The scope of regulated activity under the campaign finance law, public financing of elections for certain state offices, extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, making appropriations, and providing a penalty. (FE)

The change in the scope of reportable activity under the bill also applies to contribution and disbursement (spending) limitations and restrictions by causing reportable "contributions," "obligations," and "disbursements" to include the cost of all reportable communications.

Public financing of elections for certain state offices Currently, no public grants are available to finance the campaigns of any candidate for state or local office in this state. This bill creates a clean elections fund to provide grants to qualifying candidates for campaign expenses. Under the bill, a candidate for any state office other than court of appeals judge, circuit judge, or district attorney may qualify to receive a grant from the clean elections fund.

Separate grants are provided for primary and election campaigns. To qualify for a grant, a candidate must qualify to have his or her name appear on the ballot at a spring, partisan, or special primary or a spring, general, or special election for which the grant will be used. To qualify for a grant at a general or partisan special election, a candidate must be the nominee of a political party that currently qualifies to have its candidates appear on a separate ballot, or in a separate column or row on the ballot, or must receive at least 1 percent of the total vote cast on all ballots for the office that the candidate seeks at the partisan primary, or at the special primary, if a special primary is held. In addition, a candidate must raise and deposit with the state treasurer a specified number of qualifying contributions in the amount of $5 each. Each qualifying contribution must be received from an elector of this state and, for a candidate seeking legislative office, from an elector of the district in which the candidate seeks office. The name and address of the contributor must be reported to the Government Accountability Board (GAB). The number of qualifying contributions ranges from 3,000 to 100, depending on the office sought by the candidate. Prior to notification that a candidate has qualified to receive a grant, the candidate may also accept seed money contributions in amounts of not more than $100 cumulatively from a single contributor subject to aggregate limitations that vary from $50,000 to $1,500 depending upon the office sought by the candidate. The bill permits a candidate to expend the proceeds of seed money contributions for any lawful purpose.

Under the bill, a candidate may receive two kinds of grants: a basic grant and matching grants. The maximum amount of a basic grant that a candidate may receive ranges from $1,000,000 in the primary and $2,000,000 in the election to $25,000 in the primary and $50,000 in the election, depending on the office sought by the candidate, except if a candidate has no opponent whose name is certified to appear on the ballot. Under the bill, an unopposed candidate at a primary election may receive a basic grant equal to the average total disbursements made per candidate in primary elections for the office that the candidate seeks during the four-year period preceding the date of the primary election, and an unopposed candidate at a spring, general, or special election may receive a basic grant equal to the average total disbursements made per candidate in spring, general, and special elections for the office that the candidate seeks during the four-year period preceding the date of the spring, general, or special election, except that a candidate for the office of governor may receive a basic grant of $100,000 for a primary election and $200,000 for a general election. Basic grant amounts are subject to a biennial cost-of-living adjustment.

In addition to a basic grant, a qualifying candidate may receive a matching grant from the clean elections fund for each contribution up to $25 cumulatively that the candidate receives from an individual in an amount equal to three times the amount of the contribution. To receive a matching grant, a candidate must report certain information concerning the contribution to GAB. There is no limitation on the total amount of matching contributions that a candidate may qualify to receive under the bill.

To receive a grant, a candidate must affirm that he or she has not accepted and agrees not to accept, before the candidate qualifies to receive a grant, a contribution from any source other than qualifying contributions or seed money contributions.

The candidate must also agree that he or she will not accept any other contributions after the candidate qualifies to receive a basic grant except matching contributions, subject to the limitations provided in the bill. (The agreement does not apply to contributions accepted before the bill becomes law.) The total seed money contributions accepted by a candidate from one contributor, including contributions by a candidate to his or her own campaign, may not exceed $100. The total seed money contributions that may be accepted by a candidate from all contributors ranges from $50,000 to $1,500, depending on the office sought by the candidate. The bill permits grants to be spent for any lawful purpose. Under the bill, a candidate must return to the state grant moneys that are not spent by the candidate after an election except that a candidate who is nominated in a primary election need not return any grant moneys after the primary if the candidate qualifies to receive a grant for the succeeding election.

The bill provides that if a candidate does not adhere to the agreement required to obtain a grant, the candidate is subject to a forfeiture (civil penalty) equivalent to the amount of the grant that the candidate received, and may be fined an amount equal to not more than three times the amount of any contributions received by the candidate excluding the amount of any grant and any qualifying, seed money, or matching contributions that are permitted to be accepted under the bill.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to result if the bill is enacted.