Last year, State Rep. Chad Robertson (R-Heflin) introduced and passed a bill amending Alabama's election law. He aimed to relieve some administrative burden on the state and candidates in future elections for small municipalities who never raised or spent $1,000.
The bill, HB 156, was simple: "A candidate running for a municipal office is exempt from the filing requirements of Sections 17-5-4 and 17-5-8, Code of Alabama 1975, unless and until the candidate receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000)."
This law, however, has seemingly become the basis of questionable guidance and stonewalling from Secretary of State Wes Allen's office.
Multiple staff members in the Secretary's office cited it directly and indirectly in response to questions specific to the 2024 annual reports due Jan. 31, 2025.
1819 News' investigation into the requirements of the 2024 Annual Report followed an email sent to 1819 News by Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato.
The body of his email said, "Received from Secretary of State 1/15/2025," with the following:
"This year, candidates/elected officials who have not filed an Appointment of Principal Campaign Committee Form electronically as of 12/31/2024 will not need to file a 2024 Annual Report. Their transactions since their last report will fall on their first filing. They would need to put as their beginning balance the ending balance from their last paper filing.
"Any elected official who will not be running again and is outgoing will file their Dissolution and Termination Report at the Probate Court and will have their 2024 transactions and any 2025 transactions listed on their Termination Report.
"Anyone running in this upcoming election will only need to file an Appointment of Principal Campaign Committee Form or monthly/weekly reports if they cross over the thousand dollar threshold raised or spent."
Betsy Whitmore, an election staff member in the elections department of the Office of Secretary of State Wes Allen, signed the email.
Brocato was seemingly responding to a story in which 1819 News reported that complaints were filed with the Secretary of State's office over him and Councilman John Lyda failing to file their 2024 annual report. Brocato's email references the new exemption without citing it.
1819 News reached out to Whitmore Tuesday morning, but she referred questions to Laney Rawls, Allen's communications director.
1819 News was seeking to understand why the Annual filing guidance provided to Brocato differed from the Secretary of State's own "Candidate Filing Guidelines," which states, "An Annual Report is required every year that a committee is in existence unless the candidate is filing monthly reports in the current election cycle. This Annual Report may be filed after January 1st but must be filed no later than January 31st. All candidates and all state, county, and municipal elected officials who have not dissolved their principal campaign committee must file this report."
In an email to Allen's Communication Director Laney Rawls, 1819 News asked for clarification, "I'm writing to verify that even if the candidate has not filed for reelection in the next campaign cycle, as long as they have not dissolved their previous account, they are required to file the annual finance report for 2024, which is due by Jan. 31. Can you please confirm for me that I'm understanding this correctly? If that's not the case, can you please explain why not and point me to the appropriate reference online or in the statute to cite? Rawls included a copy of the new statute in her response.
"Candidates with open Principal Campaign Committee (PCC) accounts with the Secretary of State's Office are required to electronically file an annual report with the Secretary of State's Office by January 31. Municipal candidates are exempted from creating a PCC or filing FCPA reports if they have not raised or spent more than $1,000.00 in campaign funds. See Alabama Code Section 17-5-4.1 copied below."
Section 17-5-4.1 Exemption of Candidates for Municipal Office from Certain Filing Requirements.
A candidate running for a municipal office is exempt from the filing requirements of Sections 17-5-4 and 17-5-8, unless and until the candidate receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(Act 2024-104, §1.)”
After receiving the email from her citing the new statute without guidance on the 2024 Annual Report, 1819 reached out to the Secretary of State's Communication Director again by phone asking, "If candidates have already raised tens of thousands of dollars and they have they're filing with their county, that wouldn't qualify them for this exception?"
She responded, "I don't know that we can answer that."
When pressed, she said, "We've given you all that we give you on this issue. I don't really have more to say about it."
When asked if anyone else in the Secretary of State's office could clarify if the exemption created by Robertson's law that they kept references was for new candidates or existing accounts, she replied, "I don't have anybody for you. I've given you the official statement from the office on it."
"Candidates who have questions, have standing, to contact the ethics commission, um, but we've given you what we've got," she said, repeating a line from her email.
She recommended contacting the Ethics Commission with any further questions.
1819 News later contacted Allen directly by text, but he referred 1819 News back to the communications director, saying, "She is my spokesperson. Whatever she gave you was approved by me and my team."
Robertson and former Secretary of State John Merrill both made themselves available to discuss the issue, confirming in separate interviews that the information provided by two staff members in the Secretary of State's office was incorrect.
When asked about the intent of his bill, Robertson said, "What we wanted to do, talking to the Secretary of State, we had a lot of races throughout the state that were smaller municipalities that necessarily didn't raise money or anything for running. I mean, it was just, you know, there was so small it was kind of word of mouth, kind of campaign and grassroots."
He explained that eliminating the reporting requirements would, among other things, eliminate the cost of third-party billing for the state going after these small races where the candidates didn't have campaign staff or consultants to remind them that their reports were done.
"A lot of times the fine was, you know, more for you know, than what the some of the positions are being paid," he said. "So it was just kind of like, why are we making these people file when, you know, they're not spending any money? They're not raising any money. They still have to do everything else."
When asked specifically if he intended to create a gap year in reporting requirements for campaign accounts for last year, Robertson said, "No, that was not my intent, and the way I understand it, maybe the secretary of state can clarify, if they've already crossed that threshold, it's not going to, they're still going to have to comply with existing laws."
He didn't anticipate that it would apply to races in Alabama's Big 10 Cities or cities with costly elections.
He hoped his change would encourage individuals in small cities and towns across the state who looked at the reports as an obstacle to running for office.
He didn't hesitate when he said, "yes," that his bill was not to waive the current law.
Former Secretary of State John Merrill confirmed that the new law did not waive the annual reporting requirements.
In response to the email from the Secretary of State's office to Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato and the email to 1819 News pointing to the new law as exempting candidates with money in current accounts from annual reporting requirements, Merrill said, "Well, based on the way the language in the legislation that was adopted, that was confirmed by both Chambers and enrolled reads, that would not be accurate because that does not exempt you from current state law related to municipal filings."
He continued, "There should be no inference that an individual is exempt unless they meet the standard as described in the legislation that's been enrolled in this particular instance. Period. That means that if you currently have a balance that exceeds a thousand dollars, you still have to meet the filing threshold for the annual report as well as any other reports that are necessary where you are required to file."
Merrill also questioned the Secretary of State, referring candidates to the Ethics office for questions on election reports, saying that the Secretary of State serves as the state's chief election officer.
No staffers referenced the applicable state statute, which reads, "(c) Except as provided in subsection (i), each principal campaign committee, political action committee, and elected state and local official covered under this chapter who has not closed his or her principal campaign committee shall file annually with the Secretary of State reports of contributions and expenditures made during that year. No annual report is required to be filed by a person who holds office because he or she was appointed to serve the remainder of a term vacated by another person until the person serving has created a principal campaign committee. The annual reports required under this subsection shall be made on or before January 31 of the succeeding year."
Editors Note: This story has been updated for clarity, including adding direct quotes from Rep. Robertson and the Secretary of State's office.
Apryl Marie Fogel is a Birmingham resident who frequently appears on, and guest hosts radio programs around the state. She can be reached at [email protected] or on X and Facebook at @aprylmarie.
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