Legislative Session number- 81

Bill Name: SF0516

E Modifying certain election campaign finance and ethics provisions; clarifying
the definition of contribution and expanding the definitions of lobbyist and
public official; expanding the investigative and advisory opinions issuance
authority of the state board of campaign finance and public disclosure to local
officials gift ban alleged violations; eliminating the nonpublic data
classification for advisory opinions of the board; modifying certain
registration, reporting or filing failure notice service requirements of the
board, extending certain filing deadlines and eliminating certain second notice
requirements and criminal penalties; specifying certain financial records
retention requirements of lobbyists and principals; clarifying the prohibition
on lobbyist, political committee or political fund contributions during regular
sessions of the legislature, authorizing party organizations to receive
legislator dues during regular legislative sessions and extending the
prohibition for candidates for governor or lieutenant governor; clarifying the
nonapplication of the prohibition to candidates for federal office; clarifying
and expanding the prohibition on gifts by lobbyists and principals; providing
for board web site publication of economic interest statements in lieu of
notice; modifying the deadlines for deposit of transfers into campaign accounts
and for return of deposited transfers to contributors; clarifying the
requirement for lobbyist or political committee or fund registration numbers on
contribution checks, subjecting contributors to a civil penalty to be imposed by
the board for improper identification, candidate not to be subject to the
penalty; providing for the consideration of contributions from joint accounts as
joint contributions upon contributor notice of intent; requiring political
committees or funds making contributions or independent expenditures relating to
special elections to file campaign expenditure reports before the special
primary and special election and after the special election cycle; requiring the
disclosure of independent expenditures made in support of a candidate in
campaign reports; facilitating the submission of certain preelection reports by
eliminating the certified mail requirement and authorizing facsimile or
electronic transmission; authorizing the payment of campaign report late filing
fees from political committee or fund assets; authorizing candidates to petition
the district court for immediate equitable relief against opponents failing to
file timely reports; providing for notice of and imposing late filing penalties
for failure to file corrected reports; increasing the campaign spending limits
for certain constitutional officers; accelerating the date for candidate
submission of public subsidy agreements to the board; modifying the dollar
amount rounding requirement under the provision providing for the calculation of
spending limit inflation adjustments; increasing the amount allowed to be
contributed by candidates accepting public subsidies to the campaign of the
candidate by candidates losing the primary or general election; prohibiting the
payment of public subsidies to candidates failing to file campaign finance
reports or owing money to the board; providing for financial institutions as
additional payees on contribution checks, restricting change; modifying the
match requirement for candidates for special elections not coinciding with the
general election; providing for the filing of spending limit agreements by
candidates filling vacancies in nominations occurring after the agreement filing
deadline; requiring return or destruction of unissued official refund receipt
forms; expanding the authority of the board to demand return of public
subsidies; authorizing board actions for recovery of civil penalties or public
subsidies, prescribing a civil penalty for certain violations and providing for
the award of costs to the board in prevailing actions, imposing a civil penalty
for false complaints; defining party unit for general election regulation
purposes; providing for the update of voter records with address changes by
county auditors; expanding campaign financial report content requirements;
authorizing candidates and committees together to accept contributions from
political party units in aggregate over the amount allowed to be contributed to
the candidate; prohibiting the allocation to candidates of certain
multicandidate political party expenditures; excluding party organizations
within municipalities and precincts from the definition of major or minor party
for income tax political contribution refund purposes; prohibiting circumvention
of the prohibition on gifts to local officials (mk, ja)