Bill Text: MI HB4022 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Elections; campaign practices; do-not-call list for automated political telephone calls; provide for. Amends secs. 2, 5 & 11 of 1976 PA 388 (MCL 169.202 et seq.) & adds sec. 48.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-01-27 - Printed Bill Filed 01/23/2009 [HB4022 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2009-HB4022-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL No. 4022
January 22, 2009, Introduced by Rep. Rick Jones and referred to the Committee on Ethics and Elections.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled
"Michigan campaign finance act,"
by amending sections 2, 5, and 11 (MCL 169.202, 169.205, and
169.211), section 2 as amended by 2001 PA 250, section 5 as amended
by 1999 PA 237, and section 11 as amended by 1996 PA 590, and by
adding section 48.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. (1) "Automated telephonic communication" means any
outbound telephone call that plays a recorded message to promote,
advertise, or campaign for or against a political candidate or a
political issue.
(2) (1) "Award" means a plaque,
trophy, certificate, bust,
ceremonial gavel, or memento.
(3) (2)
"Ballot question" means a question that is submitted
or is intended to be submitted to a popular vote at an election
whether or not it qualifies for the ballot.
(4) (3)
"Ballot question committee" means a committee acting
in support of, or in opposition to, the qualification, passage, or
defeat of a ballot question but that does not receive contributions
or make expenditures or contributions for the purpose of
influencing or attempting to influence the action of the voters for
or against the nomination or election of a candidate.
(5) (4)
"Bundle" means for a bundling committee to deliver 1
or more contributions from individuals to the candidate committee
of a candidate for statewide elective office, without the money
becoming money of the bundling committee.
(6) (5)
"Bundling committee" means an independent committee or
political committee that makes an expenditure to solicit or collect
from individuals contributions that are to be part of a bundled
contribution, which expenditure is required to be reported as an
in-kind expenditure for a candidate for statewide elective office.
(7) (6)
"Business" means a corporation, limited liability
company, partnership, sole proprietorship, firm, enterprise,
franchise, association, organization, self-employed individual,
holding company, joint stock company, receivership, trust,
activity, or entity that is organized for profit or nonprofit
purposes.
Sec. 5. (1) "Domestic dependent sovereign" means an Indian
tribe that has been acknowledged, recognized, restored, or
reaffirmed as an Indian tribe by the secretary of the interior
pursuant
to chapter 576, 48 Stat. 984, 25 U.S.C. USC 461 to 463,
464 to 465, 466 to 470, 471 to 472, 473, 474 to 475, 476 to 478,
and 479, commonly referred to as the Indian reorganization act, or
has otherwise been acknowledged by the United States government as
an Indian tribe.
(2) "Do-not-call list" means a do-not-call list of individuals
designated by the public service commission concerning automated
telephonic communications.
(3) (2)
"Election" means a primary, general, special, or
millage election held in this state or a convention or caucus of a
political party held in this state to nominate a candidate.
Election includes a recall vote.
(4) (3)
"Election cycle" means 1 of the following:
(a) For a general election, the period beginning the day
following the last general election in which the office appeared on
the ballot and ending on the day of the general election in which
the office next appears on the ballot.
(b) For a special election, the period beginning the day a
special general election is called or the date the office becomes
vacant, whichever is earlier, and ending on the day of the special
general election.
(5) (4)
"Elective office" means a public office filled by an
election. A person who is appointed to fill a vacancy in a public
office that is ordinarily elective holds an elective office.
Elective office does not include the office of precinct delegate.
Except for the purposes of sections 47, 54, and 55, elective office
does not include a school board member in a school district that
has a pupil membership of 2,400 or less enrolled on the most recent
pupil membership count day. However, elective office includes a
school board member in a school district that has a pupil
membership of 2,400 or less, if a candidate committee of a
candidate for the office of school board member in that school
district receives an amount in excess of $1,000.00 or expends an
amount in excess of $1,000.00. Elective office does not include a
federal office except for the purposes of section 57.
Sec. 11. (1) "Person" means a business, individual,
proprietorship, firm, partnership, joint venture, syndicate,
business trust, labor organization, company, corporation,
association, committee, or any other organization or group of
persons acting jointly.
(2) "Political committee" means a committee that is not a
candidate committee, political party committee, independent
committee, or ballot question committee.
(3) "Political merchandise" means goods such as bumper
stickers, pins, hats, beverages, literature, or other items sold by
a person at a fund raiser or to the general public for publicity or
for the purpose of raising funds to be used in supporting or
opposing a candidate for nomination for or election to an elective
office or in supporting or opposing the qualification, passage, or
defeat of a ballot question.
(4) "Political party" means a political party which has a
right under law to have the names of its candidates listed on the
ballot in a general election.
(5) "Political party committee" means a state central,
district, or county committee of a political party which is a
committee. Each state central committee shall designate the
official party county and district committees. There shall not be
more than 1 officially designated political party committee per
county and per congressional district.
(6) "Political solicitor" means a person who makes or causes
to be made an automated telephonic communication.
(7) (6)
"Public body" means 1 or more of the following:
(a) A state agency, department, division, bureau, board,
commission, council, authority, or other body in the executive
branch of state government.
(b) The legislature or an agency, board, commission, or
council in the legislative branch of state government.
(c) A county, city, township, village, intercounty, intercity,
or regional governing body; a council, school district, special
district, or municipal corporation; or a board, department,
commission, or council or an agency of a board, department,
commission, or council.
(d) Any other body that is created by state or local authority
or is primarily funded by or through state or local authority,
which body exercises governmental or proprietary authority or
performs a governmental or proprietary function.
Sec. 48. (1) Within 90 days after the effective date of the
amendatory act that added this section, the commission shall do 1
of the following:
(a) Establish a state do-not-call list concerning automated
telephonic communications. If the commission establishes a state
do-not-call list under this subdivision, it shall publish that list
quarterly for use by political solicitors. The commission may at
any time cease to maintain a list under this subdivision and make a
designation under subdivision (b).
(b) Investigate any national do-not-call lists then in
existence and after consideration of each list's accessibility to
political solicitors, ease and cost of registration for individuals
seeking inclusion, and the list transfer policies of the list
keeper, designate a list as the authorized do-not-call list. The
commission may review and make a different designation under this
subdivision at any time if the commission determines that an
alternative do-not-call list provides superior accessibility to
political solicitors and ease and cost of registration for
individuals seeking inclusion or if the organization maintaining a
previously designated do-not-call list engages in activities the
commission considers contrary to the public interest. The
commission may at any time discontinue a designation under this
subdivision and establish and maintain a list under subdivision
(a).
(2) In determining whether to establish or designate a do-not-
call list under subsection (1), or in designating a do-not-call
list under subsection (1)(b), the commission shall consider
comments from individuals, political solicitors, or any other
person.
(3) Beginning 90 days after the commission establishes or
designates a do-not-call list under subsection (1), a political
solicitor shall not make or cause to be made an automated
telephonic communication from within this state to an individual
whose name is on the then-current version of the do-not-call list.
(4) A political solicitor shall not use a do-not-call list for
any purpose other than meeting the requirements of subsection (3).
A political solicitor shall not sell or transfer a do-not-call list
to any person for any purpose unrelated to this section.
(5) If the commission establishes and maintains the do-not-
call list under subsection (1), the commission shall not sell or
transfer the do-not-call list to any person for any purpose
unrelated to this section.
(6) As used in this section, "commission" means the public
service commission.
