Bills · 2017-2018 Regular Session
Relating to: the prosecution and venue for trial of certain offenses by certain state residents.
Court — Procedure District attorney Elections — Campaign expense Elections commission Electric utility Ethics Ethics commission Lobbying
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill changes the venue for trials involving violations of elections, ethics,
and lobbying regulation laws.
Under current law, with limited exceptions, civil violations of elections laws and
of laws related to the official functions of the subject of an investigation or any matter
that relates to elections that are alleged to be committed by a resident of this state
are prosecuted by the Elections Commission or by the district attorney for the
prosecutorial unit (in most cases, the county) where the subject resides. Also under
current law, with similar exceptions, civil violations of campaign finance, ethics, and
lobbying regulation laws and of laws related to the official functions of the subject
of an investigation or any matter that relates to campaign finance, ethics, or lobbying
that are alleged to be committed by a resident of this state are prosecuted by the
Ethics Commission or by the district attorney for the prosecutorial unit where the
subject resides. With similar exceptions, civil violations of these laws by
nonresidents are prosecuted by the respective commission or by the district attorney
for the prosecutorial unit where an alleged violation occurs. Criminal violations of
these laws are prosecuted solely by the same district attorney, subject to the same
exceptions. With certain limited exceptions, the trial in any such civil or criminal
prosecution of a resident of this state, as well as in any lobbying license revocation
action brought by the Ethics Commission, is held in circuit court for the county where
the subject resides. With similar exceptions, the trial in any such civil or criminal
prosecution of a nonresident of this state is held in circuit court for the county where
an alleged violation occurs.
This bill provides, with similar exceptions, that all such civil violations of
elections laws shall be prosecuted by the Elections Commission or by the district
attorney for the prosecutorial unit where an alleged violation occurs, irrespective of
the residence of the defendant. The bill also provides, with similar exceptions, that
all such civil violations of campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying laws shall be
prosecuted by the Ethics Commission or by the district attorney for the prosecutorial
unit where an alleged violation occurs, irrespective of the residence of the defendant.
The bill also provides, with similar exceptions, that all such criminal violations shall
be prosecuted solely by the district attorney for the prosecutorial unit where an
alleged violation occurs, irrespective of the residence of the defendant. In addition,
the bill provides, with limited exceptions, that the trial in any such civil or criminal
prosecution, as well as in any lobbying license revocation action brought by the
Ethics Commission, shall be held in circuit court for the county where the alleged
violation occurs. Under the bill, the Elections Commission has no responsibility for
prosecution of any violations other than violations of elections laws, and the Ethics
Commission has no responsibility for prosecution of any violations other than
violations of campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying regulation laws.
The bill also deletes a statutory restriction on the disclosure of certain