Virginia House Bill 1617 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 11-0)
Status: Engrossed on February 4 2019 - 50% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-02-19 - Left in Rules
Pending: Senate Rules Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Engrossed) [HTML]

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaign funds; civil penalty. Adds a definition of "personal use of campaign funds" and prohibits the use of contributions, or conversion of items acquired using contributions, to a candidate or campaign committee for a strictly personal purpose with no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the candidate's campaign or public office. Complaints of alleged violations may be made to the State Board of Elections (the State Board) by any person who contributed to the candidate or candidate's campaign committee. The subject of the complaint has 30 days to either (i) reimburse the campaign committee the complained-of amount or (ii) provide to the State Board documentation or other evidence that the use of the campaign funds had an intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. If the subject of the complaint provides such documentation or other evidence, the State Board shall review the response made by the subject of the complaint and determine whether the use of campaign funds had any intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. The State Board shall assess a civil penalty, in an amount not to exceed $250, against a complaining party who is found to have filed a frivolous complaint. The bill amends the Freedom of Information Act to allow closed meetings for the State Board to review complaints related to the personal use of campaign funds. If the State Board determines that there were no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefits and the complained-of amount has not been reimbursed, it shall call a public hearing. If the complaining party declines to participate in the hearing, the complaint shall be dismissed. A person found by a unanimous vote of the State Board to have willfully and knowingly violated the prohibition on personal use of campaign funds must repay to the campaign committee the amount unlawfully converted to the personal use of the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family and must return to the complaining party the full amount of the complaining party's contribution to the campaign. The State Board may also assess an additional civil penalty, in an amount not to exceed $250. The person found to be in violation may seek review under the Administrative Process Act. The bill authorizes the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council (the Council) to issue formal advisory opinions regarding the provisions governing the personal use of campaign funds pursuant to the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 (?§24.2-945 et seq.). A person who has relied on such an opinion in good faith after he provides full disclosure of the facts will not be subject to the penalties outlined in the bill. In addition, the Council will be required to develop and publish guidance on the provisions of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act that prohibit the personal use of campaign funds. The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2020.

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaign funds, civil penalty.

Del. Mark Cole [R]	Del. Hyland Fowler [R]	Del. Scott Garrett [R]	Del. Gordon Helsel [R]
Del. Timothy Hugo [R]	Del. Riley Ingram [R]	Del. Steven Landes [R]	Del. Dave LaRock [R]
Del. Joseph McNamara [R]	Del. Roxann Robinson [R]	Del. Robert Thomas [R]

2019-02-05 - House - House: VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N) (Y: 99 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2019-02-01 - House - House: Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments (22-Y 0-N) (Y: 22 N: 0 NV: 0 Abs: 0) [PASS]
2019-01-30 - House - House: Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 0-N) (Y: 7 N: 0 NV: 1 Abs: 0) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2019-02-19	Senate	Left in Rules
2019-02-06	Senate	Referred to Committee on Rules
2019-02-06	Senate	Constitutional reading dispensed
2019-02-05	House	VOTE: BLOCK VOTE PASSAGE (99-Y 0-N)
2019-02-05	House	Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N)
2019-02-04	House	Printed as engrossed 19100359D-E
2019-02-04	House	Engrossed by House as amended HB1617E
2019-02-04	House	Committee amendments agreed to
2019-02-04	House	Read second time
2019-02-03	House	Read first time
2019-02-01	House	Reported from Privileges and Elections with amendments (22-Y 0-N)
2019-01-30	House	Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendments (7-Y 0-N)
2019-01-12	House	Assigned P & E sub: Subcommittee #3
2018-09-14	House	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
2018-09-14	House	Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/19 19100359D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
2	2	3711	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	946	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	948.4	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	948.5	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+sum+HB1617
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1617+hil
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+ful+HB1617E+hil
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+vot+H1803V0009+HB1617
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+vot+H18V0022+HB1617
Roll Call	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?191+vot+HV2343+HB1617