Political campaign treasurers would receive regular, mandatory training under a bill tentatively approved Thursday by the state House partly in response to high-profile campaign investigations in recent years.

The existing law requires only that the State Board of Elections offer training before every election. The bill would require campaign treasurers or their assistants to attend or take a class online.

The proposed change would help reduce unintentional errors in campaign reports by helping keep treasurers up to date on changes in the law, supporters said.

It's one of several recommendations from a special House ethics and government reform committee as an investigation continues into possible wrongdoing by the campaign of House Speaker Jim Black.

An inquiry also revealed a high number of reporting errors by the campaign treasurer of former Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps. The treasurer and Phipps were sentenced to federal prison for their role in a scheme to extort cash from carnival operators.

"This is a bill about keeping us out of trouble," Rep. Pryor Gibson, an Anson County Democrat, told colleagues on the House floor before it passed by a vote of 94-14.

Treasurers or assistant treasurers would have to take a class within three months of being appointed to the job and every four years thereafter. Only someone who has completed the training could sign campaign reports.

Some complained that the expanded training requirement will discourage people from volunteering for campaigns.

"Here we go again," said Rep. Joe Kiser, a Lincoln County Republican. "It's very hard to find someone to serve as your treasurer," he said. "The more restrictions you put on him or her, the more difficult it will be to find or keep that person."