Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 2601 into law on June 2, 2026, making the state the 25th to prohibit foreign contributions to ballot measure committees. The legislation bans individuals who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the U.S., along with foreign governments, political parties, and groups, from making or soliciting contributions for ballot measure campaigns.
HF 2601 requires donors to ballot measure political committees to certify they are not foreign nationals. Political committees must also affirm that they have not knowingly accepted contributions from foreign nationals. The bill further prohibits foreign nationals from making independent expenditures in candidate and ballot measure elections.
The Iowa House passed the bill by a vote of 90-0 on March 23. The Iowa Senate subsequently approved the bill 44-0 on April 21. State Representative Austin Harris said, "If you want foreign nationals to meddle in our elections, vote no, but if you don't want that, and you want to protect the integrity of our elections, vote yes."
Federal law restricts candidates from soliciting, directing, or receiving contributions from foreign individuals or entities for federal, state, or local elections. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1978 in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti that spending in ballot measure elections is similar to issue advocacy and is protected under the First Amendment. In 2012, the Supreme Court upheld a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruling in Bluman v. FEC, which found the Federal Election Campaign Act's prohibition on foreign contributions to candidates constitutional.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) determined in 2018 that ballot measure campaigns are not regulated under the Federal Election Campaign Act. The FEC stated that foreign individuals, corporations, and governments may contribute to ballot measure campaigns because they are classified as issue advocacy. In other legislative actions in 2026, Alabama enacted a ban in March on foreign national contributions to both ballot measures and candidate campaigns, while Nebraska expanded its ban on foreign contributions to ballot measure committees in April. Legislators in 30 states introduced or carried over 90 bills related to foreign funding of elections in 2026.