions for any reason. If your political treasurer cannot file, you as the candidate or committee chairman can file on their behalf. Idaho Code §67-6623.

The Sunshine Portal

The Idaho Sunshine Campaign Finance Portal is the public database where all campaign finance activity is reported and searchable. It launched in December 2023, replacing an older system. Access it at sunshine.sos.idaho.gov or sunshine.voteidaho.gov.

Anyone can search the portal. You can look up any candidate, any PAC, any political committee. You can see who gave money, how much, and when. You can see how campaigns spent their money. This is public information by law.

To search: go to the portal, use the search function to find a candidate or committee by name. The results show all filed reports, contributions received, and expenditures made. This is how you verify whether the people asking for your vote are funded by the people whose interests align with yours.

SB 1422: What Changes

Senate Bill 1422, sponsored by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Mark Harris, R-Soda Springs, and backed by Secretary of State Phil McGrane, is a 37-page rewrite of Idaho's campaign finance law. It would repeal Idaho Code Chapter 66, Title 67, and replace it with Chapter 3, Title 74. As of late March 2026, the bill was retained on the House calendar.

The bill raises contribution limits. Statewide candidates go from $5,000 to $6,000 per election. Legislative and local candidates go from $1,000 to $1,500 per election. McGrane characterized these as "modest" adjustments. The current limits were set in 1997. Adjusted for inflation, $1,000 in 1997 is approximately $2,000 today. The increase to $1,500 does not fully account for 29 years of inflation.

SB 1422 introduces a new restriction on fundraising timing. Under current law, candidates can accept contributions for both the primary and general elections simultaneously. Under SB 1422, you cannot collect money for the general election until you win the primary. This affects candidates who fundraise early and bank general election money before the primary is decided.

The bill requires separate bank accounts for campaign contributions. Political treasurers for both candidates and PACs must open a dedicated campaign account and transfer any personal loans into it. It creates an "ad library" requiring PACs and groups making independent expenditures to submit electronic copies of their advertisements with their expenditure reports.

Fines for reporting violations change from a flat maximum ($250 for candidates, $2,500 for PACs) to a formula: $50 plus 5% of the monetary value of anything not reported. For large unreported expenditures, this is a significantly larger penalty. For small omissions, it is more lenient.

Contributions to PACs remain unlimited. SB 1422 does not change this.

In-Kind Contributions

An in-kind contribution is anything of value given to a campaign that is not cash. Office space. Printing services. A volunteer's professional skills. If someone donates goods or services to your campaign, the fair market value of those goods or services counts as a contribution and must be reported.

In-kind contributions count against contribution limits. If someone gives your legislative campaign $600 in cash and $400 worth of printed flyers, they have contributed $1,000 and have reached the per-election limit.

Volunteer time is not an in-kind contribution as long as the volunteer is providing personal services, not professional services rendered at their employer's direction. A lawyer who volunteers to canvass doors on Saturday is volunteering. A law firm that assigns an attorney to do free legal work for the campaign is making an in-kind contribution.

Independent Expenditures

An independent expenditure is money spent to support or oppose a candidate without coordinating with the candidate's campaign. Idaho Code §67-6602 defines it. There is no limit on independent expenditures. A PAC can spend $500,000 on ads supporting a candidate as long as the PAC does not coordinate with the candidate.

Independent expenditures must be reported. The entity making the expenditure must file reports with the Secretary of State disclosing the amount, the candidate or measure targeted, and whether the expenditure was in support or opposition. Under SB 1422, they would also need to submit copies of the actual advertisements.

The distinction between an independent expenditure and a coordinated expenditure is the single most abused boundary in campaign finance law. Coordination makes the expenditure a direct contribution, subject to limits. Independence removes the limit entirely. The legal standard for what constitutes "coordination" is narrow enough that sophisticated operations can technically comply while functionally serving as extensions of a candidate's campaign.

Foreign National Prohibition

Federal law under 52 USC §30121 prohibits foreign nationals from making contributions or expenditures in connection with any election in the United States. This applies to federal, state, and local elections. Idaho Code §67-6610D mirrors this prohibition at the state level.

If you are a candidate, you cannot accept contributions from foreign nationals. If you are a donor, you must be a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident. This is not optional. It is federal law, and violation carries criminal penalties.

Penalties

Late filing incurs a penalty of $50 per day, beginning 48 hours after the deadline, until the report is filed. Idaho Code §67-6625. There is no grace period and no extension mechanism.

Willful violation of campaign finance laws is a misdemeanor under Idaho Code §67-6629. Beyond fines, the Secretary of State can refer cases to the Attorney General for prosecution. In practice, enforcement is rare. The system relies primarily on public disclosure and the assumption that transparency will create accountability. Whether that assumption holds depends on whether anyone actually looks at the filings.

How The Future Party Does It

The Future Party PAC operates under these same rules. We file with the Secretary of State. We report through the Sunshine Portal. We comply with the same contribution limits and disclosure requirements as every other political committee in Idaho.

We also go further. Every dollar donated to The Future Party is recorded on a public, cryptographically chained ledger. Each donation is HMAC-SHA256 linked to the previous one. If any record is tampered with, the chain breaks, and anyone can detect it. This is not required by Idaho law. We do it because transparency enforced by math is more reliable than transparency enforced by statute.

The platform specifies how this principle scales to governance. The public ledger shows how it works in practice. If you want to help build a system where the money is always visible, go to thefutureparty.org/join.