State lawmakers have proposed suspending penalties and enforcement for candidates who fail to submit finance disclosure forms when running for office, raising concerns among advocates, state officials and government ethics experts about weakening one of the state’s few tools for public transparency.
The change, proposed to be in effect through May 2027, was tucked into a broader elections bill before the House Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee, come amid a dispute over which state entity is responsible for the disclosure form and related candidate inquiries: the Secretary of State’s Office or the State Ethics Commission.
Each candidate for statewide office and the legislature must submit a financial disclosure form along with a petition and consent form. The filing period for the 2026 election cycle opens Monday, April 27, and runs through May 28.
Rep. Chea Waters Evans (D-Charlotte), ranking member of the committee, said the proposed suspension was intended to avoid penalizing candidates who might lack clear guidance while the two agencies remain divided over responsibility for maintaining the process and responding to candidate questions.
This year’s financial disclosure form has yet to be released, in large part because of the standoff between the commission and the Secretary of State’s Office.
“We can’t hold people to something if we’re not giving them the tools they need to get it done correctly,” Waters Evans said. She said the committee may reinstate the penalties and enforcement provisions in the bill, S.298, once lawmakers determine which entity will oversee the form and respond to candidate inquiries.
Historically, the Secretary of State’s Office has made all three forms for major-party candidates available in a single PDF. The debate over which office will be responsible for this year’s process was triggered in part by a 2024 law, Act 171, which required candidate disclosures to be “created and maintained” rather than simply “prepared” by the State Ethics Commission.
But the change was never intended to require new responsibilities of the commission, ethics commissioner Paul Erlbaum testified on Wednesday. Erlbaum is one of five commissioners appointed to the body.
The commission also lacks the staff and resources to take on a larger role in managing disclosures or responding to candidate inquiries, Erlbaum said. The legislature has funded the agency for two part-time positions — an executive director and an administrative assistant — and it has already suspended some services to municipalities due to its staffing.
Waters Evans acknowledged the frustration and said the committee supported the commission’s request this year for more staff, though the funding request was later cut in the Senate.
Committee members appeared to cite the commission’s lack of resources — set by the legislature — and its limited bandwidth to enforce disclosure requirements as one of the reasons to suspend the penalty and enforcement mechanism.
During a committee meeting on Wednesday, representatives from both the Secretary of State’s Office and the ethics commission warned against removing the penalties.
So, too, did May Hanlon, executive director of the Vermont Democratic Party, who told the committee on Wednesday that the disclosure form is a key tool for voters to understand who is running for office and whether candidates are complying with the law.
“I would encourage this committee to think very carefully about what signal that suspension would send and whether there’s a better path forward,” Hanlon said.
During his testimony, Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont Republican Party, called the financial disclosure a “burden for regular Vermonters” and said candidates should not have to navigate two separate entities for guidance and enforcement.
In a press release issued on Thursday, he called for the ethics commission’s executive director to resign unless the commission promptly releases the form and commits to advising candidates and enforcing penalties.
TJ Jones, a specialist in government ethics law and consultant for the commission, told the committee on Thursday that in most states with financial disclosure requirements, filings for sitting officials are handled by ethics commissions, while candidate filings are overseen by the agency that manages campaign finance. In Vermont, campaign finance falls to the Secretary of State’s Office.
But the division of duties has left both agencies hesitant to provide guidance. The Secretary of State’s Office would not advise candidates on completing the form, with deputy secretary Lauren Hibbert pointing to limited capacity and the need to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in overseeing ethics-related guidance.
The ethics commission, meanwhile, said it cannot fill the gap. Executive director Christina Sivret testified that the commission not only lacks the capacity but also should not be providing guidance because it lacks jurisdiction over elections. Still, she said the disclosure could be ready within hours and suggested both the commission and the Secretary of State’s Office post it, along with frequently asked questions, on their respective websites.
Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas balked at the idea, suggesting instead that her office refer candidates by hyperlink to the ethics commission’s website for the form and FAQs.
The committee will continue taking testimony on the bill Friday.
Jim Condos, a former state senator and secretary of state who was recently appointed to the ethics commission, said his background allows him to see the issue from both vantage points, and he has concluded that the commission should take over responsibility for disclosures to avoid any perceived conflict of interest at the Secretary of State’s Office. But he told lawmakers on Thursday that the broader “kerfuffle” is a reflection of lawmakers’ choices.
“I’m not blaming this committee, but that falls to the legislature not doing its job to fund the ethics commission properly and provide the resources it’s needed,” he said.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
