H. B. 2131
(By Delegates Overington, Frich, Carmichael and Sumner)
[Introduced
February 10, 2005
; 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 shall contain only the following information:
(1) The first name, middle initial, if any, and last name,
residence and mailing address and telephone number of each candidate, financial agent, treasurer or person, and the full 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 first name, middle initial, if any, and the last name
in the case of an individual, and the full name of each firm,
association or committee, and the amount of such contribution of
such individual, firm, association or committee, and, if the
aggregate of the sum or sums contributed by any one such
individual, firm, association or committee exceeds two one hundred
fifty dollars, there shall also be reported the residence and
mailing address and, in the case of an individual, the major
business affiliation and occupation. 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 this provision is subject to section five-d of this
article. The report on which contributions required by this
subdivision shall not distinguish between contributions made by
individuals and contributions made by firms, associations or
committees.
(4) The total amount of contributions received during the
period covered by the financial statement.
(5) The first name, middle initial, if any, and the last name,
residence and mailing address of any individual or the full 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 first name, middle initial, if any, and the last name,
residence and mailing address of any individual or the full name
and mailing address of each firm, association or committee 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 first name, middle initial, if any, and the last name,
residence and mailing address of any individual, or the full name
and mailing address of each firm, association or committee 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 or organization advocating or
opposing the nomination, election or defeat of any candidate, or the passage or defeat of any issue, thing or item to be voted upon,
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 balance in the next
following 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, firm, association or committee may make any
contribution except from their own funds, unless such person, firm,
association or committee discloses in writing to the person
required to report under this section the first name, middle
initial, if any, and the last name in the case of an individual, or
the full name in case of a firm, association or committee,
residence and mailing address and the major business affiliation
and occupation of the person, firm, association or committee which
furnished the funds to such 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, firm, association or committee 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 issue or thing to be voted upon unless the identity of the
donor and the amount of the contribution is known and reported.
(j) When any candidate, organization, committee or person
receives any 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 such 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) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Political purposes" means advocating or opposing the
nomination, election or defeat of one or more candidates,
supporting the retirement of the debt of a candidate or activities
of an established political party or an organization which has declared itself a political party, supporting the administration or
activities of a political committee or advocating or opposing the
passage of a ballot issue.
(2) "Membership organization" means a group that grants bona
fide rights and privileges, such as the right to vote, to elect
officers or directors, and the ability to hold office, to its
members, and which uses a majority of its membership dues for
purposes other than political purposes. This term shall not
include organizations that grant membership upon receiving a
contribution.
(3) "Fund-raising event" means an event such as a dinner,
reception, testimonial, cocktail party, auction or similar affair
through which contributions are solicited or received by such means
as the purchase of a ticket, payment of an attendance fee or by the
purchase of goods or services.
(m) 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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