Legislative Session number- 82

Bill Name: SF0388

E Relating to elections ARTICLE 1"Fair and Clean Elections Act"; changing
criminal penalties for certain election law violations to civil penalties,
authorizing imposition by the state campaign finance and public disclosure board
of civil penalties for certain other violations, specifying certain civil
penalty limits and certain duties of the district court relating to civil
actions brought for false statements; prohibiting board publication of home
addresses or telephone numbers from reports or statements on the web site;
defining or recodifying the definitions of certain terms; regulating the
organization of political and principal campaign committees and party units,
requiring candidate formation of a single principal campaign committee for each
office sought for contributions and public subsidies acceptance purposes;
requiring and providing for political funds under certain conditions,
prohibiting commingling and requiring a treasurer; regulating conduit funds;
specifying certain accounting requirements of treasurers and requiring and
providing for treasurers registration of committees or funds with the board;
placing certain restrictions on the acceptance and retention of contributions,
specifying certain deposit requirements and restrictions and certain reporting
requirements; requiring registration numbers on contribution checks; prohibiting
the earmarking of contributions, imposing a criminal penalty for violation;
regulating expenditures, specifying certain restrictions, providing for petty
cash; providing for the rendering of bills, charges or claims; providing for
campaign contribution and expenditure reports, specifying certain time period,
electronic filing, content and disclosure requirements; providing for the
treatment of independent expenditures, requiring and providing for the filing of
a notice of intent with the board; requiring the board to exempt certain persons
from disclosure requirements under certain conditions, procedure; authorizing
the board to impose a late filing fee for failure to file, specifying certain
board notice requirements; requiring and providing for third party reimbursement
and solicitor reports; specifying certain contribution limits for candidates for
constitutional office and the legislature, exempting certain deliveries from
bundling limits; prohibiting the acceptance of loans in excess of the
contribution limits; regulating contributions to and from other candidates and
to political committees, funds or parties, restricting transfers between party
units; prohibiting contributions and solicitations during regular legislative
sessions, imposing a civil penalty for violation and exempting legislative
special election candidates from the prohibition; providing for political
contribution refunds to income taxpayers, specifying political party eligibility
and certain duties of the commissioner of revenue and providing a standing
appropriation to the commissioner for the refunds; imposing certain voluntary
spending limits on candidates for constitutional office and the legislature for
public subsidies receipt purposes, providing for release from expenditure limits
under certain opponent conditions and for inflation adjustments of dollar
amounts; regulating multicandidate political party expenditures; requiring and
providing for the signing and filing of spending limit agreements with the board
for public subsidies receipt purposes, specifying certain qualifying
contribution and affidavit requirements; providing for the payment of public
subsidies by the board, requiring the withholding of payments for failure to
file campaign finance reports and requiring the return of the subsidies under
certain conditions; authorizing certain carryforwards; imposing a civil penalty
for exceeding contribution or expenditure limits, providing for conciliation
agreements and civil actions; requiring and providing for the dissolution of
inactive committees and funds, specifying certain conditions for termination and
providing for the transfer of debts; providing for free broadcast or audio clip
time for political candidates participating in the public subsidy program by
public television and radio stations; exempting certain candidates from the
affidavit of candidacy filing fee; requiring designation by the board as a
participating candidate in the public subsidy program for certain campaign
materials or communications claims purposes; making conforming amendments to
certain statutory provisions; providing transition provisions relating to the
election cycle, contribution and expenditure limits, carryforwards and campaign
finance reports; appropriating money to the board for publication of campaign
finance reports on the worldwide web; repealing certain existing provisions
regulating the conduct of candidates for statewide office; specifying certain
renumbering and notation instructions to the revisor of statutes ARTICLE
2Redefining expenditure and independent expenditure for campaign financing
purposes, providing for rebuttal of certain presumed expenditures; prohibiting
independent expenditures by political parties or party units, releasing
political parties agreeing not to make independent expenditures as a condition
of receiving a public subsidy from the prohibition while remaining eligible for
a public subsidy under certain conditions and specifying certain notice
requirements of political parties not agreeing to theprohibition, subjecting
political parties or party units violating theprohibition to a civil fine;
restricting state elections campaign fund party account allocations to state
committees of political parties signing and filing spending limit agreements,
requiring cancellation of the balance of the account to the general fund;
changing the deadline for candidate filing of spending limit agreements and
requiring and providing for filing of the agreements by political parties,
requiring state campaign finance and public disclosure board notice to the
commissioner of revenue, imposing a penalty on political party chairs not
signing an agreement and issuing income tax refund receipt forms, prohibiting
refunds for contributions to political parties not signing an agreement,
defining party unit for income tax refund purposes; transition provisions(je,
ja)