Your Treasurer, the Sunshine Law and the Money

Course 46 covers Idaho campaign finance in depth: who may give and how much, how a candidate committee runs, and how to search the filings. This lesson is the local candidate's slice of it, the rules that change when the race is for a city council ward, a school zone or a cemetery district instead of the Legislature. Where course 46 goes deeper, the link says so. Start with Running a Candidate Committee if you want the full mechanics, and Idaho Sunshine Reports for a gentler tour of what a report looks like.

When the Sunshine Law reaches a local race

Idaho's campaign finance law is Title 67, Chapter 66 of the Idaho Code, still called the Sunshine Law after the 1974 citizen initiative that created it. It reaches every "candidate," which 67-6602(1) defines as a person seeking nomination or election to public office who has announced, filed, taken a contribution or spent money (or reserved space) to promote the candidacy. Any one of those acts is enough. A sitting official is presumed to be a candidate for the next election until the filing deadline passes without a declaration.

The same section, in subsection (10), defines a local government office as any publicly elected office of a political subdivision or special district, other than legislative, judicial, statewide or federal offices. That covers the county commissioner and the sheriff, the mayor and the city council, school trustees, and every elected seat on a highway, fire, library, cemetery, recreation, hospital or water district board. A three-person cemetery board race is under the same chapter as a race for governor.

The 2019 change

The local rules in their current form are recent. Senate Bill 1113, written by a legislative interim committee and passed in 2019, put local candidates on the same footing as state candidates once they reach $500 in activity, created the Secretary of State's central online database for every level of government, and took effect January 1, 2020, the Idaho Press reported. That law is now 67-6608. The same act rewrote 67-6607 into the schedule the statute shows today: monthly reports for every month of an election year. A 2020 amendment, Senate Bill 1233, let the candidate or committee file a report when the treasurer is unavailable, and another, Senate Bill 1280, added judicial candidates to the $500 rule.

Bigger rewrites have been proposed since. House Bill 442 in 2025 would have moved the whole law into a new chapter of Title 74 and raised the local limit to $1,500. It was referred to the House State Affairs Committee and went no further. As of October 2026 the law in force is still Chapter 66 of Title 67, with the $1,000 limit. The 2025 and 2026 sessions did amend pieces of it: 67-6602 and the penalty section 67-6625 in 2025, and the account rules in 67-6604 in 2026. The rules below are taken from the current text.

The $500 line

Under 67-6608(1), the treasurer for a local or judicial candidate does not have to file regular reports "until" the candidate has received or spent at least $500. Once that happens, the treasurer has seven calendar days to file a cumulative report going back to the first contribution or expenditure. From then on, every report follows 67-6607 regardless of how little money moves.

The Secretary of State's local candidate guide says the $500 includes the candidate's own money, so the line is easier to cross than it sounds. Yard signs, a stack of push cards and a filing fee can get there in a week. One cost does not count: 67-6602(3) excludes personal funds used to pay the candidate filing fee from the definition of contribution.

Political committees get a parallel rule. A committee designated to support or oppose a local candidate also starts reporting at $500, while a general committee that is not tied to one candidate but plays in local races starts at $1,000 (67-6608(2)).

Rule	Before $500	After $500	Source
Treasurer	Your declaration of candidacy serves as the treasurer appointment; you are treasurer by default	Appointment certified in your Sunshine account; change it with "Amend Registration"	67-6603; Disclosure Manual
Sunshine account	Not required	Open one in the Secretary of State's portal	Local candidate guide
Reports	None	Cumulative report within 7 days, then monthly in election years	67-6608; 67-6607(2)
Contribution limit	$1,000 per donor per election	Same	67-6610A(1)(a)
Anonymous and straw gifts	Barred	Barred	67-6614
Personal use	Barred	Barred	67-6610C
Disclaimer on signs and literature	Required	Required	67-6614A
Records of who gave	Keep them from the first dollar	Keep them; itemize donors over $50	67-6607(1)(a); Disclosure Manual

The bottom four rows are the trap. The threshold delays the paperwork. It does not suspend the limits, the ban on anonymous money or the disclaimer rule. A candidate who takes a $1,500 check in week one has broken the law whether or not a report is due.

The treasurer

Idaho Code 67-6603 says every candidate "shall appoint" a political treasurer, who must be a registered Idaho elector. The candidate may appoint themselves. One person may serve as treasurer for several candidates or committees, which is common in small towns where one careful bookkeeper does it for half the ballot. No contribution may be received and no expenditure made until the treasurer is appointed and certified, and money has to go through the treasurer. If the treasurer dies, resigns or is removed, the campaign appoints a successor and certifies the new name the same way, and the spending stops until it does.

For local candidates, the Disclosure Manual fills the gap: the declaration of candidacy serves as the treasurer appointment form (the C1) until the campaign reaches $500. The manual also says the treasurer's residential address in the portal must match the treasurer's voter registration, a small detail that holds up a surprising number of accounts.

Should you be your own treasurer? In a race that will spend $2,000, many candidates do, and the law allows it. The case for appointing someone else is practical. The treasurer's job peaks in the last month, when the candidate is knocking doors every evening, and a second person catches mistakes the candidate is too tired to see. If you appoint a friend, pick one who is registered, organized and willing to have their name on a public report.

The account

Idaho Code 67-6604(2) requires a candidate who must report to keep at least one checking account at a financial institution and deposit all campaign money in it. Campaign money must be kept separate from any other account and may not be commingled. The treasurer must keep detailed records of contributions and expenditures and bring them up to date within seven days. Campaign money may sit in certificates of deposit, money market accounts or other cash equivalents in the campaign's name, but not in stocks. A candidate who lends the campaign more than $1,000 of personal money must move it into the campaign account rather than paying vendors from a personal card.

Records have to be kept at least one year after the election or one year after the last report, whichever is later (67-6604(4)). Every expenditure of $25 or more needs an invoice, receipt or canceled check, kept by the campaign, not filed with the report (67-6607(1)(b)). Interest the account earns is reported as a contribution from the bank, the manual says.

The reporting calendar

Idaho Code 67-6607(2) sets the schedule. In an election year, the campaign files a report for every month, due by the 10th of the following month. In a year without an election, it files an annual report by January 10 of the next year. Reports are filed online with the Secretary of State and are due by midnight on the due date (67-6607(4)). A hardship waiver allows another format in rare cases (67-6623).

Each report lists every contributor whose total is over $50 by full name and complete address, with the amount; smaller gifts may go in as one lump (67-6607(1)(a)). It lists every payee who received $25 or more, with the amount, date and purpose; smaller payments may be lumped. Anything of value given in kind is listed twice, as a contribution and as an expenditure. A month with no money in or out still needs a report: 67-6609 requires a statement saying so, due on the same date.

Other deadlines run on their own clock. Any single contribution of $1,000 or more requires notice to the Secretary of State within 48 hours (67-6607(3)), separate from the monthly report. And reporting continues until the account shows no balance and no debt (67-6607(5)). Losing the election does not end it. The manual says a defeated candidate keeps filing until cash and debt are both zero, but may ask for an annual schedule in the meantime.

Late reports cost $50 per day under 67-6625A, starting 48 hours after the deadline. The Secretary of State or county clerk is supposed to notify you by phone or electronically within 24 hours of the missed deadline, so the two-day grace period is really a warning period.

The limits in a local race

Idaho Code 67-6610A(1)(a) lets a corporation, committee, other legal entity or individual give a candidate for the Legislature, a judgeship or a local government office up to $1,000 for the primary and $1,000 for the general election. Committees organized on the candidate's behalf share that limit. Recall and special elections count as general elections (67-6610A(4)). County and state party committees are held to the same $1,000 for local candidates; their higher limits apply only to legislative and statewide races. Course 46's Who Can Give, and How Much has the full table and the edge cases: related businesses, joint checks, online fees.

Partisan county races, such as commissioner, sheriff or clerk, have a May primary and a November general, so a donor may give $1,000 for each, designated correctly. Most city, school trustee and district races are nonpartisan and appear on one ballot, in May or November. In those races there is no separate primary to designate toward, so as the statute is written a donor's cap for that race is $1,000. If your city holds a runoff, ask the Secretary of State's elections division how it treats the runoff before you take a second check from anyone.

Your own money and loans

The limit "shall not apply" to a candidate putting money into or lending money to their own campaign (67-6610A(1)). You may spend as much of your own money as you like. It is still a contribution, reported as one, and it still counts toward the $500 threshold. A household member's money is a contribution from that person under 67-6602(3) and the manual, and is limited. A loan from anyone other than the candidate counts against the lender's limit; course 46's Q and A on bank loans explains why to get the elections division's answer in writing before borrowing.

In-kind gifts and volunteers

Under 67-6610A(5), anything other than money counts at fair market value against the giver's limit. A supporter who prints 500 door hangers at their shop has given whatever the shop would normally charge. A supporter who lends a pickup for sign placement has given what renting a similar truck would cost. Volunteer time is not a contribution. Neither is ordinary home hospitality, or up to $25 of incidental expenses a volunteer pays out of pocket (67-6602(3)). The coffee host above gave nothing reportable if the coffee and cookies stayed under the hospitality line; a catered dinner would be different.

What you may never do

• Take anonymous money. 67-6614 bars anonymous contributions. Under 67-6610, a gift over $50 with no name and address goes back to the donor if you can find them, or to the State Controller for the public school fund. The manual says to send unidentifiable gifts of any size to the Secretary of State's office with a check made out to the State Controller, including cash collected at events. A pass-the-hat at a town hall needs a sign-in sheet.
• Take a gift in someone else's name. 67-6614 also bars gifts made in a fictitious name or through another person to hide the source.
• Take foreign money. 67-6610D bars contributions from foreign nationals. A lawful permanent resident is not a foreign national.
• Spend it on yourself. 67-6610C says a contribution "shall not be converted by any person to personal use," meaning any expense that would exist anyway. Its list: mortgage, rent or utilities; clothing other than de minimis items like campaign shirts or hats; noncampaign car expenses; country club and health club dues; vacations; tuition; entertainment; and meals and groceries outside campaign or officeholder functions.
• Mix the money. 67-6604(2) bars commingling campaign funds with any other account.
• Spend before the treasurer is certified. 67-6603 bars contributions and expenditures until a treasurer is in place. For a local candidate, the declaration takes care of this at filing; the gap is the person who starts buying signs before filing.

Permitted uses are wider than many candidates expect. 67-6610C allows campaign expenses, ordinary and necessary expenses of holding the office, gifts to charities described in IRC 170(c), unlimited transfers to party committees, gifts to other state and local candidates within the law, and any other lawful purpose that is not personal use. An elected trustee may use leftover campaign money to pay for a school board conference registration, for example, because that is an officeholder expense. That matters later, in lesson 10.

Who enforces it

For local offices, 67-6623(3) puts the county clerk of the home county in charge: the clerk investigates failures to file and complaints and reports suspected violations to the county prosecutor. The Secretary of State handles statewide, legislative and judicial district races. Under 67-6625, civil fines run up to $250 for an individual and $2,500 for anyone else, and a knowing and willful violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. Prosecutions must begin within two years. Course 46's Complaints, Enforcement and Pitfalls has real Idaho cases and the complaint process.

Closing the campaign

Winning or losing, the campaign ends on paper only when the money does. The manual says a candidate may ask for termination once they no longer hold or seek the office, and the last filed report must show zero cash and zero debt. Until then, reports continue. A winner may keep the account open, and many do, to pay officeholder expenses and to start the next campaign; the account then files annual reports in years without an election.

If money is left over, it goes to a permitted use under 67-6610C: an officeholder expense, a charity, a party committee, another candidate within the limits. If the campaign ends in debt, 67-6610B lets it raise new money to retire debt shown on the last report, within that election's limits.