AB387: Bill Text

AB387,17,12 (b) "Disbursement" does not include any written news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other regularly published publication, unless a committee owns the facilities.

AB387,17,15 (11) "Express advocacy" means communication that contains terms such as the following or their functional equivalents with reference to a clearly identified candidate and that unambiguously relates to the campaign of that candidate:

AB387,17,16 (a) "Vote for".

AB387,17,17 (b) "Elect".

AB387,17,18 (c) "Support".

AB387,17,19 (d) "Cast your ballot for".

AB387,17,20 (e) "Smith for ... (an elective office)".

AB387,17,21 (f) "Vote against".

AB387,17,22 (g) "Defeat".

AB387,17,23 (h) "Reject".

AB387,17,24 (i) "Cast your ballot against".

AB387,18,3 (12) "Federal account committee" means a committee of a state political party organization that makes contributions to candidates for national office and is registered with the federal election commission.

AB387,18,6 (13) "Federal candidate committee" means a committee of a candidate for the U.S. senate or house of representatives from this state that the candidate designates under 2 USC 432 (e).

AB387,18,8 (14) "Filing officer" means the board or official assigned to a committee or conduit under s. 11.0102.

AB387,18,14 (15) "General election" means the election held in even-numbered years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November to elect United States senators, representatives in congress, presidential electors, state senators, representatives to the assembly, district attorneys, state officers other than the state superintendent and judicial officers, and county officers other than supervisors and county executives.

AB387,18,18 (16) "Independent expenditure" means an expenditure for express advocacy by a person, if the expenditure is not made in coordination with a candidate, candidate committee, candidate's agent, legislative campaign committee, or political party, as prohibited under s. 11.1203.

AB387,18,22 (17) "Independent expenditure committee" means any person, other than an individual, or any permanent or temporary combination of 2 or more persons unrelated by marriage, formed for the major purpose of making independent expenditures.

AB387,18,23 (18) "Intentionally" has the meaning given in s. 939.23 (3).

AB387,18,25 (19) "Legislative campaign committee" means a committee organized in either house of the legislature to support a candidate of a political party for legislative office.

AB387,19,3 (20) "Major purpose" means a person's major purpose as specified in the person's organizational documents or as indicated by the person to the board. In this subsection, "person" does not include an individual.

AB387,19,5 (21) "National political party committee" means a national committee as defined in 2 USC 431 (14).

AB387,19,6 (22) "Negotiable instrument" includes an electronic transfer of funds.

AB387,19,8 (23) "Obligation" means any express agreement to make a disbursement, including all of the following:

AB387,19,9 (a) A loan or loan guarantee.

AB387,19,11 (b) A promise or a payment to purchase, rent, or lease tangible personal property.

AB387,19,12 (c) A promise or a payment for a service that has been or will be performed.

AB387,19,14 (24) "Partisan primary" means the primary held the 2nd Tuesday in August to nominate candidates to be voted for at the general election.

AB387,19,16 (25) (a) Subject to par. (b), "political action committee" means an entity that satisfies all of the following:

AB387,19,17 1. Has express advocacy as its major purpose.

AB387,19,19 2. Is organized by any person, other than an individual, or by any combination, permanent or temporary, of 2 or more persons unrelated by marriage.

AB387,19,21 3. Makes or accepts contributions or makes disbursements with regard to a state or local office and to support or oppose any of the following:

AB387,19,22 a. A candidate.

AB387,19,23 b. A candidate committee.

AB387,19,24 c. A legislative campaign committee.

AB387,19,25 d. A political party.

AB387,20,1 e. A political action committee.

AB387,20,2 f. A recall committee.

AB387,20,4 (b) "Political action committee" does not include a candidate committee, legislative campaign committee, political party, or recall committee.

AB387,20,5 (26) (a) "Political party" means all of the following:

AB387,20,8 1. A state committee under whose name candidates appear on a ballot at any election and all county, legislative, local, and other affiliated committees authorized to operate under the same name.

AB387,20,11 2. A committee described under subd. 1. that makes and accepts contributions and makes disbursements to support or oppose a candidate for state or local office or to support or oppose a referendum held in this state.

AB387,20,12 (b) "Political party" does not include a legislative campaign committee.

AB387,20,14 (27) "Recall committee" means a committee formed for the purpose of supporting or opposing the recall of any of the following:

AB387,20,15 (a) An incumbent elective official holding a state office.

AB387,20,16 (b) An incumbent elective official holding a local office.

AB387,20,22 (28) "Referendum committee" means a committee that is organized by any person, other than an individual, or by any combination, permanent or temporary, of 2 or more persons unrelated by marriage that acts to support or oppose the passage or defeat of a referendum held in this state, but that does not receive contributions or make disbursements or contributions for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence a candidate's nomination or election.

AB387,20,24 (29) "Special election" means any election, other than those described in subs. (15), (24), (30), (32), and (33) to fill vacancies or to conduct a referendum.

AB387,21,2 (30) "Special primary" means the primary held 4 weeks before the special election, except as follows:

AB387,21,4 (a) If the special election is held on the same day as the general election, the special primary shall be held on the same day as the general primary.

AB387,21,6 (b) If the special election is held concurrently with the spring election, the primary shall be held concurrently with the spring primary.

AB387,21,8 (31) "Treasurer" means the individual who registers a committee with a filing officer and who makes reports on behalf of the committee.

AB387,21,13 (32) "Spring election" means the election held on the first Tuesday in April to elect judicial, educational, and municipal officers, nonpartisan county officers and sewerage commissioners, and to express preferences for the person to be the presidential candidate for each political party in a year in which electors for president and vice president are to be elected.

AB387,21,16 (33) "Spring primary" means the nonpartisan primary held on the 3rd Tuesday in February to nominate nonpartisan candidates to be voted for at the spring election.

AB387,21,20 11.0102 Determination of filing officer and duty to file; fees. (1) Each committee and conduit required to register and report under this chapter shall have and shall file each registration statement and report required under this chapter with one filing officer as follows:

AB387,21,21 (a) The following shall file with the board:

AB387,21,23 1. A candidate committee of a candidate for state office, as defined in s. 5.02 (23).

AB387,21,24 2. A conduit.

AB387,21,25 3. A legislative campaign committee.

AB387,22,1 4. A political action committee.

AB387,22,2 5. A political party.

AB387,22,3 6. A recall committee as defined in s. 11.0101 (27) (a).

AB387,22,4 7. Except as provided in pars. (f) and (g), a referendum committee.

AB387,22,7 (b) Subject to pars. (c) and (d), a candidate committee for a candidate seeking local office shall file with the clerk of the most populous jurisdiction for which the candidate seeks office.

AB387,22,11 (c) A candidate committee for a candidate for municipal judge elected under s. 755.01 (4) shall file with the county clerk or board of election commissioners of the county having the largest portion of the population in the jurisdiction served by the judge.

AB387,22,13 (d) A candidate committee for a candidate for school board member shall file with the school district clerk.

AB387,22,15 (e) A recall committee as defined in s. 11.0101 (27) (b) shall file with the filing officer for candidates for that office.

AB387,22,18 (f) A referendum committee acting to support or oppose any local referendum, other than a school district referendum, shall file with the clerk of the most populous jurisdiction in which the referendum will be conducted.

AB387,22,20 (g) A referendum committee acting to support or oppose a school district referendum shall file with the school district clerk.

AB387,22,25 (2) (a) Except as provided in pars. (c) and (d), each committee that is required to register under this chapter shall annually pay a filing fee of $100 to the board. The board may accept payment under this subsection by credit card, debit card, or other electronic payment mechanism, and may charge a surcharge to that committee to recover the actual costs associated with the acceptance of that electronic payment.

AB387,23,7 (b) Except as provided in s. 11.0104 (1), a committee that is subject to par. (a) shall pay the fee specified in par. (a) together with the report filed by that committee on the 15th day of the month of January in each year. If a committee that is subject to par. (a) registers under this chapter or changes status so that par. (a) becomes applicable to the committee during a calendar year, the committee shall pay the fee for that year with the filing of the committee's registration statement or at any time before the change in status becomes effective.

AB387,23,8 (c) Paragraph (a) does not apply to a candidate committee.

AB387,23,10 (d) Paragraph (a) does not apply to any committee for any year during which the committee does not make disbursements exceeding a total of $2,500.

AB387,23,11 (3) Each filing officer, other than the board, shall do all of the following:

AB387,23,13 (a) Obtain the forms and manuals prescribed by the board under s. 11.1304 (1) and (3) and election laws provided by the board under s. 7.08 (4).

AB387,23,15 (b) Develop a filing, coding, and cross-indexing system consonant with the purposes of this chapter.

AB387,23,17 (c) Make all of the following available, without charge, to any committee required to file reports or statements with the officer:

AB387,23,22 1. Forms prescribed by the board for the making of reports and statements. The filing officer shall notify the committee that all forms are available on the board's Internet site. Whenever a filing officer sends a form or notice of the filing requirements under this chapter to the treasurer of a candidate committee, the filing officer shall also send a notice to the candidate.

AB387,23,23 2. Upon request, copies of manuals under par. (a).

AB387,23,25 (d) The filing officer shall provide copies of manuals and election laws to persons other than a committee under par. (c) at cost.

AB387,24,5 (e) Notify the board, in writing, of any facts within the filing officer's knowledge or evidence in the officer's possession, including errors or discrepancies in reports or statements and delinquencies in filing which may be grounds for civil action or criminal prosecution. The board may transmit a copy of the notification submitted under this paragraph to the district attorney.

AB387,24,6 (f) Make available a list of delinquents for public inspection.

AB387,24,9 (g) Compile and maintain on an electronic system a current list of all reports and statements received by or required of and pertaining to each committee registered under this chapter.

AB387,24,12 (h) Make the reports and statements filed with the officer available for public inspection and copying, commencing as soon as practicable but not later than the end of the 2nd day following the day during which they are received.

AB387,24,14 (i) Upon the request of any person, permit copying of any report or statement described under par. (g) at cost.

AB387,24,22 (j) Determine whether each report or statement required to be filed under this chapter has been filed in the form and by the time prescribed by law, and whether it conforms on its face to the requirements of this chapter. The officer shall immediately send to any committee that is delinquent in filing, or that has filed otherwise than in the proper form, a notice that the committee has failed to comply with this chapter. Whenever a candidate committee has appointed an individual other than the candidate as campaign treasurer, the board shall send the notice to both the candidate and the treasurer of the candidate committee.

AB387,24,25 11.0103 Reporting; general. (1) Report must be complete. (a) Each committee required to file a report under this chapter shall make a good faith effort to obtain all required information.

AB387,25,2 (b) Failure to receive a form or notice from a filing officer does not exempt a committee or conduit from a reporting requirement under this chapter.

AB387,25,5 (2) Contributions; when received; when reported. (a) 1. A contribution is received by a candidate committee for purposes of this chapter when it is under the control of the candidate or the treasurer or agent of the candidate.

AB387,25,7 2. A contribution is received by a committee for purposes of this chapter when it is under the control of the treasurer or agent of the committee.