On Monday, June 5th the Howard County Council voted 4-1 to pass Council Bill 30 (CB30) to establish the Howard County Citizens’ Election Fund, which will be in effect for the 2022 election cycle. This bill creates a voluntary program for small donor financing of County Council and County Executive races. Back in November 2016, voters approved a Charter Amendment, Question A to authorize the Fund and direct the City Council to now finalize the program.
Here's how the CB30 system will work in 2022:
- An independent commission will make funding recommendations to the County Executive and County Council for annual funding appropriations
- Candidates who turn down contributions over $250 and all contributions from corporations, unions and PACs, can receive limited matching funds for small contributions from Howard County residents
- Candidates who have enough support from the community and raise enough small donations will qualify for funds from the program
This publicly-financed election campaign fund will allow more people to run for office, as well as reduce the role of large and corporate donors in elections. Very importantly, CB30 will also encourage more political participation from those who live in Howard County by giving a greater role to voters.
In response to the passage of CB30, the Fair Elections Howard Coalition issued the following statement:
“With the public and Council passing Question A and CB30, respectively, Howard County has struck a double punch against big-money politics. We applaud Councilmembers Jon Weinstein and Jen Terrasa for their leadership in sponsoring CB30 and thank Councilmembers Jon Weinstein, Jen Terrasa, Calvin Ball, and Mary Kay Sigaty for voting for the bill. The program will elevate the voices of every-day voters in a political process too often dominated by large and corporate contributors and expand opportunities to run for office.
Fair elections programs, like the Citizens Election Fund, strengthen our democracy by keeping corporations, developers, unions and PACs out of elections and encouraging more participation from the public. We are thrilled to see Howard County join Montgomery County and other communities across the country in taking steps to limit the influence of big money politics.
The new program will enable candidates from all backgrounds to run for office based on the strength of their ideas and support from the community, not access to wealth or donors. It will help build a local government that is more representative of the community and ensure elected officials are accountable to the people of Howard County, not special interests.
The citizens of Howard County and Montgomery County are joining communities across the country working to fix America’s broken campaign finance system. We’re so proud to be part of this movement and look forward to winning reforms in more communities, statewide, and ultimately at the federal level – let’s keep fighting, and winning, for our democracy.”
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