Bill Text: MI SB0815 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Campaign finance; committees; definitions of candidate committee and committee; revise. Amends secs. 3 & 26 of 1976 PA 388 (MCL 169.203 & 169.226).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-25 - Referred To Committee On Local Government And Elections [SB0815 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-SB0815-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 815
February 25, 2014, Introduced by Senators BIEDA and HOPGOOD and referred to the Committee on Local Government and Elections.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled
"Michigan campaign finance act,"
by amending sections 3 and 26 (MCL 169.203 and 169.226), section 3
as amended by 2012 PA 273 and section 26 as amended by 2013 PA 252.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 3. (1) "Candidate" means an individual who meets 1 or
more of the following criteria:
(a) Files a fee, an affidavit of incumbency, or a nominating
petition for an elective office.
(b) Is nominated as a candidate for elective office by a
political party caucus or convention and whose nomination is
certified to the appropriate filing official.
(c) Receives a contribution, makes an expenditure, or gives
consent for another person to receive a contribution or make an
expenditure with a view to bringing about the individual's
nomination or election to an elective office, whether or not the
specific elective office for which the individual will seek
nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is
received or the expenditure is made.
(d) Is an officeholder who is the subject of a recall vote.
(e) Holds an elective office, unless the officeholder is
constitutionally or legally barred from seeking reelection or fails
to file for reelection to that office by the applicable filing
deadline. An individual described in this subdivision is considered
to be a candidate for reelection to that same office for the
purposes of this act only.
For purposes of sections 61 to 71, "candidate" only means, in
a primary election, a candidate for the office of governor and, in
a general election, a candidate for the office of governor or
lieutenant governor. However, the candidates for the office of
governor and lieutenant governor of the same political party in a
general election shall be considered as 1 candidate.
(2) "Candidate committee" means the committee designated in a
candidate's filed statement of organization as that individual's
candidate committee. A candidate committee shall be under the
control and direction of the candidate named in the same statement
of organization. Notwithstanding subsection (4), an individual
shall form a candidate committee under section 21 if the individual
becomes a candidate under subsection (1).
(3) "Closing date" means the date through which a campaign
statement is required to be complete.
(4) "Committee" means a person who receives contributions or
makes expenditures for the purpose of influencing or attempting to
influence the action of the voters for or against the nomination or
election of a candidate, the qualification, passage, or defeat of a
ballot question, or the qualification of a new political party, if
contributions received total $500.00 or more in a calendar year or
expenditures made total $500.00 or more in a calendar year.
Committee includes a political organization recognized by the
internal revenue service under 26 USC 527 that has an officer,
director, board member, or trustee who is a resident of this state.
An individual, other than a candidate, does not constitute a
committee. A person, other than a committee registered under this
act, making an expenditure to a ballot question committee, shall
not, for that reason, be considered a committee for the purposes of
this act unless the person solicits or receives contributions for
the purpose of making an expenditure to that ballot question
committee.
Sec. 26. (1) A campaign statement of a committee, other than a
political party committee, required by this act shall contain all
of the following information:
(a) The filing committee's name, address, and telephone
number, and the full name, residential and business addresses, and
telephone numbers of the committee treasurer or other individual
designated as responsible for the committee's record keeping,
report preparation, or report filing.
(b) Under the heading "receipts", the total amount of
contributions received during the period covered by the campaign
statement; under the heading "expenditures", the total amount of
expenditures made during the period covered by the campaign
statement; and the cumulative amount of those totals. Forgiveness
of a loan shall not be included in the totals. Payment of a loan by
a third party shall be recorded and reported as an in-kind
contribution by the third party. In-kind contributions or
expenditures shall be listed at fair market value and shall be
reported as both contributions and expenditures. A contribution or
expenditure that is by other than completed and accepted payment,
gift, or other transfer, that is clearly not legally enforceable,
and that is expressly withdrawn or rejected and returned before a
campaign statement closing date need not be included in the
campaign statement and if included may, in a later or amended
statement, be shown as a deduction, but the committee shall keep
adequate records of each instance.
(c) The balance of cash on hand at the beginning and the end
of the period covered by the campaign statement.
(d) The following information regarding each fund-raising
event shall be included in the report:
(i) The type of event, date held, address and name, if any, of
the place where the activity was held, and approximate number of
individuals participating or in attendance.
(ii) The total amount of all contributions.
(iii) The gross receipts of the fund-raising event.
(iv) The expenditures incident to the event.
(e) The full name of each individual from whom contributions
are received during the period covered by the campaign statement,
together with the individual's street address, the amount
contributed, the date on which each contribution was received, and
the cumulative amount contributed by that individual. The
occupation, employer, and principal place of business shall be
stated if the individual's cumulative contributions are more than
$100.00. For contributions of $5.00 or less by an individual to a
political committee or independent committee, the secretary of
state shall accept for filing any written communication from the
political committee or independent committee that contains the
information otherwise required under this subsection. Any such
written communication does not need to contain an original
signature.
(f) The cumulative amount contributed and the name and address
of each individual, except those individuals reported under
subdivision (e), who contributed to the committee. The occupation,
employer, and principal place of business shall be stated for each
individual who contributed more than $100.00.
(g) The name and street address of each person, other than an
individual, from whom contributions are received during the period
covered by the campaign statement, together with an itemization of
the amounts contributed, the date on which each contribution was
received, and the cumulative amount contributed by that person.
(h) The name, address, and amount given by an individual who
contributed to the total amount contributed by a person who is
other than a committee or an individual. The occupation, employer,
and principal place of business shall be stated if the individual
contributed more than $100.00 of the total amount contributed by a
person who is other than a committee or an individual.
(i) The cumulative total of expenditures of $50.00 or less
made during the period covered by the campaign statement except for
expenditures made to or on behalf of another committee, candidate,
or ballot question.
(j) The full name and street address of each person to whom
expenditures totaling more than $50.00 were made, together with the
amount of each separate expenditure to each person during the
period covered by the campaign statement; the purpose of the
expenditure; the full name and street address of the person
providing the consideration for which any expenditure was made if
different from the payee; the itemization regardless of amount of
each expenditure made to or on behalf of another committee,
candidate, or ballot question; and the cumulative amount of
expenditures for or against that candidate or ballot question for
an election cycle. An expenditure made in support of more than 1
candidate or ballot question, or both, shall be apportioned
reasonably among the candidates or ballot questions, or both.
(k) For a candidate committee of a candidate who controls or
directs a political organization recognized by the internal revenue
service under 26 USC 527, all donors, contributions, and
expenditures of that political organization. A candidate controls
or directs a political organization if any director, officer, or
board member of the political organization is employed by or serves
as an agent to the candidate, as determined by the totality of the
circumstances.
(2) A candidate committee or ballot question committee shall
report all cumulative amounts required by this section on a per
election cycle basis. Except for subsection (1)(j), an independent
committee or political committee shall report all cumulative
amounts required by this section on a calendar year basis.
(3) A campaign statement of a committee, in addition to the
other information required by this section, shall include an
itemized list of all expenditures during the reporting period for
election day busing of electors to the polls, get-out-the-vote
activities, slate cards, challengers, poll watchers, and poll
workers.
(4) For a reporting period in which a contribution is received
that is to be part of a bundled contribution or a reporting period
in which a bundled contribution is delivered to the candidate
committee of a candidate for statewide elective office, a bundling
committee shall report to the secretary of state, on a form
provided by the secretary of state, all of the following
information, as applicable, about each contribution received or
delivered as part of a bundled contribution, and about each bundled
contribution delivered, in the reporting period:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the bundling committee, and the candidate for statewide elective
office whom the contributor designated as the intended recipient.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation,
employer, and principal place of business.
(c) The date each contribution is delivered to the candidate's
statewide elective office candidate committee.
(d) The total amount of bundled contributions delivered to
that candidate committee during the reporting period and during the
election cycle.
(5) With its delivery of a bundled contribution to the
candidate committee of a candidate for statewide elective office, a
bundling committee shall deliver a report to that candidate
committee, on a form provided by the secretary of state, that
includes all of the following information, as applicable, about
each contribution delivered as part of the bundled contribution,
and about all bundled contributions delivered to that candidate
committee in the election cycle:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the bundling committee, and the statewide elective office
candidate the contributor designated as the intended recipient.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation,
employer, and principal place of business.
(c) The total amount of bundled contributions delivered to
that candidate committee during the reporting period and during the
election cycle.
(6) For a reporting period in which a bundled contribution is
received, a candidate committee of a candidate for statewide
elective office shall report to the secretary of state, on a form
provided by the secretary of state, all of the following
information, as applicable, about each contribution delivered as
part of a bundled contribution received in the reporting period and
about all bundled contributions received by that candidate
committee:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the candidate committee, and the name of the bundling committee
that delivered the contribution.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation,
employer, and principal place of business.
(c) The total amount of bundled contributions received by that
candidate committee during the reporting period and during the
election cycle.
