SF 500

1st Engrossment - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to elections; changing certain campaign 
  1.3             finance provisions; amending Minnesota Statutes 1999 
  1.4             Supplement, sections 10A.25, subdivision 2; 10A.27, 
  1.5             subdivision 10; and 10A.273, subdivision 1. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
  1.8   10A.25, subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 2.  [AMOUNTS.] (a) In a year in which an election is 
  1.10  held for an office sought by a candidate, the principal campaign 
  1.11  committee of the candidate must not make campaign expenditures 
  1.12  nor permit approved expenditures to be made on behalf of the 
  1.13  candidate that result in aggregate expenditures in excess of the 
  1.14  following: 
  1.15     (1) for governor and lieutenant governor, running together, 
  1.16  $1,626,691; 
  1.17     (2) for attorney general, $271,116 $353,200; 
  1.18     (3) for secretary of state and state auditor, separately, 
  1.19  $135,559 $176,600; 
  1.20     (4) for state senator, $40,669; 
  1.21     (5) for state representative, $20,335. 
  1.22     (b) In addition to the amount in paragraph (a), clause (1), 
  1.23  a candidate for endorsement for the office of lieutenant 
  1.24  governor at the convention of a political party may make 
  1.25  campaign expenditures and approved expenditures of five percent 
  2.1   of that amount to seek endorsement.  
  2.2      (c) If a special election cycle occurs during a general 
  2.3   election cycle, expenditures by or on behalf of a candidate in 
  2.4   the special election do not count as expenditures by or on 
  2.5   behalf of the candidate in the general election. 
  2.6      (d) The expenditure limits in this subdivision for an 
  2.7   office are increased by ten percent for a candidate who is 
  2.8   running for that office for the first time and who has not run 
  2.9   previously for any other office whose territory now includes a 
  2.10  population that is more than one-third of the population in the 
  2.11  territory of the new office. 
  2.12     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
  2.13  10A.27, subdivision 10, is amended to read: 
  2.14     Subd. 10.  [LIMITED PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS.] A candidate 
  2.15  who accepts a public subsidy may not contribute to the 
  2.16  candidate's own campaign during a year more than ten times the 
  2.17  candidate's election year contribution limit under subdivision 
  2.18  1.  A candidate whose name was on the primary or general 
  2.19  election ballot but who was not elected may contribute, in the 
  2.20  year following the candidate's defeat, up to 20 times the 
  2.21  candidate's election year contribution limit under subdivision 
  2.22  1, to pay all or part of the debts of the committee.  A 
  2.23  candidate who terminates the candidate's principal campaign 
  2.24  committee may contribute to the committee an amount necessary to 
  2.25  pay all or part of the debts of the committee. 
  2.26     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1999 Supplement, section 
  2.27  10A.273, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  2.28     Subdivision 1.  [CONTRIBUTIONS DURING LEGISLATIVE 
  2.29  SESSION.] (a) A candidate for the legislature or for 
  2.30  constitutional office, the candidate's principal campaign 
  2.31  committee, or a political committee or party unit established by 
  2.32  all or a part of the party organization within a house of the 
  2.33  legislature, must not solicit or accept a contribution from a 
  2.34  registered lobbyist, political committee, or political fund, or 
  2.35  from a party unit established by the party organization within a 
  2.36  house of the legislature, during a regular session of the 
  3.1   legislature. 
  3.2      (b) A lobbyist, political committee, or political fund must 
  3.3   not make a contribution whose solicitation or acceptance is 
  3.4   prohibited by this section. 
  3.5      (c) A candidate's principal campaign committee may make 
  3.6   contributions to a party unit established by all or a part of 
  3.7   the party organization within a house of the legislature during 
  3.8   a regular session of the legislature. 
  3.9      (d) For a candidate for governor or lieutenant governor, 
  3.10  the prohibition in this subdivision extends to the 14 days 
  3.11  immediately following the adjournment of the legislature in 
  3.12  either year of the biennium. 
  3.13     Sec. 4.  [REVISOR INSTRUCTION.] 
  3.14     The revisor of statutes shall code the new expenditure 
  3.15  limits in section 1 for the attorney general, secretary of 
  3.16  state, and state auditor, along with the most recent election 
  3.17  year limits for the other offices listed in that section, in 
  3.18  Minnesota Statutes.  The campaign finance and public disclosure 
  3.19  board shall adjust the limits published in the statutes for 
  3.20  subsequent general election years as if they had been in effect 
  3.21  for the most recent general election year for each office. 
  3.22     Sec. 5.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.23     This act is effective the day following final enactment.