BOISE — Two bills to beef up Idaho’s campaign finance reporting laws were introduced without dissent in a Senate committee on Wednesday, and Sen. Patti Anne Lodge said the changes are needed.

Both were recommended by a joint interim committee of lawmakers from both houses and both parties that Lodge co-chaired; the panel unanimously endorsed the changes in October. Lodge said the bills will get a full committee hearing on Monday in the Senate State Affairs Committee, which she chairs.

“If you’re going to be in politics, you need to be transparent on where the money’s coming from,” she said, “and the citizens have the right to know who’s involved in some of these elections or initiatives.”

Among the proposed changes:

• Reporting requirements would expand to all levels of state and local government in Idaho, once $500 or more is raised or spent.

• All reports would go into a single, searchable database to be operated by the Secretary of State’s office.

• Reporting would be required monthly for the four months prior to each election, including primary and general elections.

• Fines of $50 a day would start immediately for those who fail to file disclosure reports on time, rather than first allowing a grace period.

Lodge said the main bill has a starting date for the changes of Jan. 1, 2020, to allow cities to complete their elections next fall before they transition to the new rules. The second bill addresses reporting requirements for independent expenditures and electioneering communications.

Neither bill has any fiscal impact to the general fund, as the Idaho Secretary of State’s office already has received funding for the new reporting system, and its installation is under way.

“It is so much easier to report than it was before,” Lodge said, “so people shouldn’t have as much trouble.”

The interim committee, she said, “did a great job.”