HP1391, LD 1879, item 1, 125th Maine State Legislature
An Act To Treat Party Formation Committees the Same as Ballot Question Committees for Purposes of the Campaign Finance Laws

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An Act To Treat Party Formation Committees the Same as Ballot Question Committees for Purposes of the Campaign Finance Laws
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §1002, sub-§2-B, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 571, §3, is amended to read:
 
2-B. Annual disclosure statement.   Each member shall file a disclosure statement with the executive director of the commission by February 15th of each year, which must include:
 
A. The names of and the positions held in all candidate committees, political action committees, ballot question committees, party formation committees and party committees of which the member or the member's spouse or domestic partner was an officer, director or primary decision maker or fund raiser during the previous calendar year;
 
B. The names of and positions held in all nonprofit or commercial organizations of which the member or the member's spouse or domestic partner was an owner, officer, director or primary decision maker or fund raiser that, during the previous calendar year, made expenditures of more than $1,500 to influence an election or employed a lobbyist who was required to register with the commission; and
 
C. Any additional information that the commission determines appropriate.
 
A member shall notify the executive director if the member becomes an officer, director, employee or primary decision maker or fund raiser of a party committee, political action committee, ballot question committee, party formation committee or candidate committee within 21 days of the event.
Sec. 2. 1 MRSA §1015, sub-§3, ¶B, as amended by PL 2009, c. 286, §1, is further amended to read:
 
B. The Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer or the staff or agent of the Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer may not intentionally solicit or accept a contribution from a lobbyist, lobbyist associate or employer during any period of time in which the Legislature is convened before final adjournment, except for a qualifying contribution as defined under Title 21-A, section 1122, subsection 7. A lobbyist, lobbyist associate or employer may not intentionally give, offer or promise a contribution, other than a qualifying contribution, to the Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer or the staff or agent of the Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer during any time in which the Legislature is convened before final adjournment. These prohibitions apply to contributions directly and indirectly solicited or accepted by, or given, offered and promised to a political action committee, ballot question committee, party formation committee or party committee of which the Governor, a member of the Legislature, a constitutional officer or the staff or agent of these officials is a treasurer, officer or primary fund-raiser or decision maker.
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §1003, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §3, is further amended to read:
 
1. Investigations.   The commission may undertake audits and investigations to determine the facts concerning the registration of a candidate, treasurer, party committee, political action committee, ballot question committee, party formation committee or other political committee and contributions by or to and expenditures by a person, candidate, treasurer, party committee, political action committee, ballot question committee, party formation committee or other political committee. For this purpose, the commission may subpoena witnesses and records whether located within or without the State and take evidence under oath. A person or entity that fails to obey the lawful subpoena of the commission or to testify before it under oath must be punished by the Superior Court for contempt upon application by the Attorney General on behalf of the commission.
Sec. 4. 21-A MRSA §1003, sub-§3-A, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 571, §6, is amended to read:
 
B. Information belonging to a party committee, political action committee, ballot question committee, party formation committee, candidate or candidate's authorized committee that, if disclosed, would reveal sensitive political or campaign information;
Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §1005, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 571, §7, is amended to read:
§ 1005.Restrictions on commercial use of contributor information
Information concerning contributors contained in campaign finance reports filed by candidates, political action committees and party committees and reports filed under ~~section~~sections 1056-B and 1056-C may not be used for any commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, the sales and marketing of products and services, or for solicitations of any kind not directly related to activities of a political party, so-called "get out the vote" efforts or activities directly related to a campaign as defined in section 1052. Any person obtaining contributor information from the reports is prohibited from selling or distributing it to others to use for commercial purposes and also is prohibited from making publicly available the mailing addresses of contributors. This section does not prohibit a political party, party committee, candidate committee, political action committee or any other organization that has obtained contributor information from the commission from providing access to such information to its members for purposes directly related to party activities, so-called "get out the vote" efforts or a campaign as defined in section 1052. A person who violates this section is subject to a fine of up to $5,000. A person who knowingly violates this section commits a Class E crime.
Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §1014, sub-§6, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 389, §13, is amended to read:
 
6. Exclusions.   The requirements of this section do not apply to:
 
A. Handbills or other literature produced and distributed at a cost not exceeding $100 and prepared by one or more individuals who are not required to register or file campaign finance reports with the commission and who are acting independently of and without authorization by a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee or an agent of a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee;
 
B. Campaign signs produced and distributed at a cost not exceeding $100, paid for by one or more individuals who are not required to register or file campaign finance reports with the commission and who are acting independently of and without authorization by a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee or an agent of a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee; and
 
C. Internet and e-mail activities costing less than $100, as excluded by rule of the commission, paid for by one or more individuals who are not required to register or file campaign finance reports with the commission and who are acting independently of and without authorization by a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee or an agent of a candidate, candidate's authorized campaign committee, party committee, political action committee, party formation committee or ballot question committee.
Sec. 7.  21-A MRSA §1056-C  is enacted to read:
§ 1056-C. Party formation committees
A person not defined as a political action committee, who has filed a declaration of intent pursuant to section 303 and who receives contributions or makes expenditures, other than by contribution to a political action committee, aggregating in excess of $2,500 for the purpose of encouraging a person to sign a petition to form a new party, shall file reports with the commission in accordance with this section. Within 7 days of receiving contributions or making expenditures that exceed $2,500, the person shall register with the commission as a party formation committee. For the purposes of this section, expenditures include paid staff time spent for the purpose of gathering signatures to form a new party. The commission must prescribe forms for the registration, and the forms must include specification of a treasurer for the committee, any other principal officers and all individuals who are the primary fund-raisers and decision makers for the committee.
 
1.  Filing requirements.     A report required by this section must be filed with the commission according to the reporting schedule in section 1059. After completing all financial activity, the committee shall terminate its campaign finance reporting in the same manner provided in section 1061. The committee shall file each report required by this section through an electronic filing system developed by the commission unless granted a waiver under section 1059, subsection 5.
 
2.  Content.     A report must contain an itemized account of each expenditure made to and contribution received from a single source aggregating in excess of $100 in any election; the date of each contribution; the date and purpose of each expenditure; the name and address of each contributor, payee or creditor; and the occupation and principal place of business, if any, for any person who has made contributions exceeding $100 in the aggregate. The filer is required to report only those contributions made to the filer for the purpose of encouraging a person to sign a petition to form a new party and only those expenditures made for those purposes. The definitions of "contribution" and "expenditure" in section 1052, subsections 3 and 4, respectively, apply to persons required to file party formation reports.
 
3.  Contributions.     For the purposes of this section, "contribution" includes, but is not limited to:
 
A.  Funds that the contributor specified were given in connection with a campaign;
 
B.  Funds provided in response to a solicitation that would lead the contributor to believe that the funds would be used specifically for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign;
 
C.  Funds that can reasonably be determined to have been provided by the contributor for the purpose of gathering signatures to form a new party when viewed in the context of the contribution and the recipient's activities regarding the gathering of signatures to form a new party; and
 
D.  Funds or transfers from the general treasury of an organization filing a party formation report.
 
4.  Forms.     A report required by this section must be on a form prescribed and prepared by the commission. A person filing this report may use additional pages if necessary, but the pages must be the same size as the pages of the form.
 
5.  Records.     A person filing a report required by this section shall keep records as required by this subsection for 4 years following the election to which the records pertain.
 
A.  The filer shall keep a detailed account of all contributions made to the filer for the purpose of gathering signatures to form a new party and all expenditures made for those purposes.
 
B.  The filer shall retain a vendor invoice or receipt stating the particular goods or services purchased for every expenditure in excess of $50.
Sec. 8. 21-A MRSA §1059, first ¶, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §43 and affected by §62, is further amended to read:
Committees required to register under section 1053, 1053-B ~~or~~, 1056-B or 1056-C shall file an initial campaign finance report at the time of registration and thereafter shall file reports in compliance with this section. All reports must be filed by 11:59 p.m. on the day of the filing deadline, except that reports submitted to a municipal clerk must be filed by the close of business on the day of the filing deadline.
Sec. 9. 21-A MRSA §1062-A, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2009, c. 190, Pt. A, §28, is further amended to read:
 
1. Registration.   A political action committee required to register under section 1053 or 1053-B ~~or~~, a ballot question committee required to register under section 1056-B or a party formation committee required to register under section 1056-C that fails to do so or that fails to provide the information required by the commission for registration may be assessed a fine of $250.
Sec. 10. 21-A MRSA §1062-A, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §49, is further amended to read:
 
4. Maximum penalties.   The maximum penalty under this subchapter is $10,000 for reports required under section 1056-B, section 1056-C or section 1059, except that if the financial activity reported late exceeds $50,000, the maximum penalty is 1/5 of the amount reported late.
Sec. 11. 21-A MRSA §1062-A, sub-§8-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 190, Pt. A, §31, is further amended to read:
 
8-A. Penalties for failure to file report.   The commission may assess a civil penalty for failure to file a report required by this subchapter. The maximum penalty for failure to file a report required under section 1056-B, section 1056-C or section 1059 is $10,000.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires a group that receives or spends more than $2,500 to form a new political party to be treated in the same manner as a ballot question committee for purposes of the campaign finance laws.

HP1391, LR 2746, item 1,Second Regular Session - 125th Maine Legislature, page