Spouses of public officials in Minnesota, unlike many other states, do not publicly report their financial interests.
That would change if legislators follow the direction of the state's Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, which made numerous recommendations on Thursday largely aimed at improving transparency in money and government.
The six-member board also proposed regulating cryptocurrency donations to campaigns and expanding public reporting on lobbying and on ads that don't expressly advocate for a candidate but can influence votes.
But whether any of the recommendations will become law is up to state leaders, who return to the Capitol in January. In many cases, this isn't the board's first attempt to persuade legislators to make the changes.
The board first suggested years ago that Minnesota set rules on cryptocurrency donations to political campaigns.
"The volatility of cryptocurrency is what we're concerned about," board Executive Director Jeff Sigurdson said of the proposal that would require campaigns to convert such donations to cash within five days.
The board also began recommending in 2018 that legislators change the law to require public officials to include their spouses' financial holdings when they file their economic interest statements. Sigurdson said that bill stalled in the Legislature after debate about whether to disclose domestic partners' finances as well, which the board said should also be reported.
"Presumably those [spouses] are close enough, or the domestic partners are close enough, that if one person is holding a bunch of investments in 3M and then later the official has to vote on something 3M-related, say, then you would want to know about that as a potential conflict," Board Chair Faris Rashid said.
