June 1, 2006, Introduced by Reps. Ward, Taub, Sheltrown, Schuitmaker, Elsenheimer, Stahl, Proos, Mortimer, Ball, Nitz and Kooiman and referred to the Committee on House Oversight, Elections, and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled
"Michigan campaign finance act,"
by amending sections 5, 6, 11, and 54 (MCL 169.205, 169.206,
169.211, and 169.254), section 5 as amended by 1999 PA 237, section
6 as amended by 2003 PA 69, section 11 as amended by 1996 PA 590,
and section 54 as amended by 1995 PA 264, and by adding sections
40, 52b, and 53a.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 5. (1) "Domestic dependent sovereign" means an Indian
tribe that has been acknowledged, recognized, restored, or
reaffirmed
as an Indian tribe by the secretary of the interior
pursuant
to chapter 576, 48 Stat. 984, 25 U.S.C. under the Indian
reorganization act, 25 USC 461 to 463, 464 to 465, 466 to 470, 471
to
472, 473, 474 to 475, 476 to 478, and 479, commonly referred to
as
the Indian reorganization act, or has otherwise been
acknowledged by the United States government as an Indian tribe.
(2) "Election" means a primary, general, special, or millage
election held in this state or a convention or caucus of a
political party held in this state to nominate a candidate.
Election includes a recall vote.
(3) "Election cycle" means 1 of the following:
(a) For a general election, the period beginning the day
following the last general election in which the office appeared on
the ballot and ending on the day of the general election in which
the office next appears on the ballot.
(b) For a special election, the period beginning the day a
special general election is called or the date the office becomes
vacant, whichever is earlier, and ending on the day of the special
general election.
(4) "Electioneering communication" means, subject to
subsection (5), a communication to which all of the following
apply:
(a) The communication refers to a clearly identified
candidate.
(b) The communication is made within 30 days before a primary
election or a convention or caucus of a political party that has
authority to nominate a candidate or within 60 days before a
general election.
(5) Electioneering communication does not include the
following:
(a) A communication in a news story, commentary, or editorial
distributed through the facilities of a broadcasting station,
unless the facilities are owned or controlled by a candidate or a
committee, other than an independent committee or a ballot question
committee.
(b) A communication that is an expenditure or an independent
expenditure.
(c) A communication in a candidate debate or forum conducted
pursuant to rules adopted by the secretary of state or that solely
promotes such a debate or forum and is made by or on behalf of the
person sponsoring the debate or forum.
(6) (4)
"Elective office" means a public office
filled by an
election. A person who is appointed to fill a vacancy in a public
office that is ordinarily elective holds an elective office.
Elective office does not include the office of precinct delegate.
Except for the purposes of sections 47, 54, and 55, elective office
does not include a school board member in a school district that
has a pupil membership of 2,400 or less enrolled on the most recent
pupil membership count day. However, elective office includes a
school board member in a school district that has a pupil
membership
of 2,400 or less , if a candidate committee of a
candidate for the office of school board member in that school
district receives an amount in excess of $1,000.00 or expends an
amount in excess of $1,000.00. Elective office does not include a
federal office except for the purposes of section 57.
Sec. 6. (1) "Expenditure" means a payment, donation, loan, or
promise of payment of money or anything of ascertainable monetary
value for goods, materials, services, or facilities in assistance
of, or in opposition to, the nomination or election of a candidate,
or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question.
Expenditure includes, but is not limited to, any of the following:
(a) A contribution or a transfer of anything of ascertainable
monetary value for purposes of influencing the nomination or
election of a candidate or the qualification, passage, or defeat of
a ballot question.
(b)
Except as provided in subsection (2)(f) or (g) (2)(e) or
(f), an expenditure for voter registration or get-out-the-vote
activities made by a person who sponsors or finances the activity
or who is identified by name with the activity.
(c)
Except as provided in subsection (2)(f) or (g) (2)(e) or
(f), an expenditure made for poll watchers, challengers,
distribution of election day literature, canvassing of voters to
get out the vote, or transporting voters to the polls.
(2) Expenditure does not include any of the following:
(a) An expenditure for communication by a person with the
person's paid members or shareholders and those individuals who can
be solicited for contributions to a separate segregated fund under
section 55.
(b)
An expenditure for communication on a subject or issue if
the
communication does not support or oppose a ballot question or
candidate
by name or clear inference.
(b) (c)
An expenditure for the establishment,
administration, or solicitation of contributions to a separate
segregated fund or independent committee.
(c) (d)
An expenditure by a broadcasting station, newspaper,
magazine, or other periodical or publication for a news story,
commentary, or editorial in support of or opposition to a candidate
for elective office or a ballot question in the regular course of
publication or broadcasting.
(d) (e)
An offer or tender of an expenditure if expressly
and unconditionally rejected or returned.
(e) (f)
An expenditure for nonpartisan voter registration or
nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities made by an organization
that is exempt from federal income tax pursuant to section
501(c)(3)
of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 U.S.C. USC
501, or any successor statute.
(f) (g)
An expenditure for nonpartisan voter registration or
nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities performed pursuant to
chapter XXIII of the Michigan election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL
168.491 to 168.524, by the secretary of state and other
registration officials who are identified by name with the
activity.
(g) (h)
An expenditure by a state central committee of a
political party or a person controlled by a state central committee
of a political party for the construction, purchase, or renovation
of 1 or more office facilities in Ingham county if the facility is
not constructed, purchased, or renovated for the purpose of
influencing the election of a candidate in a particular election.
Items excluded from the definition of expenditure under this
subdivision include expenditures approved in federal election
commission advisory opinions 1993-9, 2001-1, and 2001-12 as
allowable expenditures under the federal election campaign act of
1971,
Public Law 92-225, 2 U.S.C. 431 to 434, 437, 437c to 439a,
439c,
441a to 441h, and 442 to 455, and regulations promulgated
under that act, regardless of whether those advisory opinions have
been superseded.
Sec. 11. (1) "Person" means a business, individual,
proprietorship, firm, partnership, joint venture, syndicate,
business trust, labor organization, company, corporation,
association, committee, organization that claims tax-exempt status
under section 527 of the internal revenue code, 26 USC 527, or any
other organization or group of persons acting jointly.
(2) "Political committee" means a committee that is not a
candidate committee, political party committee, independent
committee, or ballot question committee.
(3) "Political merchandise" means goods such as bumper
stickers, pins, hats, beverages, literature, or other items sold by
a person at a fund raiser or to the general public for publicity or
for the purpose of raising funds to be used in supporting or
opposing a candidate for nomination for or election to an elective
office or in supporting or opposing the qualification, passage, or
defeat of a ballot question.
(4)
"Political party" means a political party which
that has
a right under law to have the names of its candidates listed on the
ballot in a general election.
(5) "Political party committee" means a state central,
district,
or county committee of a political party which that is
a committee. Each state central committee shall designate the
official party county and district committees. There shall not be
more than 1 officially designated political party committee per
county and per congressional district.
(6) "Public body" means 1 or more of the following:
(a) A state agency, department, division, bureau, board,
commission, council, authority, or other body in the executive
branch of state government.
(b) The legislature or an agency, board, commission, or
council in the legislative branch of state government.
(c) A county, city, township, village, intercounty, intercity,
or regional governing body; a council, school district, special
district, or municipal corporation; or a board, department,
commission, or council or an agency of a board, department,
commission, or council.
(d) Any other body that is created by state or local authority
or is primarily funded by or through state or local authority,
which body exercises governmental or proprietary authority or
performs a governmental or proprietary function.
Sec. 40. (1) A person shall not receive a contribution or make
a contribution to a committee if the contribution is made in
exchange for money from a corporation, labor organization, or
domestic dependent sovereign.
(2) A corporation, labor organization, or domestic dependent
sovereign shall not make a donation, payment, or transfer of money
or anything of value, and a person shall not make a donation,
payment, or transfer from a financial institution account that
contains money of a corporation, labor organization, or domestic
dependent sovereign, to a person with the understanding, agreement,
or arrangement that the person will induce an independent
expenditure or a contribution to a committee.
(3) A person shall not receive a contribution that was
obtained as a result of a donation, payment, or transfer of money
or anything of value by a corporation, labor organization, or
domestic dependent sovereign, or by a person who made the donation,
payment, or transfer from a financial institution account that
contains money of a corporation, labor organization, or domestic
dependent sovereign.
(4) A person shall not arrange for a corporation, labor
organization, or domestic dependent sovereign to make a donation,
payment, or transfer of money or anything of value, or for a person
to make a donation, payment, or transfer from a financial
institution account that contains money of a corporation, labor
organization, or domestic dependent sovereign, to a person for the
purpose of inducing an independent expenditure or a contribution to
a committee.
(5) This section does not apply to a donation, payment, or
transfer of money or anything of value by a corporation, labor
organization, or domestic dependent sovereign to a charity to match
an amount contributed to the separate segregated fund of the
corporation, labor organization, or domestic dependent sovereign by
an individual who is allowed to be solicited for contributions to
the separate segregated fund under section 55.
(6) A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of
a felony punishable, if the person is an individual, by
imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than
$5,000.00, or both, or, if the person is not an individual, by a
fine of not more than $10,000.00.
Sec. 52b. (1) A person shall not make contributions to a
political party committee that exceed $50,000.00 in a calendar
year. A political party committee or a treasurer or agent of the
committee shall not accept a contribution with respect to an
election cycle that exceeds the limitation in this section.
(2) A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of
a misdemeanor punishable, if the person is an individual, by
imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than
$1,000.00, or both, or, if the person is not an individual, by a
fine of not more than $10,000.00.
Sec. 53a. An organization that claims tax-exempt status under
section 527 of the internal revenue code, 26 USC 527, shall not
make a contribution or an expenditure for an electioneering
communication.
Sec.
54. (1) Except with respect to the exceptions and
conditions
as provided in subsections (2) and (3) and section 55,
and to
except for loans made in the ordinary course of business,
a corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign,
or labor organization shall not make a contribution or expenditure,
including, but not limited to, a contribution or expenditure for an
electioneering communication, or provide volunteer personal
services that are excluded from the definition of a contribution
pursuant
to under section 4(3)(a).
(2)
An officer, director, stockholder, attorney, agent, or
any
other another person acting for a labor organization, a
domestic dependent sovereign, or a corporation or joint stock
company, whether incorporated under the laws of this or any other
state or foreign country, except corporations formed for political
purposes, shall not make a contribution or expenditure or provide
volunteer personal services that are excluded from the definition
of
a contribution pursuant to under section 4(3)(a).
(3) A corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent
sovereign, or labor organization may make a contribution to a
ballot question committee subject to this act. A corporation, joint
stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization
may make an independent expenditure in any amount for the
qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question. A
corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or
labor organization that makes an independent expenditure under this
subsection is considered a ballot question committee for the
purposes of this act.
(4) A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of
a felony punishable, if the person is an individual, by a fine of
not more than $5,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 3 years,
or both, or, if the person is not an individual, by a fine of not
more than $10,000.00.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect January
31, 2007.