October 20, 2015, Introduced by Senator KOWALL and referred to the Committee on Elections and Government Reform.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled
"Michigan campaign finance act,"
by amending sections 3, 6, and 55 (MCL 169.203, 169.206, and
169.255), section 3 as amended by 2012 PA 273 and sections 6 and 55
as amended by 2013 PA 252.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 3. (1) "Candidate" means an individual who meets 1 or
more of the following criteria:
(a) Files a fee, an affidavit of incumbency, or a nominating
petition for an elective office.
(b) Is nominated as a candidate for elective office by a
political party caucus or convention and whose nomination is
certified to the appropriate filing official.
(c) Receives a contribution, makes an expenditure, or gives
consent for another person to receive a contribution or make an
expenditure with a view to bringing about the individual's
nomination or election to an elective office, whether or not the
specific elective office for which the individual will seek
nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is
received or the expenditure is made.
(d) Is an officeholder who is the subject of a recall vote.
(e) Holds an elective office, unless the officeholder is
constitutionally or legally barred from seeking reelection or fails
to file for reelection to that office by the applicable filing
deadline. An individual described in this subdivision is considered
to be a candidate for reelection to that same office for the
purposes of this act only.
For purposes of sections 61 to 71, "candidate" only means, in
a primary election, a candidate for the office of governor and, in
a general election, a candidate for the office of governor or
lieutenant governor. However, the candidates for the office of
governor and lieutenant governor of the same political party in a
general election shall be considered as 1 candidate.
(2) "Candidate committee" means the committee designated in a
candidate's filed statement of organization as that individual's
candidate committee. A candidate committee shall be under the
control and direction of the candidate named in the same statement
of
organization. Notwithstanding subsection (4), (5), an
individual
shall form a candidate committee under section 21 if the individual
becomes a candidate under subsection (1).
(3) "Closing date" means the date through which a campaign
statement is required to be complete.
(4) "Commingled" means blended together so that funds of a
committee or separate segregated fund are mixed with funds that are
prohibited for uses under this act. The term does not include
either of the following:
(a) A contribution received by a person for transmission to a
separate segregated fund as described in section 55(7).
(b) A contribution to a committee by 1 or more individuals
through a person if all of the following are met:
(i) The individual or aggregated contribution is accompanied
by or logically associated with all information required under
section 26 for each individual contributor.
(ii) The individual making the contribution is the original
source of the contribution.
(iii) The contribution is not obtained through use of coercion
or physical force, as a condition of employment or membership, or
by using or threatening to use job discrimination or financial
reprisals.
(iv) Only the individual making the contribution exercises any
control over the contribution.
(5)
(4) "Committee" means a person who receives
contributions
or makes expenditures for the purpose of influencing or attempting
to influence the action of the voters for or against the nomination
or election of a candidate, the qualification, passage, or defeat
of a ballot question, or the qualification of a new political
party, if contributions received total $500.00 or more in a
calendar year or expenditures made total $500.00 or more in a
calendar year. An individual, other than a candidate, does not
constitute a committee. A person, other than a committee registered
under this act, making an expenditure to a ballot question
committee, shall not, for that reason, be considered a committee
for the purposes of this act unless the person solicits or receives
contributions for the purpose of making an expenditure to that
ballot question committee.
(6) "Connected organization" means a corporation organized on
a for-profit or nonprofit basis, a joint stock company, a domestic
dependent sovereign, or a labor organization formed under the laws
of this or another state or foreign country, that forms a separate
segregated fund as provided in section 55.
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,
the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question, or the
qualification of a new political party. 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, the qualification, passage, or defeat of a
ballot question, or the qualification of a new political party.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (2)(f) or (g), 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), 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.
(d) Except as provided in subsection (2)(c), the cost of
establishing and administering a payroll deduction plan to collect
and deliver a contribution to a committee.
(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.
(c) An expenditure for the establishment, administration, or
solicitation of contributions to a separate segregated fund if that
expenditure was made by the person who established the separate
segregated fund as authorized under section 55, or made by a person
who is a member of a nonprofit corporation that established the
separate segregated fund as authorized under section 55.
(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.
(e) An offer or tender of an expenditure if expressly and
unconditionally rejected or returned.
(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 under section 501(c)(3) of
the
internal revenue code, of 1986, 26 USC 501, or any successor
statute.
(g) An expenditure for nonpartisan voter registration or
nonpartisan get-out-the-vote activities performed under 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.
(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 USC 431 to 457, 52
USC 30101 to 30146, and
regulations promulgated under that act, regardless of whether those
advisory opinions have been superseded.
(i) Except only for the purposes of section 57, an expenditure
to or for a federal candidate or a federal committee.
(j) Except only for the purposes of section 47, an expenditure
for a communication if the communication does not in express terms
advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate
so as to restrict the application of this act to communications
containing express words of advocacy of election or defeat, such as
"vote for", "elect", "support", "cast your ballot for", "Smith for
governor", "vote against", "defeat", or "reject".
Sec.
55. (1) A corporation organized on a for profit for-
profit or nonprofit basis, a joint stock company, a domestic
dependent sovereign, or a labor organization formed under the laws
of this or another state or foreign country may make an expenditure
for the establishment and administration and solicitation of
contributions to a separate segregated fund to be used for
political purposes. A separate segregated fund established under
this
section shall be is limited to making contributions to, and
expenditures on behalf of, candidate committees, ballot question
committees, political party committees, political committees,
independent committees, and other separate segregated funds.
(2) Contributions for a separate segregated fund established
by
a corporation, organized on a for profit for-profit basis, or a
joint stock company under this section may be solicited from any of
the following persons or their spouses:
(a) Stockholders of the corporation or company.
(b) Officers and directors of the corporation or company.
(c) Employees of the corporation or company who have policy
making, managerial, professional, supervisory, or administrative
nonclerical responsibilities.
(3) Contributions for a separate segregated fund established
under this section by a corporation organized on a nonprofit basis
may be solicited from any of the following persons or their
spouses:
(a) Members of the corporation who are individuals.
(b) Stockholders or members of members of the corporation.
(c) Officers or directors of members of the corporation.
(d) Employees of the members of the corporation who have
policy making, managerial, professional, supervisory, or
administrative nonclerical responsibilities.
(e) Employees of the corporation who have policy making,
managerial, professional, supervisory, or administrative
nonclerical responsibilities.
(4) Contributions for a separate segregated fund established
under this section by a labor organization may be solicited from
any of the following persons or their spouses:
(a) Members of the labor organization who are individuals.
(b) Officers or directors of the labor organization.
(c) Employees of the labor organization who have policy
making, managerial, professional, supervisory, or administrative
nonclerical responsibilities.
(5) Contributions for a separate segregated fund established
under this section by a domestic dependent sovereign may be
solicited from an individual who is a member of any domestic
dependent sovereign.
(6) Contributions shall not be obtained for a separate
segregated fund established under this section by use of coercion
or physical force, by making a contribution a condition of
employment or membership, or by using or threatening to use job
discrimination
or financial reprisals. A corporation organized on a
for
profit or nonprofit basis, a joint stock company, a domestic
dependent
sovereign, or a labor connected
organization shall not
solicit or obtain contributions for a separate segregated fund
established under this section from an individual described in
subsection (2), (3), (4), or (5) on an automatic or passive basis
including but not limited to a payroll deduction plan or reverse
checkoff
method. A corporation organized on a for profit or
nonprofit
basis, a joint stock company, a domestic dependent
sovereign,
or a labor connected organization may solicit or obtain
contributions for a separate segregated fund established under this
section from an individual described in subsection (2), (3), (4),
or (5) on an automatic basis, including but not limited to a
payroll deduction plan, only if the individual who is contributing
to
the fund affirmatively consents to the contribution. at
least
once
in every calendar year.
(7) Contributions to a separate segregated fund that are
allowed under this section may be collected by or made payable
first to the connected organization that established the separate
segregated fund under this section, or its member or agent, for
subsequent transmission to the separate segregated fund. Any such
contributions are not considered under this act to be commingled
with other funds of the connected organization or its member or
agent, even if deposited first into general treasury funds, if all
of the following occur:
(a) The individual making the contribution does either of the
following:
(i) Specifically indicates in a record or electronic record
that the total amount, or a specified portion of the total amount
if remitted as part of a dues or other payment to the connected
organization or its member or agent, is a contribution to the
separate segregated fund.
(ii) Fails to return a record or electronic record described
in subparagraph (i), but remits a written instrument for payment to
the connected organization or its member or agent in response to a
specifically requested amount that includes a solicited
contribution, the solicitation for a contribution was clearly
distinguishable from any dues or other fees requested as part of
the total, and the connected organization or its member or agent
maintains a record or electronic record of the solicitation that
includes the amount of the solicited contribution and the amount of
any dues or other fees charged in conjunction with the solicitation
for each contributor.
(b) The connected organization or its member or agent
transmits the entire specified amount of the contribution,
individually or aggregated with other lawful contributions, to the
separate segregated fund electronically or by written instrument.
(c) All transmissions of contributions to the separate
segregated fund by the connected organization or its member or
agent are accompanied by or logically associated with a record or
electronic record setting forth all information required under
section 26 for each individual contributor whose contribution is
transmitted.
(d) The connected organization or its member or agent that
receives contributions for transmission to the separate segregated
fund internally accounts for the contributions in a manner that
distinguishes those contributions from general treasury funds, and
documents the identity of the individual contributor, the method of
receipt for each contribution, and the date and amount of all
individual contributions and all transmissions to the separate
segregated fund.
(8) any cost attributable to an activity under subsection (7)
incurred by the connected organization or its member or agent is
considered an expenditure for the administration of a separate
segregated fund by the connected organization allowed under
subsection (1).
(9)
(7) 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.
(10) (8)
If a corporation, joint stock
company, domestic
dependent
sovereign, or labor connected
organization that obtains
contributions for a separate segregated fund from individuals
described in subsection (2), (3), (4), or (5) pays to 1 or more of
those individuals a bonus or other remuneration for the purpose of
reimbursing
those contributions, then that corporation, joint stock
company,
domestic dependent sovereign, or labor connected
organization is subject to a civil fine equal to 2 times the total
contributions obtained from all individuals for the separate
segregated fund during that calendar year.
(11) As used in this section, "record" and "electronic record"
mean those terms as defined in section 2 of the uniform electronic
transactions act, 2000 PA 305, MCL 450.832.