Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a bill Wednesday that will help keep “foreign national[s]” from financially supporting and influencing ballot measures in the state.
Despite federal law not allowing foreign nationals to donate to individual candidates and political action committees, ballot issue campaigns are not legally seen as elections since they focus on legislation, not individual candidates running for office. Foreign nationals can use ballot measures to finance committees that determine constitutional amendments that are on voter ballots.
Missouri’s SB152 specifically bans foreign nationals from “participating in the decision-making process of any person with regard to that person’s activities to influence a ballot measure,” directly or indirectly.
The bill states that for every contribution over $2,000, donor committees must ensure an individual donor is not a “foreign national” or has not “willingly accepted funds” of over $10,000 from foreign nationals within two years “immediately preceding the date the contribution is made.” In the case of “entities” such as committees, they must not accept funds over $10,000 in the next four years.
“The Missouri Attorney General’s Office will have a process for civil investigation of violations in this provision” with the bill requiring “more accountability to the campaign treasurer to receive affirmation” that money did not come from foreign nationals, a representative from Kehoe’s office told The Federalist.
This loophole is now banned in Missouri, Wyoming, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Eight of these states passed legislation on the issue this year.
“Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has funneled nearly $300 million through the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a dark money group that has spent $130 million on ballot measures in 26 states,” Executive Director of Honest Elections Projection Action Jason Snead said.
Missouri itself received $13 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, “more than any other state,” Snead added.
Wyss is known for supporting liberal political groups through the Wyss Foundation. He “has quietly become one of the most important donors to left-leaning advocacy groups and an increasingly influential force among Democrats,” The New York Times said in 2021.
The issue over foreign funding toward ballot measures started with Ohio’s 2024 election when the Wyss-backed Sixteen Thirty poured $11 million to a “2023 Ohio pro-abortion ballot initiative,” The Federalist’s Shawn Fleetwood reported.
During Missouri’s 2024 election, the conservative state overturned their previous abortion ban, legalizing abortion up to the vague “fetal viability” line.
The campaign behind Missouri’s pro-abortion ballot measure, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, raised $31 million by Oct of 2024. $9 million of that was raised by “out-of-state groups that aren’t required to disclose their donors,” the Missouri Independent reported.
“The issue is larger than Wyss and the Sixteen Thirty Fund taking advantage of this loophole,” Caitlin Sutherland, Executive Director for Americans for Public Trust, told The Federalist.
“There is nothing stopping other foreign nationals and foreign adversaries from contributing to ballot measures in states that haven’t passed legislation banning foreign money,” she said.
The Missouri bill will go into effect in August.
Abigail Nichols is a correspondent for The Federalist. She was previously the opinion editor for the University of South Florida’s student newspaper, The Oracle. She is now working as the business manager at the University of North Florida’s student-run media outlet, Spinnaker Media, while obtaining a Master’s Degree in Social work.
