SF 3056

as introduced - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to elections; changing certain provisions of 
  1.3             the campaign finance and public disclosure law; 
  1.4             defining terms and limiting certain expenditures; 
  1.5             amending Minnesota Statutes 2000, sections 10A.01, 
  1.6             subdivision 9; 10A.25, subdivision 2; 10A.27, 
  1.7             subdivision 1; 10A.275, subdivision 1; proposing 
  1.8             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 10A. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 10A.01, 
  1.11  subdivision 9, is amended to read: 
  1.12     Subd. 9.  [CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE.] (a) "Campaign 
  1.13  expenditure" or "expenditure" means a purchase or payment of 
  1.14  money or anything of value, or an advance of credit, made or 
  1.15  incurred for the purpose of influencing the nomination or 
  1.16  election of a candidate or for the purpose of promoting or 
  1.17  defeating a ballot question. 
  1.18     An expenditure is considered to be made in the year in 
  1.19  which the candidate made the purchase of goods or services or 
  1.20  incurred an obligation to pay for goods or services. 
  1.21     An expenditure made for the purpose of defeating a 
  1.22  candidate is considered made for the purpose of influencing the 
  1.23  nomination or election of that candidate or any opponent of that 
  1.24  candidate. 
  1.25     Except as provided in clause (1), "expenditure" includes 
  1.26  the dollar value of a donation in kind. 
  1.27     (b) "Expenditure" does not include: 
  2.1      (1) noncampaign disbursements as defined in subdivision 26; 
  2.2      (2) services provided without compensation by an individual 
  2.3   volunteering personal time on behalf of a candidate, ballot 
  2.4   question, political committee, political fund, principal 
  2.5   campaign committee, or party unit; or 
  2.6      (3) the publishing or broadcasting of news items or 
  2.7   editorial comments by the news media. 
  2.8      (c) "Expenditure" is presumed to include a cost incurred to 
  2.9   design, produce, or disseminate a communication if the 
  2.10  communication names or depicts one or more clearly identified 
  2.11  candidates, is disseminated during the 45 days before a primary 
  2.12  election, the 60 days before a general election, or during a 
  2.13  special election cycle until election day, and the cost exceeds 
  2.14  the following amounts for a communication naming or depicting a 
  2.15  candidate for the following offices: 
  2.16     (i) $500 for a candidate for governor, lieutenant governor, 
  2.17  attorney general, secretary of state, or state auditor; or 
  2.18     (ii) $100 for a candidate for state senator or 
  2.19  representative. 
  2.20     An individual or association presumed under this paragraph 
  2.21  to have made an expenditure may rebut the presumption by a 
  2.22  written statement signed by the spender and filed with the board 
  2.23  stating that the cost was not incurred with intent to influence 
  2.24  the nomination, election, or defeat of any candidate, supported 
  2.25  by any additional evidence the spender chooses to submit.  The 
  2.26  board may gather any additional evidence it deems relevant and 
  2.27  material and must determine by a preponderance of the evidence 
  2.28  whether the cost was incurred with intent to influence the 
  2.29  nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate. 
  2.30     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 10A.25, 
  2.31  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.32     Subd. 2.  [AMOUNTS.] (a) In a year in which an election is 
  2.33  held cycle for an office sought by a candidate, the principal 
  2.34  campaign committee of the candidate must not make campaign 
  2.35  expenditures nor permit approved expenditures to be made on 
  2.36  behalf of the candidate that result in aggregate expenditures in 
  3.1   excess of the following: 
  3.2      (1) for governor and lieutenant governor, running together, 
  3.3   160 percent of $1,926,127; 
  3.4      (2) for attorney general, 160 percent of $321,023; 
  3.5      (3) for secretary of state and state auditor, separately, 
  3.6   160 percent of $160,514; 
  3.7      (4) for state senator, 160 percent of $50,630 in a 
  3.8   four-year election cycle or 120 percent of that amount in a 
  3.9   two-year election cycle; 
  3.10     (5) for state representative, 120 percent of $25,320. 
  3.11     (b) In addition to the amount in paragraph (a), clause (1), 
  3.12  a candidate for endorsement for the office of lieutenant 
  3.13  governor at the convention of a political party may make 
  3.14  campaign expenditures and approved expenditures of five percent 
  3.15  of that amount to seek endorsement.  
  3.16     (c) If a special election cycle occurs during a general 
  3.17  election cycle, expenditures by or on behalf of a candidate in 
  3.18  the special election do not count as expenditures by or on 
  3.19  behalf of the candidate in the general election. 
  3.20     (d) The expenditure limits in this subdivision for an 
  3.21  office are increased by ten percent for a candidate who is 
  3.22  running for that office for the first time and who has not run 
  3.23  previously for any other office listed in paragraph (a), federal 
  3.24  office, county commissioner, county attorney, county sheriff, 
  3.25  city council, mayor, or school board whose territory now 
  3.26  includes a population that is more than one-third of the 
  3.27  population in the territory of the new office. 
  3.28     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 10A.27, 
  3.29  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  3.30     Subdivision 1.  [CONTRIBUTION LIMITS.] (a) Except as 
  3.31  provided in subdivision 2, a candidate must not permit the 
  3.32  candidate's principal campaign committee to accept aggregate 
  3.33  contributions made or delivered by any individual, political 
  3.34  committee, or political fund in excess of the following amounts 
  3.35  during an election cycle: 
  3.36     (1) to candidates for governor and lieutenant governor 
  4.1   running together, $2,000 in an election year for the office 
  4.2   sought and $500 in other years $3,500; 
  4.3      (2) to a candidate for attorney general, $1,000 in an 
  4.4   election year for the office sought and $200 in other 
  4.5   years $1,600; 
  4.6      (3) to a candidate for the office of secretary of state or 
  4.7   state auditor, $500 in an election year for the office sought 
  4.8   and $100 in other years $800; 
  4.9      (4) to a candidate for state senator, $500 $800 in an a 
  4.10  four-year election year for the office sought and $100 in other 
  4.11  years cycle or $600 in a two-year election cycle; and 
  4.12     (5) to a candidate for state representative, $500 in an 
  4.13  election year for the office sought and $100 in the other 
  4.14  year $600. 
  4.15     (b) The following deliveries are not subject to the 
  4.16  bundling limitation in this subdivision: 
  4.17     (1) delivery of contributions collected by a member of the 
  4.18  candidate's principal campaign committee, such as a block worker 
  4.19  or a volunteer who hosts a fund raising event, to the 
  4.20  committee's treasurer; and 
  4.21     (2) a delivery made by an individual on behalf of the 
  4.22  individual's spouse.  
  4.23     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 10A.275, 
  4.24  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  4.25     Subdivision 1.  [EXCEPTIONS.] (a) Notwithstanding other 
  4.26  provisions of this chapter, the following expenditures by a 
  4.27  party unit, or two or more party units acting together, with at 
  4.28  least one party unit being either:  the state committee or the 
  4.29  party organization within a congressional district, county, or 
  4.30  legislative district, are not considered contributions to or 
  4.31  expenditures on behalf of a candidate for the purposes of 
  4.32  section 10A.25 or 10A.27 and must not be allocated to candidates 
  4.33  under section 10A.20, subdivision 3, paragraph (g): 
  4.34     (1) expenditures on behalf of candidates of that party 
  4.35  generally without referring to any of them specifically in a 
  4.36  published, posted, or broadcast advertisement; 
  5.1      (2) expenditures for the preparation, display, mailing, or 
  5.2   other distribution of an official party sample ballot listing 
  5.3   the names of three or more individuals whose names are to appear 
  5.4   on the ballot; 
  5.5      (3) expenditures for a telephone conversation including the 
  5.6   names of three or more individuals whose names are to appear on 
  5.7   the ballot; 
  5.8      (4) expenditures for a political party fundraising effort 
  5.9   on behalf of three or more candidates; or 
  5.10     (5) expenditures for party committee staff services that 
  5.11  benefit three or more candidates.  
  5.12     (b) Expenditures under paragraph (a), clauses (2) to (5), 
  5.13  must be made giving approximately equal emphasis to each 
  5.14  candidate for which they are made. 
  5.15     Sec. 5.  [10A.295] [CONTRIBUTIONS TO PROMOTE OR DEFEAT 
  5.16  BALLOT QUESTIONS.] 
  5.17     An organization or association, including a corporation, 
  5.18  may contribute to a political committee or political fund 
  5.19  established solely to promote or defeat a ballot question 
  5.20  without any reporting obligation.  Political committees and 
  5.21  political funds established to promote or defeat ballot 
  5.22  questions may not make contributions to principal campaign 
  5.23  committees, political committees, political funds, or political 
  5.24  party units. 
  5.25     Sec. 6.  [10A.3225] [POLITICAL PARTY INDEPENDENT 
  5.26  EXPENDITURE AGREEMENT.] 
  5.27     As a condition of receiving a public subsidy payment or 
  5.28  issuing political contribution receipts, a political party must 
  5.29  agree that the political party and all its party units will not 
  5.30  make independent expenditures on behalf of its candidates or 
  5.31  against opponents of its candidates.