Home builders and land developers would no longer be allowed to donate to mayoral or council candidates under new proposed legislation introduced Monday.

Bill 23, An Act to Renew Local Democracy in Alberta, would ban corporate and union donations to candidates running in elections for municipalities, school boards, Mé​tis Settlements or irrigation districts.

The bill includes provisions to make political action committees (PACs) that advertise before and during elections more transparent to the public.

"Putting that out there for people to see and understand who's trying to influence elections is something that we heard about a lot," Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson said. "People wanted to know, who's putting money into this?"

The act changes the period during which candidates can accept donations from four years to one, eliminating the advantage given to incumbents who can currently raise money for the next election throughout their entire term in office.

Bill 23 proposes campaign funds can only be accepted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1 during an election year.

Candidates thinking about running can accept up to $2,000 prior to that date to help with door-knocking and brochures.

The bill lowers current limits on individual donations from $5,000 to $4,000. Anderson noted the current legislation allows someone to donate $5,000 to every candidate in the province. Under the changes in Bill 23, they can only make $4,000 in total donations.

The government said it wants to set a limit for how much campaigns can spend, but will conduct additional consultation before deciding on a figure.

PACs covered under bill

If the bill is passed, all candidates, including those who fund their own campaigns, will have to disclose their donors. The names of anyone who donates more than $50 will be made public.

The legislation also empowers Alberta's new elections commissioner to investigate and prosecute those who break the rules, and to administer penalties including fines of up to $10,000.

Such matters have to be referred to the Court of Queen's Bench under the current system.

"A lot of people either didn't have the resources or the time to do that, so going to the elections commissioner is a real good step for us," Anderson said.

As under provincial legislation, there will be no limits on who can donate to PACs or how much donors can contribute.

But PACs will have to register with the jurisdiction where they want to advertise once total donations hit the $1,000 mark. The jurisdiction is required to publicly post that information.

Other reforms under the bill include prohibiting candidates from posting signs or greeting voters on the property outside a polling station, requiring communities larger than 5,000 residents to hold advanced polling and eliminating the six-month residency requirement for people to vote in local elections.

The province followed advice from the chief electoral officer and eliminated the six-month residency requirement for provincial elections last year.

If passed, the new law would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2019. Changes in Bill 23 mirror changes the government has made to provincial election campaign financing since 2015.