In Nevada, candidates and PACs must submit campaign finance reports on time to ensure the public knows who is powering campaigns — and failing to do so could result in fines as high as $10,000.

It’s a common problem. Across the first 11 months of 2024, the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office assessed more than $440,000 in fines related to campaign finance violations, with the PAC associated with Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford facing one of the largest at more than $20,000, according to records provided by the office. 

However, almost all of those fines have not yet been paid off, and many of them will likely end up being waived or reduced — which is part of the reason why the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office is looking to reform the penalty process in this year’s legislative session.

The only way that state officials could force the fines to be paid is through a lawsuit — a process so resource-intensive that Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar has not pursued it at all in his first two years in office.

Additionally, the current fine structure can at times impose particularly lofty fines against candidates and officials in low-ranking, or even unpaid, positions.

While the secretary of state’s office has not yet shared specifics on its proposed changes, state officials said the legislation is supposed to provide more consistency in how the penalties are enforced, as well as in the fine waiver options available for people who violated the law.

These reforms are designed to create a system where people feel they are not unduly punished — which can happen with the exorbitant fines assessed under the current law — while also not being overly lenient, which is a concern in the current system given that it’s often impractical to force the payment of fines.

“We must keep the campaign process as transparent to the public as possible, hold those who violate the law accountable, and ensure that the law itself is not unjust,” Aguilar said in a statement. “I'm confident we can find that happy medium, and I look forward to working with the legislature on solutions."

Historically, the secretary of state’s office has assessed millions of dollars in fines related to campaign finance violations, but just a fraction of that is actually paid off, according to data from the office.

Since the 2008 fiscal year, the secretary of state’s office has not collected more than $37,000 in campaign finance fines in a single fiscal year.

In the 2020 election cycle, under then-Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, the office assessed more than $2 million in fines, but more than half of those went unpaid and only about $21,000 were paid in full, with the rest being waived or reduced to much lower amounts.

What the process is

State law says candidates or PACs that submit their campaign finance reports late will be subject to fines ranging from $25 to $100 for each day the report is late, with the maximum penalty for a single violation being $10,000.

Anyone who has been assessed a fine can request a waiver from the secretary of state’s office, which determines whether to grant this request in conjunction with the attorney general’s office. In deciding whether to waive the fine, the office considers whether the candidate has a history of penalties, was affected by a public emergency or attempted to correct the mistake, among other factors.

Additionally, any penalty against a person who did not raise or spend money in the given reporting period, and whose position is unpaid, cannot be assessed a penalty of more than $100 for each campaign finance report. This rule does not apply to candidates’ financial disclosure reports — an annual report that shows a candidate’s sources of income — which officials say may be changed through forthcoming legislation.

The process is slightly different for PACs because these groups do not have to file a campaign finance report if they did not raise or spend any money in a given reporting period. However, it is difficult for officials to know whether a group is being truthful about its inactivity, and the secretary of state’s office is also looking to improve processes to audit PACs that show up as a donor on other campaign finance reports, but did not submit their own.

Who owed fines?

Through November, the secretary of state’s office imposed fines to 190 candidates and groups in 2024, including 11 that had more than $10,000 in fines.

Among those with the most money owed included Nevada’s Future PAC, the political group belonging to Ford, which was assessed more than $21,000 in fines. The group did not submit its campaign finance reports for the first three quarters of 2024 — during which it raised $42,500 and spent $10,000 — until early November.

Zoe Kleinfeld, a spokesperson for Ford, a Democrat who is a presumed candidate for Nevada governor in 2026, said that he was addressing the matter with the secretary of state’s office. 

State legislators who were assessed fines in 2024 were Sen. Roberta Lange (D-Las Vegas), who owes $250, and Assm. Tanya Flanagan (D-Las Vegas), who owes $25. Flanagan said she is pursuing an appeal because the issue stemmed from a staffer having an emergency and being unable to turn in the report on time. Lange declined to comment on the fine she faces.

However, most of the fines were assessed to lower-ranking positions, and some of them did not follow the rule that candidates who are running for unpaid positions and who did not raise or spend money should not face fines above $100 for late campaign finance reports.

For example, Derek Stonebarger, while running for the Beatty Water and Sanitation Board, was assessed more than $18,000 in fines last year for failing to submit his campaign finance reports on time, despite being in an unpaid position and not raising or spending any money.

“[Campaign finance] was the last thing on my mind when I got involved in this, in this seat, and and here I am, like, ‘Damn, I'm gonna have to pay this thing,’” Stonebarger told The Indy. 

He ultimately worked with the secretary of state’s office to lower the fine to $250 — the amount assessed for delayed annual financial disclosure filing.

“I'm just excited that, you know, that I didn't have to pay the 17 grand,” Stonebarger said.

Reporter Tabitha Mueller contributed to this story.