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)