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H0245.........................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTING - Amends existing law to redefine "person" in the
campaign finance reporting law to provide application to political
subdivisions of the state of Idaho.
02/11 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/12 Rpt prt - to St Aff
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session - 2003
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE BILL NO. 245
BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTING LAW; AMENDING SECTION 67-6602,
3 IDAHO CODE, TO FURTHER DEFINE THE TERM "PERSON" TO INCLUDE A POLITICAL
4 SUBDIVISION; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
6 SECTION 1. That Section 67-6602, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
7 amended to read as follows:
8 67-6602. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter, the following terms have
9 the following meanings:
10 (a) "Candidate" means an individual who has taken affirmative action to
11 seek nomination or election to public office. An individual shall be deemed to
12 have taken affirmative action to seek such nomination or election to public
13 office when he first:
14 (1) Receives contributions or makes expenditures or reserves space or
15 facilities with intent to promote his candidacy for office; or
16 (2) Announces publicly or files for office.
17 (b) "Compensation" includes any advance, conveyance, forgiveness of
18 indebtedness, deposit, distribution, loan, payment, gift, pledge or transfer
19 of money or anything of value, and any contract, agreement, promise or other
20 obligation, whether or not legally enforceable, to do any of the foregoing,
21 for services rendered or to be rendered, but does not include reimbursement of
22 expenses if such reimbursement does not exceed the amount actually expended
23 for such expenses and is substantiated by an itemization of such expenses.
24 (c) "Contribution" includes any advance, conveyance, forgiveness of
25 indebtedness, deposit, distribution, loan, payment, gift, pledge, subscription
26 or transfer of money or anything of value, and any contract, agreement, prom-
27 ise or other obligation, whether or not legally enforceable, to make a contri-
28 bution, in support of or in opposition to any candidate, political committee
29 or measure. Such term also includes personal funds or other property of a can-
30 didate or members of his household expended or transferred to cover expendi-
31 tures incurred in support of such candidate but does not include personal
32 funds used to pay the candidate filing fee. Such term also includes the ren-
33 dering of personal and professional services for less than full consideration,
34 but does not include ordinary home hospitality or the rendering of "part-time"
35 personal services of the sort commonly performed by volunteer campaign workers
36 or advisors or incidental expenses not in excess of twenty-five dollars
37 ($25.00) personally paid for by any volunteer campaign worker. "Part-time"
38 services for the purposes of this definition, means services in addition to
39 regular full-time employment, or, in the case of an unemployed person or per-
40 sons engaged in part-time employment, services rendered without compensation
41 or reimbursement of expenses from any source other than the candidate or
42 political committee for whom such services are rendered. For the purposes of
43 this act, contributions, other than money or its equivalents shall be deemed
2
1 to have a money value equivalent to the fair market value of the contribution.
2 (d) "Election" means any general, special or primary election.
3 (e) "Election campaign" means any campaign in support of or in opposition
4 to a candidate for election to public office and any campaign in support of,
5 or in opposition to, a measure.
6 (f) "Expenditure" includes any payment, contribution, subscription, dis-
7 tribution, loan, advance, deposit, or gift of money or anything of value, and
8 includes a contract, promise, or agreement, whether or not legally enforce-
9 able, to make an expenditure. The term "expenditure" also includes a promise
10 to pay, a payment or a transfer of anything of value in exchange for goods,
11 services, property, facilities or anything of value for the purpose of assist-
12 ing, benefiting or honoring any public official or candidate, or assisting in
13 furthering or opposing any election campaign.
14 (g) "Independent expenditure" means any expenditure by a person for a
15 communication expressly advocating the election, passage or defeat of a
16 clearly identified candidate or measure that is not made with the cooperation
17 or with the prior consent of, or in consultation with, or at the consent of,
18 or in consultation with, or at the request of a suggestion of, a candidate or
19 any agent or authorized committee of the candidate or political committee sup-
20 porting or opposing a measure. As used in this subsection, "expressly advocat-
21 ing" means any communication containing a message advocating election, passage
22 or defeat including, but not limited to, the name of the candidate or measure,
23 or expression such as "vote for," "elect," "support," "cast your ballot for,"
24 "vote against," "defeat" or "reject."
25 (h) "Lobby" and "lobbying" each means attempting through contacts with,
26 or causing others to make contact with, members of the legislature or legisla-
27 tive committees, to influence the approval, modification or rejection of any
28 legislation by the legislature of the state of Idaho or any committee thereof.
29 Neither "lobby" nor "lobbying" includes an association's or other
30 organization's act of communicating with the members of that association or
31 organization.
32 (i) "Lobbyist" includes any person who lobbies.
33 (j) "Lobbyist's employer" means the person or persons by whom a lobbyist
34 is employed, directly or indirectly, and all persons by whom he is compensated
35 for acting as a lobbyist.
36 (k) "Measure" means any proposal, to be voted statewide, submitted to the
37 people for their approval or rejection at an election, including any initia-
38 tive, referendum or revision of or amendment to the state constitution. An
39 initiative or referendum proposal shall be deemed a measure when the attorney
40 general reviews it and gives it a ballot title.
41 (l) "Nonbusiness entity" means any group (of two (2) or more individu-
42 als), corporation, association, firm, partnership, committee, club or other
43 organization which:
44 (1) Does not have as its principal purpose the conduct of business activ-
45 ities for profit; and
46 (2) Received during the preceding calendar year contributions, gifts or
47 membership fees, which in the aggregate exceeded ten percent (10%) of its
48 total receipts for such year.
49 (m) "Person" means an individual, corporation, association, firm, part-
50 nership, committee, political party, club or other organization or group of
51 persons. "Person" also means any political subdivision of the state of Idaho
52 that engages in any of the conduct or activities within the purview of this
53 chapter, provided that inclusion of such political subdivisions shall not be
54 construed as a source of authority for engaging in such conduct or activities.
55 (n) "Political committee" means:
3
1 (1) Any person specifically designated to support or oppose any candidate
2 or measure; or
3 (2) Any person who receives contributions and makes expenditures in an
4 amount exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) in any calendar year for the
5 purpose of supporting or opposing one (1) or more candidates or measures.
6 Any entity registered with the federal election commission shall not be
7 considered a political committee for purposes of this chapter.
8 (3) A county, district or regional committee of a recognized political
9 party shall not be considered a political committee for the purposes of
10 this chapter unless such party committee has expenditures exceeding five
11 thousand dollars ($5,000) in a calendar year.
12 (o) "Political treasurer" means an individual appointed by a candidate or
13 political committee as provided in section 67-6603, Idaho Code.
14 (p) "Public office" means any state office or position, state senator,
15 state representative, and judge of the district court that is filled by elec-
16 tion.
17 SECTION 2. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby
18 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its
19 passage and approval.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 12824
This legislation would bring political subdivisions of the state
of Idaho within the requirements of the Sunshine Act. Any such
governmental entity would be required to report expenditures made
for political activities. The provision makes it clear that the
inclusion of these entities in the Sunshine Act does not, in
itself, grant any authority to carry on lobbying or political
campaigning. Any such authority must be provided under
appropriate enabling laws. The reporting requirements of the
Sunshine Act would apply whether or not the governmental agency
was acting lawfully in lobbying or campaigning.
FISCAL IMPACT
There would be no fiscal impact on the state. The legislation
would likely result in some fiscal impact for political
subdivisions that do engage in lobbying and /or campaigning.
Contact
Name: Rep. Jim Clark
Phone: 332-1245
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE H 245