HF 909

as introduced - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to elections; campaign finance; increasing 
  1.3             the portion of candidate spending limits provided by 
  1.4             public subsidy; changing an appropriation; amending 
  1.5             Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 10A.31, subdivisions 
  1.6             4 and 7. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 10A.31, 
  1.9   subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 4.  (a) The amounts designated by individuals for the 
  1.11  state elections campaign fund, less three percent, are 
  1.12  appropriated from the general fund and shall be credited to the 
  1.13  appropriate account in the state elections campaign fund and 
  1.14  annually appropriated for distribution as set forth in 
  1.15  subdivisions 5, 6 and 7.  An amount equal to three percent shall 
  1.16  be retained in the general fund for administrative costs.  
  1.17     (b) In addition to the amounts in paragraph (a), $1,500,000 
  1.18  $....... for each general election is appropriated from the 
  1.19  general fund to the general account of the state elections 
  1.20  campaign fund. 
  1.21     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 10A.31, 
  1.22  subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  1.23     Subd. 7.  Within two weeks after certification by the state 
  1.24  canvassing board of the results of the general election, the 
  1.25  board shall distribute the available funds in the general 
  1.26  account, as certified by the commissioner of revenue on November 
  2.1   1 and according to allocations set forth in subdivision 5, in 
  2.2   equal amounts to all candidates for each statewide office who 
  2.3   received at least five percent of the votes cast in the general 
  2.4   election for that office, and to all candidates for legislative 
  2.5   office who received at least ten percent of the votes cast in 
  2.6   the general election for the specific office for which they were 
  2.7   candidates, provided that the public subsidy under this 
  2.8   subdivision may not be paid in an amount that would cause the 
  2.9   sum of the public subsidy paid from the party account plus the 
  2.10  public subsidy paid from the general account and the public 
  2.11  subsidy paid to match independent expenditures to exceed 50 80 
  2.12  percent of the expenditure limit for the candidate.  If a 
  2.13  candidate is entitled to receive an opponent's share of the 
  2.14  general account public subsidy under section 10A.25, subdivision 
  2.15  10, the opponent's share must be excluded in calculating the 50 
  2.16  80 percent limit.  Money from the general account not paid to a 
  2.17  candidate because of the 50 80 percent limit must be distributed 
  2.18  equally among all other qualifying candidates for the same 
  2.19  office until all have reached the 50 80 percent limit or the 
  2.20  balance in the general account is exhausted.  The board shall 
  2.21  not use the information contained in the report of the principal 
  2.22  campaign committee of any candidate due ten days before the 
  2.23  general election for the purpose of reducing the amount due that 
  2.24  candidate from the general account. 
  2.25     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.] 
  2.26     Sections 1 and 2 are effective for the state general 
  2.27  election in 1998 and thereafter.