Welcome to the Friday, April 11, Brew.
By: Mercedes Yanora and Joseph Brusgard
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Kansas, Kentucky, and Wyoming join nine other states in restricting foreign contributions to ballot measure campaigns
- Behind the ballot: how volunteers power Ballotpedia’s voter information mission
- On this week’s episode of On the Ballot – will Idaho join 30 other states with English as its official language?
Kansas, Kentucky, and Wyoming join nine other states in restricting foreign contributions to ballot measure campaigns
This year, Kansas, Kentucky, and Wyoming have enacted new laws restricting foreign contributions to ballot measure campaigns. This is the most states to enact such a law in a single year. In past years, only one such law has been enacted per year.
The three states join nine others with laws prohibiting foreign contributions: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington. Indiana could also join this list, as the legislature passed a bill on April 3 currently pending with Gov. Mike Braun (R).
As of April 8, Ballotpedia’s Election Administration Legislation Tracker is following 68 bills related to foreign contributions and campaign finance.
Of the states that have passed a restriction on foreign contributions to ballot measure campaigns:
- Two passed under a Democratic trifecta
- Four passed under a Republican trifecta
- Five passed under Divided governments
- One was passed by a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment.
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that foreign nationals were prohibited from making contributions to candidates under the Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA). However, FECA “does not bar foreign nationals from issue advocacy,” according to SCOTUS. In 1978, the court ruled in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti that “Referenda are held on issues, not candidates for public office.” The court has held that contributing to ballot measure campaigns is similar to issue advocacy, such as lobbying, in lawmaking.
Consequently, the Federal Election Commission allowed foreign individuals, corporations, and governments to contribute to ballot measure campaigns.
While 12 states have laws restricting foreign contributions to ballot measure campaigns, they differ in how they define foreign nationals. Most states use a definition similar to federal law:
- persons who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents;
- foreign governments and political parties; and
- entities organized under foreign laws or with a principal place of business in a foreign country.
Some states, like Maine and South Dakota, restrict only foreign governments or government-influenced entities and do not ban foreign individuals from contributing to ballot measures.
The laws also differ in whether they prohibit only direct foreign contributions or include indirect contributions. A direct contribution is giving money straight to a ballot measure committee. An indirect contribution is giving money to another group — such as a nonprofit — that then passes the funds on to a ballot measure committee.
Below are the three recently enacted laws. Kansas and Kentucky have divided governments, and Wyoming has a Republican trifecta. Additionally, Kansas and Kentucky are just two of four states where one party holds the governorship while a different one has a veto-proof majority in the legislature.
Kansas House Bill 2106
House Bill 2106 (HB 2106) requires ballot measure campaign finance reports to include a certification stating: (1) the committee has not knowingly accepted any contributions or expenditures — directly or indirectly — from a foreign national, and (2) each donor listed is not a foreign national and has not knowingly received more than $100,000 in contributions or expenditures from a foreign national within the four years before making their contribution or expenditure.
The bill defined foreign nationals as people who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; foreign governments; foreign political parties; entities organized under foreign laws; and U.S.-based entities that are wholly or majority-owned by foreign nationals, with exceptions.
In the House vote, every Republican present voted for the bill, while 11 Democrats voted in favor and 25 voted against. Six representatives, five of whom were Republicans and one of whom was a Democrat, did not vote for the bill. The Senate passed HB 2106 39-0, with one Republican senator not voting. The bill became law on April 10 without Gov. Laura Kelly’s (D) signature.
Kentucky House Bill 45
House Bill 45 (HB 45) prohibits foreign nationals from directly or indirectly making contributions or expenditures related to a ballot measure, soliciting others to do so, or participating in or directing another person’s decision to support or oppose a ballot measure.
The bill defined foreign nationals similarly to Kansas HB 2106.
In the Senate, 29 Republicans supported HB 45, while 12 Democrats opposed it. Two Republicans and one Democrat did not vote. In the House, the bill passed with 85 Republicans supporting it. Democrats were split — four voted in favor, and 12 voted against. Two Republicans and one Democrat did not vote. Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed the bill on March 24, 2025.
Wyoming House Bill 337
House Bill 337 (HB 337) prohibits individuals from indirectly making foreign donations to ballot measure committees. This means foreign nationals cannot provide funds to another committee, organization, or individual for the purpose of contributing to a ballot measure committee. It defines foreign nationals based on federal law — 52 U.S.C. § 30121(b) — which includes foreign governments, political parties, corporations, associations, and individuals. This definition excludes non-citizen U.S. nationals, such as people born in unincorporated territories like American Samoa.
In the Wyoming Legislature, most Republicans and Democrats supported HB 337. During the House vote, two representatives — Rep. Bob Nicholas (R-7) and Rep. Liz Storer (D-23) — voted against the bill, while two other representatives did not vote.
Behind the ballot: how volunteers power Ballotpedia’s voter information mission
Please join me here each Friday for my column on what Ballotpedia is focused on building for you and for voters across the country. Your feedback and insights are welcome.
One of Ballotpedia’s biggest challenges is providing voters with comprehensive information about every candidate on their ballot. Tracking down the basics — who the candidates are, how to contact them, who has endorsed them, and what their issues are — can be surprisingly difficult.
But it’s not impossible, thanks in part to the dedication and resourcefulness of Ballotpedia’s volunteers.
Our volunteers are at the heart of our mission to connect people with politics. They come from various backgrounds and all parts of the country. What they all have in common is their strong belief in Ballotpedia’s mission of providing voters with nonpartisan, fact-based information so they can make informed decisions.
I talked to Kaley Platek, Ballotpedia’s volunteer manager, about the Ballotpedia Fellows Program, which we launched in 2020, and other aspects of our volunteer effort. Kaley said that “many of our Fellows are high school and college students who are eager to learn more about the political process. Others are retired individuals or mid-career professionals from a variety of fields and disciplines looking to make a difference.”
These volunteers are making the biggest difference in gathering information about the tens of thousands of local candidates running for office across the country — not just names or party affiliations but also the kind of information voters need to have a complete picture of what their candidates stand for, how they think, and what they hope to achieve.
Kaley said, “We have over 37,000 candidates for local office this year in our database, more than 13,000 of whom are in contested elections.”
“Volunteers research these candidates and collect up to 20 data points, including contact information, social media profiles, and campaign websites. This data is added to Ballotpedia’s candidate profiles for voters to reference and is also used in outreach for our Candidate Connection Survey.”
This is exactly the sort of information we want to provide to every voter about every candidate on their ballot. However, getting this deeply sourced information comes with its own challenges.
“Since our volunteer program focuses on local candidate research,” Kaley said, “it can sometimes be difficult to find information on these candidates online.”
“In an ideal world, a candidate would have a campaign website with their contact information, links to other social media profiles, and a clearly laid out issues subpage. But our volunteers find that that is typically not the case! Sometimes, candidates have no information available online, and other times, it takes quite a bit of digging to find an email address.”
But our volunteers keep digging because the information they uncover is precious to voters and candidates alike. For candidates, the benefit is being able to engage voters personally, without filters or time and budget constraints. For voters, one of the biggest benefits is getting to know their candidates as people, not just as names on a ballot.
Kaley said Ballotpedia’s Volunteer Program “will likely play a greater role in collecting new types of attributes on candidates, helping us further enhance the data available in local races.”
“The volunteer program increased from 100 volunteers in 2023 to 281 in 2024, leading to more than 40,000 local candidates being researched,” Kaley said. “We expect this growth to continue, as the more volunteers we have, the more of a difference we can make!”
To learn more or to participate in Ballotpedia’s Volunteer Program, click here.
On this week’s episode of On the Ballot – Idaho’s ballot measure to become the 31st state with English as its official language
In this week’s new episode of On The Ballot, host Geoff Pallay and the Idaho Capitol Sun’s Kyle Pfannenstiel discuss a 2026 constitutional amendment in Idaho that would make English the state’s official language.
If approved, Idaho would join 30 other states that have made English their official language. Twelve of these states did so through ballot measures. On the federal level, President Donald Trump (R) issued an executive order designating English as the official language of the United States on March 1, 2025.
Pallay and Pfannenstiel discuss how constitutional amendments are put on the ballot in Idaho, what Idahoans think of the amendment, what to expect if the amendment is approved, and other priorities on the legislature’s radar this year. Pfannensteil discussed the arguments made by Idaho lawmakers and noted how “supporters… referenced President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring English as the United States’ official language.”
Additionally, Ballotpedia’s Ryan Byrne joins the podcast to discuss the history of these ballot measures across the country throughout history.
Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app, or listen here.