HF 1742

as introduced - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 02/09/2010 01:54am

A bill for an act
relating to elections; increasing percentage of votes a candidate for statewide or
legislative office must receive in order to obtain public financing; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 10A.31, subdivision 7.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 10A.31, subdivision 7, is amended to read:

Subd. 7.

Distribution of general account.

(a) As soon as the board has obtained
the results of the deleted text begin primary deleted text end new text begin general new text end election from the secretary of state, but no later than one
week after certification of the deleted text begin primary deleted text end new text begin general election new text end results by the State Canvassing
Board, the board must distribute the available money in the general account, as certified
by the commissioner of revenue on deleted text begin September deleted text end new text begin November new text end 1 and according to allocations
deleted text begin set forth deleted text end in subdivision 5, in equal amounts to all candidates of a major political party
deleted text begin whose names are to appear on the ballot in the general election and deleted text end who:

(1) have signed a spending limit agreement under section 10A.322;

(2) have filed the affidavit of contributions required by section 10A.323; deleted text begin and deleted text end

(3) were opposed in deleted text begin either the primary election or deleted text end the general election new text begin ; and
new text end

new text begin (4) are either a candidate for statewide office who received at least 15 percent of the
votes cast in the general election for that office or a candidate for legislative office who
received at least 15 percent of the votes cast in the general election for that seat new text end .

(b) The public subsidy under this subdivision may not be paid in an amount that
would cause the sum of the public subsidy paid from the party account plus the public
subsidy paid from the general account to exceed 50 percent of the expenditure limit for the
candidate or 50 percent of the expenditure limit that would have applied to the candidate if
the candidate had not been freed from expenditure limits under section 10A.25, subdivision
10. Money from the general account not paid to a candidate because of the 50 percent limit
must be distributed equally among all other qualifying candidates for the same office until
all have reached the 50 percent limit or the balance in the general account is exhausted.

deleted text begin (c) A candidate must expend or become obligated to expend at least an amount equal
to 50 percent of the money distributed by the board under this subdivision no later than the
end of the final reporting period preceding the general election. Otherwise, the candidate
must repay to the board the difference between the amount the candidate spent or became
obligated to spend by the deadline and the amount distributed to the candidate under this
subdivision. The candidate must make the repayment no later than six months following
the general election. The candidate must reimburse the board for all reasonable costs,
including litigation costs, incurred in collecting any amount due.
deleted text end

deleted text begin If the board determines that a candidate has failed to repay money as required by this
paragraph, the board may not distribute any additional money to the candidate until the
entirety of the repayment has been made.
deleted text end