Foreign Contributions To Ballot Committees Banned Under Bill

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 11/07/2025) Foreign contributions to ballot initiatives would be banned under HB 5197 and HB 5198, just like they are banned from political candidates and Super PACs.

Current federal law outlaws foreign nationals from donating money or in-kind contributions to campaigns, candidates or PACs, but ballot initiatives aren't subject to the same restriction, Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) said in the House Election Integrity committee last week.

"This critical loophole exposes state and local initiatives and referenda to otherwise illegal foreign influence, and foreign-tied spending will continue in states until this is closed," Smit said.

Smit said the problem is exacerbated because a ballot question committee has fewer restraints on the source of their funding and can accept unlimited donations from legal sources, and combined with the allowance of foreign contributions, makes it so that 501c4s can accept foreign funds and donate them to ballot question committees. This makes existing foreign influence difficult to trace.

Rep. Joseph Pavlov (R-Kimball Township) said that under Proposal 3 of 2022, contributions from out of state helped fund it, and asked if there's a way to prevent foreign money from flowing into Michigan by going through other states first.

Jason Snead of the Honest Elections Project said the ban needs to address both direct and indirect foreign contributions to ballot initiatives, be designed to prevent groups from laundering large sums by accepting and using foreign donations for other organizational purposes, apply to independent expenditures to avoid outside organizations from channeling foreign money and apply the ban to individual foreign nationals.

Rep. William Bruck (R-Erie), sponsor of HB 5198, testified on his bill, saying that it would require people involved in election administration to file certification with the Secretary of State saying whether they knowingly receive foreign donations.

"Can you assure that no foreign money will ever go to elections or even the administration of it? No, you can't. But this particular bill here, 5198 as well as 5197, give some penalties if you do knowingly violate that," Bruck said.

Snead said people entrust election officials and their staff to run elections in a fair, transparent and accountable fashion.