Monday’s filing deadline for political action committees and candidates — a Sunshine Laws deadline extended by the Idaho Secretary of State’s office — came and went with little Kootenai County fanfare.

“The laws themselves aren’t new,” Chad Houck, Idaho’s Chief Deputy Secretary of State, told the Coeur d’Alene Press. “There are new elements to them and an expansion of their applicability.”

The deadline to file was originally scheduled for Monday, Feb. 10. Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said that, because everyone might not have a full understanding of the full filing procedures, and because the new rules sought to adapt new technologies, candidates and political action committee treasurers could use the extra week.

“We need to make sure,” Denney said Feb. 10, “that all the wrinkles are smoothed out before we try to hold someone responsible for not getting a report filed.”

Those wrinkles, Houck said, included a downed server that prohibited larger spreadsheets from uploading, a Friday glitch that Houck said contributed to the decision to extend the deadline.

“Those last-minute IT issues made it clear we should extend the deadline out,” he said.

The more recent Monday deadline brought with it a new delay: Feb. 17 was Presidents Day. As part of the Sunshine Laws, treasurers filing C1 itemized contribution forms are required to notarize the documents. Those notary signatures and stamps couldn’t be verified on the day of the deadline, since the Secretary of State’s offices were closed in celebration of the holiday.

As a result, even though treasurers for PACs and candidates may have filed on time, not all of those filings have yet to be examined by Denney’s office. Candidate filings may have been posted for public viewing, but C1 documents might still be days away.

Houck said the expansion of Sunshine Laws is a response to the growing trend of a new transplant making its way from out-of-state into Idaho’s political landscape: money.

“As we see money flowing into the smaller jurisdictional races,” Houck said, “as that landscape has changed, this Sunshine Law as a whole has been adapting to meet that change.”

Most candidates had already filed prior to the original Feb. 10 timeline, but some locals utilized the extra time to their advantage.

David Stewart’s Kootenai County commissioner treasurer appointment was submitted on Feb. 11, as was documentation from magistrate judge candidate James Stow and sheriff’s candidate John Bauer. A total of eight candidates listed in Kootenai County filed their Sunshine Law compliance documents after the original Feb. 10 deadline.

Jeff Priest of Athol, for example, is running for trustee for the Timberlake Fire District. He filed his treasurer appointment on Feb. 13. He described that extra week as an asset.

“I’d say it definitely helps with my comfort level,” Priest said.

Still, Priest said he didn’t get his guidance from Denney’s office nearly as much as from his circle of supporters.

“Really,” he admitted, “I just followed what my buddies at the fire department told me.”