H. B. 2066
(By Delegates Overington and Sumner)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §3-8-5a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to elections generally and lowering
the threshold for reporting certain information about
individuals, firms, associations or committees contributing to
a campaign from two hundred fifty dollars to one hundred
dollars.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §3-8-5a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. REGULATION AND CONTROL OF ELECTIONS.
§3-8-5a. Information required in financial statement.
(a) Each financial statement required by the provisions of
this article, other than a disclosure of electioneering
communications pursuant to section two-b of this article, shall
contain only the following information:
(1) The name, residence and mailing address and telephone
number of each candidate, financial agent, treasurer or person and the name, address and telephone number of each association,
organization or committee filing a financial statement.
(2) The balance of cash and any other sum of money on hand at
the beginning and the end of the period covered by the financial
statement.
(3) The name of any person making a contribution and the
amount of the contribution. If the total contributions of any one
person amount to two hundred fifty one hundred dollars or more, the
residence and mailing address of the contributor and, if the
contributor is an individual, his or her major business affiliation
and occupation shall also be reported. A contribution totaling
more than fifty dollars of currency of the United States or
currency of any foreign country by any one contributor is
prohibited and a violation of section five-d of this article. The
statement on which contributions are required to be reported by
this subdivision may not distinguish between contributions made by
individuals and contributions made by partnerships, firms,
associations, committees, organizations or groups.
(4) The total amount of contributions received during the
period covered by the financial statement.
(5) The name, residence and mailing address of any individual
or the name and mailing address of each lending institution making
a loan or of the spouse cosigning a loan, as appropriate, the
amount of any loan received, the date and terms of the loan,
including the interest and repayment schedule, and a copy of the
loan agreement.
(6) The name, residence and mailing address of any individual
or the name and mailing address of each partnership, firm,
association, committee, organization or group having previously
made or cosigned a loan for which payment is made or a balance is
outstanding at the end of the period, together with the amount of
repayment on the loan made during the period and the balance at the
end of the period.
(7) The total outstanding balance of all loans at the end of
the period.
(8) The name, residence and mailing address of any individual,
or the name and mailing address of each partnership, firm,
association, committee, organization or group to whom each
expenditure was made or liability incurred, together with the
amount and purpose of each expenditure or liability incurred and
the date of each transaction.
(9) The total expenditure for the nomination, election or
defeat of a candidate or any person supporting, aiding or opposing
the nomination, election or defeat of any candidate in whose behalf
an expenditure was made or a contribution was given for the primary
or other election.
(10) The total amount of expenditures made during the period
covered by the financial statement.
(b) Any unexpended balance at the time of making the financial
statements herein provided for shall be properly accounted for in
that financial statement and shall appear as a beginning balance in
the next financial statement.
(c) Each financial statement required by this section shall
contain a separate section setting forth the following information
for each fund-raising event held during the period covered by the
financial statement:
(1) The type of event, date held and address and name, if any,
of the place where the event was held.
(2) All of the information required by subdivision (3),
subsection (a) of this section.
(3) The total of all moneys received at the fund-raising
event.
(4) The expenditures incident to the fund-raising event.
(5) The net receipts of the fund-raising event.
(d) When any lump sum payment is made to any advertising
agency or other disbursing person who does not file a report of
detailed accounts and verified financial statements as required in
this section, such lump sum expenditures shall be accounted for in
the same manner as provided for herein.
(e) Any contribution or expenditure made by or on behalf of a
candidate for public office, to any other candidate or committee
for a candidate for any public office in the same election shall be
accounted for in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(f) No person may make any contribution except from his, her
or its own funds, unless such person discloses in writing to the
person required to report under this section the name, residence,
mailing address, major business affiliation and occupation of the
person which furnished the funds to the contributor. All such disclosures shall be included in the statement required by this
section.
(g) Any firm, association, committee or fund permitted by
section eight of this article to be a political committee shall
disclose on the financial statement its corporate or other
affiliation.
(h) No contribution may be made, directly or indirectly, in a
fictitious name, anonymously or by one person through an agent,
relative or other person so as to conceal the identity of the
source of the contribution or in any other manner so as to effect
concealment of the contributor's identity.
(i) No person may accept any contribution for the purpose of
influencing the nomination, election or defeat of a candidate or
for the passage or defeat of any ballot issue unless the identity
of the donor and the amount of the contribution is known and
reported.
(j) When any person receives an anonymous contribution which
cannot be returned because the donor cannot be identified, that
contribution shall be donated to the General Revenue Fund of the
state. Any anonymous contribution shall be recorded as such on the
candidate's financial statement, but may not be expended for
election expenses. At the time of filing, the financial statement
shall include a statement of distribution of anonymous
contributions, which total amount shall equal the total of all
anonymous contributions received during the period.
(k) Any membership organization which raises funds for political purposes by payroll deduction, assessing them as part of
its membership dues or as a separate assessment, may report the
amount raised as follows:
(1) If the portion of dues or assessments designated for
political purposes equals twenty-five dollars or less per member
over the course of a calendar year, the total amount raised for
political purposes through membership dues or assessments during
the period is reported by showing the amount required to be paid by
each member and the number of members.
(2) If the total payroll deduction for political purposes of
each participating member equals twenty-five dollars or less over
the course of a calendar or fiscal year, as specified by the
organization, the organization shall report the total amount
received for political purposes through payroll deductions during
the reporting period and, to the maximum extent possible, the
amount of each yearly payroll deduction contribution level and the
number of members contributing at each such specified level. The
membership organization shall maintain records of the name and
yearly payroll deduction amounts of each participating member.
(3) If any member contributes to the membership organization
through individual voluntary contributions by means other than
payroll deduction, membership dues, or assessments as provided in
this subsection, the reporting requirements of subdivision (3),
subsection (a) of this section shall apply. Funds raised for
political purposes must be segregated from the funds for other
purposes and listed in its report.
(l) Notwithstanding the provisions of section five of this
article or of the provisions of this section to the contrary, an
alternative reporting procedure may be followed by a political
party executive committee or a political action committee
representing a political party in filing financial reports for
fund-raising events if the total profit does not exceed five
thousand dollars per year. A political party executive committee
or a political action committee representing a political party may
report gross receipts for the sale of food, beverages, services,
novelty items, raffle tickets or memorabilia, except that any
receipt of more than fifty dollars from an individual or
organization shall be reported as a contribution. A political
party executive committee or a political action committee
representing a political party using this alternative method of
reporting shall report: (i) The name of the committee; (ii) the
type of fund-raising activity undertaken; (iii) the location where
the activity occurred; (iv) the date of the fund raiser; (v) the
name of any individual who contributed more than fifty dollars
worth of items to be sold; (vi) the name and amount received from
any person or organization purchasing more than fifty dollars worth
of food, beverages, services, novelty items, raffle tickets or
memorabilia; (vii) the gross receipts of the fund raiser; and
(viii) the date, amount, purpose and name and address of each
person or organization from whom items with a fair market value of
more than fifty dollars were purchased for resale.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to lower the threshold
required for reporting certain information about individuals,
firms, associations or committees contributing to a campaign from
two hundred fifty dollars to one hundred dollars.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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