Bill Text: MI HB4367 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Campaign finance: committees; definitions of committee and information required on committee campaign statement; revise. Amends secs. 3 & 26 of 1976 PA 388 (MCL 169.203 & 169.226).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 18-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-02 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 02/25/2021 [HB4367 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2021-HB4367-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL NO. 4367
February 25, 2021, Introduced by Reps. Hope,
Garza, O'Neal, Steckloff, Sabo, Puri, Young, Cavanagh, Hood, Sowerby,
Brixie, Aiyash, Clemente, Tyrone Carter, Brabec, Breen, Pohutsky and Stone
and referred to the Committee on Elections and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled
"Michigan campaign finance act,"
by amending sections 3 and 26 (MCL 169.203 and 169.226), section 3 as amended by 2017 PA 119 and section 26 as amended by 2019 PA 93.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 3. (1) "Candidate" means an individual who meets 1 or more of the following criteria:
(a) Files a fee, an affidavit of incumbency, or a nominating petition for an elective office.
(b) Is nominated as a candidate for elective office by a political party caucus or convention and whose nomination is certified to the appropriate filing official.
(c) Receives a contribution, makes an expenditure, or gives consent for another person to receive a contribution or make an expenditure with a view to bringing about the individual's nomination or election to an elective office, whether or not the specific elective office for which the individual will seek nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is received or the expenditure is made.
(d) Is an officeholder who is the subject of a recall vote.
(e) Holds an elective office, unless the officeholder is constitutionally or legally barred from seeking reelection or fails to file for reelection to that office by the applicable filing deadline. An individual described in this subdivision is considered to be a candidate for reelection to that same office for the purposes of this act only.
For purposes of sections 61 to 71, "candidate" only means, in a primary election, a candidate for the office of governor and, in a general election, a candidate for the office of governor or lieutenant governor. However, the candidates for the office of governor and lieutenant governor of the same political party in a general election are considered as 1 candidate.
(2) "Candidate committee" means the committee designated in a candidate's filed statement of organization as that individual's candidate committee. A candidate committee must be under the control and direction of the candidate named in the same statement of organization. Notwithstanding subsection (4), an individual shall form a candidate committee under section 21 if the individual becomes a candidate under subsection (1).
(3) "Closing date" means the date through which a campaign statement is required to be complete.
(4) "Committee" means a person that receives contributions or makes expenditures for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the action of the voters for or against the nomination or election of a candidate, the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question, or the qualification of a new political party, if contributions received total $500.00 or more in a calendar year or expenditures made total $500.00 or more in a calendar year. Committee includes a political organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under 26 USC 527 that has an officer, director, board member, or trustee who is a resident of this state. Except as restricted or prohibited by this act or other state or federal law, a committee may also make other lawful disbursements. An individual, other than a candidate, does not constitute a committee. A person, other than a committee registered under this act, making an expenditure to a ballot question committee or an independent expenditure committee, shall not, for that reason, be considered a committee or be required to file a report for the purposes of this act unless the person solicits or receives contributions for the purpose of making an expenditure to that ballot question committee or independent expenditure committee.
Sec. 26. (1) A
campaign statement of a committee, other than a political party committee,
required by this act must contain all of the following information:
(a) The filing
committee's name, address, and telephone number, and the full name, residential
and business addresses, electronic mail address, and telephone numbers of the
committee treasurer or other individual designated as responsible for the
committee's record keeping, report preparation, or report filing.
(b) Under the
heading "receipts", the total amount of contributions received during
the period covered by the campaign statement; under the heading "expenditures",
the total amount of expenditures made during the period covered by the campaign
statement; and the cumulative amount of those totals. Forgiveness of a loan
must not be included in the totals. Payment of a loan by a third party must be
recorded and reported as an in-kind contribution by the third party. In-kind contributions
or expenditures must be listed at fair market value and reported as both
contributions and expenditures. A contribution or expenditure that is by other
than completed and accepted payment, gift, or other transfer, that is clearly
not legally enforceable, and that is expressly withdrawn or rejected and
returned before a campaign statement closing date need not be included in the
campaign statement and if included may, in a later or amended statement, be
shown as a deduction, but the committee shall keep adequate records of each
instance.
(c) The balance
of cash on hand at the beginning and the end of the period covered by the
campaign statement.
(d) The following
information regarding each fund-raising event must be included in the report:
(i) The type of event, date held, address and name, if any, of
the place where the activity was held, and approximate number of individuals
participating or in attendance.
(ii) The total amount of
all contributions.
(iii) The gross receipts of
the fund-raising event.
(iv) The expenditures
incident to the event.
(e) The full name of each individual from whom contributions
are received during the period covered by the campaign statement, together with
the individual's street address, the amount contributed, the date on which each
contribution was received, and the cumulative amount contributed by that
individual. The occupation, employer, and principal place of business must be
stated if the individual's cumulative contributions are more than $100.00. For
contributions of $5.00 or less by an individual to a political committee or
independent committee, the secretary of state shall accept for filing any
written communication from the political committee or independent committee
that contains the information otherwise required under this subsection. Any
written communication under this subdivision does not need to contain an
original signature.
(f) The cumulative amount contributed and the name and
address of each individual, except those individuals reported under subdivision
(e), who contributed to the committee. The occupation, employer, and principal
place of business must be stated for each individual who contributed more than
$100.00.
(g) The name and street address of each person, other than an
individual, from whom contributions are received during the period covered by
the campaign statement, together with an itemization of the amounts
contributed, the date on which each contribution was received, and the
cumulative amount contributed by that person.
(h) The name, address, and amount given by an individual who
contributed to the total amount contributed by a person who is other than a
committee or an individual. The occupation, employer, and principal place of
business must be stated if the individual contributed more than $100.00 of the
total amount contributed by a person who is other than a committee or an
individual.
(i) The cumulative total of expenditures and other
disbursements totaling $50.00 or less to any person made during the period
covered by the campaign statement except for expenditures made to or on behalf
of another committee, candidate, or ballot question.
(j) The full name and street address of each person to whom
expenditures or other disbursements totaling more than $50.00 were made,
together with the amount of each separate expenditure or disbursement to each
person during the period covered by the campaign statement; the purpose of the
expenditure or disbursement; the full name and street address of the person
providing the consideration for which any expenditure or disbursement was made
if different from the payee; the itemization regardless of amount of each
expenditure made to or on behalf of another committee, candidate, or ballot
question; and the cumulative amount of expenditures for or against that
candidate or ballot question for an election cycle. An expenditure made in
support of more than 1 candidate or ballot question, or both, must be
apportioned reasonably among the candidates or ballot questions, or both.
(k) For a candidate
committee of a candidate who controls or directs a political organization
recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under 26 USC 527, all donors,
contributions, and expenditures of that political organization. A candidate
controls or directs a political organization if any director, officer, or board
member of the political organization is employed by or serves as an agent to
the candidate, as determined by the totality of the circumstances.
(2) A candidate committee or ballot question committee shall
report all cumulative amounts required by this section on a per election cycle
basis. Except as provided in subsection (1)(j), an independent committee,
independent expenditure committee, or political committee shall report all
cumulative amounts required by this section on a calendar year basis.
(3) A campaign statement of a committee, in addition to the
other information required by this section, must include an itemized list of
all expenditures during the reporting period for election day busing of
electors to the polls, get-out-the-vote activities, slate cards, challengers,
poll watchers, and poll workers.
(4) For a reporting period in which a contribution is
received that is to be part of a bundled contribution or a reporting period in
which a bundled contribution is delivered to the candidate committee of a
candidate for statewide elective office, a bundling committee shall report to
the secretary of state, on a form provided by the secretary of state, all of
the following information, as applicable, about each contribution received or
delivered as part of a bundled contribution, and about each bundled
contribution delivered, in the reporting period:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the bundling committee, and the candidate for statewide elective office whom
the contributor designated as the intended recipient.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation, employer, and
principal place of business.
(c) The date each contribution is delivered to the candidate's
statewide elective office candidate committee.
(d) The total amount of bundled contributions delivered to
that candidate committee during the reporting period and during the election
cycle.
(5) With its delivery of a bundled contribution to the
candidate committee of a candidate for statewide elective office, a bundling
committee shall deliver a report to that candidate committee, on a form
provided by the secretary of state, that includes all of the following
information, as applicable, about each contribution delivered as part of the
bundled contribution, and about all bundled contributions delivered to that
candidate committee in the election cycle:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the bundling committee, and the statewide elective office candidate the
contributor designated as the intended recipient.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation, employer, and
principal place of business.
(c) The total amount of bundled contributions delivered to
that candidate committee during the reporting period and during the election
cycle.
(6) For a reporting period in which a bundled contribution is
received, a candidate committee of a candidate for statewide elective office
shall report to the secretary of state, on a form provided by the secretary of
state, all of the following information, as applicable, about each contribution
delivered as part of a bundled contribution received in the reporting period
and about all bundled contributions received by that candidate committee:
(a) The amount of each contribution, the date it was received
by the candidate committee, and the name of the bundling committee that
delivered the contribution.
(b) Each contributor's name and address and, for each
contribution exceeding $100.00, the contributor's occupation, employer, and
principal place of business.
(c) The total amount of bundled contributions received by
that candidate committee during the reporting period and during the election
cycle.
(7) For a reporting period in which a connected organization
of a separate segregated fund makes a payment for a prize or 1 or more items
authorized under section 55(8), the separate segregated fund shall report all
of the following, as applicable:
(a) The amount of any payment of costs for a prize, the value
of the prize, the amount raised by the prize, and the amount, if any,
reimbursed to the connected organization by the separate segregated fund for
the prize.
(b) The amount per item of any payment of costs for items to
be sold or offered in return for a contribution as part of fundraising
activities for the separate segregated fund, the amount per item that each item
is offered at or offered for sale at, the value of each item, the aggregate
amount paid for those items, and the amount, if any, reimbursed to the
connected organization by the separate segregated fund for any items. If 1 or
more of the same items are sold or offered in return for a contribution, a
report by item type satisfies the reporting requirement under this subdivision.
(8) As used in subsection (7), "value" means the
regular purchase price offered by the vendor from whom an item is purchased,
less any customary discount offered based on the number of items purchased in
the same transaction.