AB37: Bill Text

AB37, s. 5 Section 5. 11.12 (6) of the statutes is renumbered 11.12 (6) (a) and amended to read:

AB37,6,15 11.12 (6) (a) If any Except as provided in par. (b), if an individual or committee incurs or intends to incur an obligation or makes or intends to make a disbursement of more than $20 $250 cumulatively is made to advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate by an individual or committee later than 15 days prior to a primary or election in which the candidate's name appears on the ballot without cooperation or consultation with a candidate or agent or authorized committee of a candidate who is supported or whose opponent is opposed, and not in concert with or at the request or suggestion of such a candidate, agent or committee, the individual or treasurer of the committee shall, within 24 hours of making no later than 21 days prior to the activity intended to be funded by the incurred obligation or disbursement, inform the appropriate filing officer of the information required under s. 11.06 (1) in such manner as the board may prescribe. The information shall also be included in the next regular report of the individual or committee under s. 11.20. For purposes of this subsection, obligations and disbursements cumulate beginning with the day after the last date covered on the preprimary or preelection report and ending with the day before the primary or election. Upon receipt of a report under this subsection paragraph, the filing officer shall, within 24 hours of receipt, mail a copy of the report to all candidates for any office in support of or opposition to one of whom a an incurred obligation or disbursement identified in the report is to be made.

AB37, s. 6 Section 6. 11.12 (6) (b) of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,6,23 11.12 (6) (b) If the independently incurred obligation or disbursement described in par. (a) relates to a special primary or election not held concurrently with the spring or September primary or the spring or general election, the individual who or committee which incurs or intends to incur the obligation or makes or intends to make the disbursement shall inform the appropriate filing officer no later than 14 days prior to the activity intended to be funded by the incurred obligation or disbursement.

AB37, s. 7 Section 7. 11.19 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB37,7,15 11.19 (1) Whenever any registrant disbands or determines that obligations will no longer be incurred, and contributions will no longer be received nor disbursements made during a calendar year, and the registrant has no outstanding incurred obligations, the registrant shall file a termination report with the appropriate filing officer. Such report shall indicate a cash balance on hand of zero at the end of the reporting period and shall indicate the disposition of residual funds. Residual funds may be used for any political purpose not prohibited by law, returned to the donors in an amount not exceeding the original contribution, transferred to the board for crediting to the Wisconsin election campaign fund, or donated to a charitable organization or the common school fund. The report shall be filed and certified as were previous reports, and shall contain the information required by s. 11.06 (1). If a termination report or suspension report under sub. (2) is not filed, the registrant shall continue to file periodic reports with the appropriate filing officer, no later than the dates specified in s. 11.20. This subsection does not apply to any registrant making an indication under s. 11.05 (2r).

AB37, s. 8 Section 8. 11.26 (8m) of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,8,3 11.26 (8m) No committee, other than a personal campaign committee, support committee under s. 11.18, political party committee or legislative campaign committee, may make any contribution or contributions, directly or indirectly, to another committee, other than a personal campaign committee, support committee under s. 11.18, political party committee or legislative campaign committee exceeding a total of $5,000 in value in any biennium. This limitation does not apply to any contribution or contributions made by a committee which does not maintain an address within this state, to the extent that the committee receives any contribution or contributions in a corresponding amount from a committee which maintains an address in this state in the same biennium. In this subsection, a biennium commences with January 1 of each odd-numbered year and ends with December 31 of the following even-numbered year.

AB37, s. 9 Section 9. 11.26 (9) (a) of the statutes is repealed.

AB37, s. 10 Section 10. 11.26 (9) (b) of the statutes is renumbered 11.26 (9) and amended to read:

AB37,8,11 11.26 (9) No individual who is a candidate for state or local office may receive and accept more than 45% 33% of the value of the total disbursement level, as determined under s. 11.31 (1), for the office for which he or she is a candidate during any primary and election campaign combined from all committees other than political party and legislative campaign committees subject to a filing requirement.

AB37, s. 11 Section 11. 11.26 (9) (c) of the statutes is repealed.

AB37, s. 12 Section 12. 11.26 (13) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB37,8,16 11.26 (13) Except as provided in sub. (9), contributions Contributions received from the Wisconsin election campaign fund are not subject to limitation by this section.

AB37, s. 13 Section 13. 11.30 (6) of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,9,5 11.30 (6) Every person who publishes, distributes or broadcasts, or causes to be published, distributed or broadcast, any communication which advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate without cooperation or consultation with a candidate or agent or authorized committee of a candidate who is supported or whose opponent is opposed, and not in concert with or at the request or suggestion of such a candidate, agent or committee shall file with the board, in writing, a copy of the text of the communication, together with the name of the person who is publishing, distributing or broadcasting the communication or causing it to be published, distributed or broadcast and that person's address, in such manner that the text is received by the board no later than 24 hours prior to the time that the communication is first published, distributed or broadcast. No person is required to file the text of a communication with the board under this subsection that has been previously filed by that person or another person.

AB37, s. 14 Section 14. 11.31 (3n) of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,9,22 11.31 (3m) Independent disbursements; exception. Notwithstanding subs. (1) and (2), if any incurred obligation or disbursement of more than $250 cumulatively is incurred or made by an individual or committee to advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate whose name appears on the ballot at an election and the incurred obligation or disbursement is incurred or made without cooperation or consultation with any candidate who is supported or whose opponent is opposed or such a candidate's agent or authorized committee, and not in concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, any such candidate, agent or authorized committee, then each candidate whose name appears on the same ballot and who is opposed or whose opponent is supported by that advocacy may make or authorize total disbursements from the campaign treasury in excess of the amount prescribed in sub. (1) but not to exceed the amount prescribed in sub. (1) plus the total amount of incurred obligations and disbursements not previously reported as incurred obligations that are reported to the appropriate filing officer under s. 11.12 (6). For the purposes of this subsection, obligations and disbursements cumulate as provided in s. 11.12 (6) (a).

AB37, s. 15 Section 15. 11.385 of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,9,24 11.385 Negative option deductions prohibited. (1) In this section:

AB37,10,2 (a) "Employe organization" means any association consisting of 2 or more employes of one or more employers.

AB37,10,4 (b) "Employer" includes the state and every local governmental unit as defined in s. 16.97 (7).

AB37,10,11 (2) No employer may deduct any amount from the wages or allowances or reimbursements for expenses payable to an employe for the purpose of making or transferring a contribution to a committee, other than a political party, legislative campaign, or personal campaign committee or a support committee under s. 11.18, without a written authorization, signed by the employe, which specifically authorizes the deduction for the purpose of making or transferring such a contribution.

AB37,10,15 (3) No employer or employe organization may make or transfer a contribution to a committee other than a political party, legislative campaign or personal campaign committee or support committee under s. 11.18 unless the deduction is made in compliance with sub. (2).

AB37,11,2 (4) Every employer who makes a deduction and every employer and employe organization to which a deduction is payable for the purpose of making a contribution specified in sub. (3) shall provide to the employe who authorizes the deduction to be made an opportunity to terminate the deduction upon written notice to the employer making the deduction, or to the employer or employe organization for which the deduction is made. A termination of an authorization under this subsection is effective at such time as may be agreed between the employe and the employe's employer or the employer or employe organization for which the deduction is made, but in no case later than the number of days after notice of termination if filed equal to the interval between regular payments to the employe from which the deduction is taken.

AB37, s. 16 Section 16. 11.395 of the statutes is created to read:

AB37,11,16 11.395 Certain contributions in Dane County prohibited. No individual or committee may make or transfer a contribution to an individual who is a candidate for a partisan state office which the individual holds at the time the contribution is made or transferred, to the personal campaign committee of such a candidate or to the support committee of such a candidate authorized under s. 11.05 (3) (p), if the contribution is made in connection with any fund-raising event held in Dane County during the period commencing on the first Monday in January of each odd-numbered year and ending with the date of enactment of the biennial budget act. This section does not apply to a contribution made to an individual who is a candidate for the office of district attorney or who represents a legislative district that is wholly or partly contained within Dane County, to the personal campaign committee of such an individual or to the support committee of such an individual authorized under s. 11.05 (3) (p).

AB37, s. 17 Section 17. 11.50 (9) of the statutes is renumbered 11.50 (9) (a) and amended to read:

AB37,11,23 11.50 (9) (a) The total grant available to an eligible candidate may not exceed that amount which, when added to all other contributions accepted from sources other than individuals, political party committees and legislative campaign committees, is equal to 45% of the disbursement level specified for the applicable office, as determined under s. 11.31 (1).

AB37,12,2 (b) The board shall scrutinize accounts and reports and records kept under this chapter to assure that applicable limitations under ss. 11.26 (9) and s. 11.31 are not exceeded and any violation is reported. No candidate or campaign treasurer may accept grants exceeding the amount authorized by this subsection.

AB37, s. 18 Section 18. 25.42 of the statutes is amended to read:

AB37,12,9 25.42 Wisconsin election campaign fund. All moneys appropriated under s. 20.855 (4) (b) together with all moneys credited under s. 11.19 (1), all moneys reverting to the state under s. 11.50 (8) and all gifts, bequests and devises received under s. 11.50 (13) constitute the Wisconsin election campaign fund, to be expended for the purposes of s. 11.50. All moneys in the fund not disbursed by the state treasurer shall continue to accumulate indefinitely.

AB37, s. 19 Section 19. Effective dates. This act takes effect on the day after publication, except as follows:

AB37,12,13 (1)  The treatment of section 11.06 (1) (a) of the statutes takes effect on January 1, 1996.

AB37,12,15 (2)  The treatment of section 11.385 of the statutes takes effect on the first day of the 2nd month commencing after publication.

AB37,12,16 (End)