H. B. 4323
(By Delegates Kelley, Beach and Doyle)
[Introduced February 10, 1998; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding
thereto a new article, designated article eight-a, relating
to imposing campaign spending limits for political offices;
providing civil and criminal penalties for violations;
prohibiting persons from naming or referring to political
candidates in television, radio, newspaper or other mediums
of advertisement in a false or misleading manner; and
preserving the rights of individuals and groups to prepare
and dispense campaign information; and, severability.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article eight-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8A. WEST VIRGINIA ELECTION REFORM ACT OF 1998.
§3-8A-1. West Virginia Election Finance Reform Act of 1998; declaration of policy and findings.
The Legislature hereby declares that the current process of
campaign financing is counterproductive to fostering and
encouraging citizen participation in the political process at all
levels of government
,
and to promoting fair elections. This state
of affairs is primarily the result of the absence of any
restrictions upon the level of spending by candidates for public
office. Because of the ability of some candidates to spend sums
vastly in excess of what the financial means of most citizens
could tolerate or which most citizens could raise from third
party sources, the political process in this state has
increasingly become more restrictive and exclusionary.
Therefore, the democratic process increasingly operates in name
only as opposed to functioning in a truly democratic fashion,
operating to the benefit of a few and to the detriment of the
general citizenry. Because of the current system's propensity to
reward candidates with election who spend the most money in their
campaigns, many highly capable and honest citizens are deterred
from gaining, or even seeking, political office at any level of
government.
§3-8A-2. Campaign spending limits to be imposed for county,
state and national candidates.
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, the following spending limits will apply to all county,
state and national elective offices as follows:
(1) For all intra-county districts or county-wide elective
offices a candidate is prohibited from spending more than the
equivalent of one and one-half year of annual salary provided for
the office, one half of which may be spent in any primary
election and the remaining one-half which may be spent in the
immediately following general election. Such spending shall not
include travel expense;
(2) For all inter-county districts or statewide elective
offices a candidate is prohibited from spending more than the
equivalent of twice the annual salary provided for the office,
one half of which may be spent in any primary election and the
remaining one-half which may be spent in the immediately
following general election. Such spending shall not include
travel expense;
(3) For all national elective offices a candidate is
prohibited from spending more than the equivalent of three times
the annual salary provided for the office, one half of which may
be spent in any primary election and the remaining one-half which may be spent in the immediately following general election. Such
spending shall not include travel expense.
§3-8A-3. Civil and criminal penalties for violation of spending
limits.
(a) In the event any elected candidate exceeds the spending
provisions set forth in section two of this article, he or she
shall forfeit and forthwith vacate any political office to which
he or she may have ascended.
(b) In the event any candidate intentionally makes a false
report of expenditures for any campaign for political office, as
required by law, he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined a sum equivalent to twenty- five percent of the spending limit applicable to the political
office he or she had been seeking.
§3-8A-4. Prohibition of false statements, injunctive relief.
No person, persons, corporation, association, partnership or
any other entity or entities may mention, display or otherwise
make any reference to any candidate, candidate's name, image or
persona in such a way as to present the candidate in a false
light to the electorate of such candidate. No person, persons,
corporation, association, partnership or any other entity or
entities may take any statement or statements of a candidate and
present such statement or statements out of context in such a way as to present the candidate in a false or misleading manner. No
person, persons, corporation, association, partnership or any
other entity or entities may make or use any false, misleading or
untrue statements about a candidate. Any candidate, or any
person, persons, associations, organizations, corporations or any
other entity or entities who is aggrieved by a violation of this
section may seek injunctive relief in the appropriate court
having jurisdiction to hear the matter.
§3-8A-5. Preservation of right to prepare and dispense campaign
information.
Nothing contained in this article may be construed to
prohibit or limit the rights of individuals and groups to prepare
and dispense campaign information.
§3-8A-6. Severability.
If any provision herein is held invalid, the invalidity does
not affect other provisions herein which can be given effect
without the invalid provision and to this end the provisions of
this act are declared to be severable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for a campaign
spending limit for each county, state and national office for
each primary and general election. The bill also provides for
civil penalties for spending more than the prescribed limit as well as a criminal penalty for false reporting. Finally, it
prohibits persons from naming or referring to candidates in
television, radio, newspaper or other mediums of advertisement
without the express written consent of the particular candidate.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.