A.__A husband and wife are considered separate contributions and are not aggregated.__The joint contribution of a husband and wife is attributed equally to each; and

B.__Unemancipated children under 18 years of age are considered contributions by their parents and are attributed proportionately to each parent.__Fifty percent of the contributions are attributed to each parent or, in the case of a single custodial parent, the total amount is attributed to the parent.

Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §§1015-B and 1015-C are enacted to read:

§1015-B.__Anonymous contributions

A candidate or a committee may not accept an anonymous contribution exceeding $10.__The recipient of an anonymous contribution of more than $10 may not keep the contribution but must remit the contribution to the General Fund within 2 business days and report the action to the commission.

§1015-C.__Use of campaign contributions for personal expenses

1.__Prohibition.__A candidate, political committee, political party or political action committee may not use campaign funds to defray personal expenses that are unrelated to the campaign or to the office if the candidate is an officeholder, nor may these funds be converted to personal use.

2.__Application.__This section does not apply to the incidental personal use of campaign materials or equipment, nor to an expenditure used to defray any ordinary expenses incurred in connection with an individual's duties as a holder of public office.

3.__Guidelines.__The commission must establish guidelines reflecting the applicability of this section to other expenses on a case-by-case basis, including legal, meal, travel and vehicle expenses.

Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §1017, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1989, c. 504, §§11 and 31, is repealed.

Sec. 7. 21-A MRSA §1017, sub-§5, as amended by PL 1991, c. 839, §17, is further amended to read:

5. Content. A report required under this section must contain the itemized accounts of contributions received during that report filing period, including the date a contribution was received, and the name, address, occupation, principal place of business, employer, business address, if any, and the amount of the contribution of each person who has made a contribution or contributions aggregating in excess of $50. The report must contain the itemized expenditures made or authorized during the report filing period, the date and purpose of each expenditure and the name of each payee and creditor. Expenditures made on behalf of a candidate, the candidate's committee or a party committee by a person, agency, firm, organization or other entity employed or retained for the purpose of organizing, directing, managing or assisting the candidate, the candidate's committee or a political party are considered expenditures by the candidate or committee as if made or incurred directly by the candidate or committee. Total contributions with respect to for an election of less than $500 and total expenditures of less than $500 need not be itemized. The report must contain a statement of any loan to a candidate by a financial institution in connection with that candidate's candidacy that is made during the period covered by the report, whether or not the loan is defined as a contribution under section 1012, subsection 2, paragraph A. Until December 31, 1992, the candidate is responsible for the timely and accurate filing of each required report. Beginning January 1, 1993, the The candidate and the treasurer are jointly responsible for the timely and accurate filing of each required report.

Sec. 8. 21-A MRSA §1017, sub-§6, as amended by PL 1999, c. 729, §4, is further amended to read:

6. Forms. Reports required by this section must be on forms prescribed, prepared and sent by the commission to the treasurer of each registered candidate at least 7 days before the filing date for the report. Establishment of or amendments to the campaign report filing forms required by this section must be by rule. Persons filing reports may use additional pages if necessary, but the pages must be the same size as the pages of the form. Although the commission mails the forms for required reports, failure to receive forms by mail does not excuse treasurers, committees and other persons who must file reports from otherwise obtaining the forms.

Rules of the commission establishing campaign report filing forms for candidates are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter II-A.

Sec. 9. 21-A MRSA §1020-A, sub-§3-A is enacted to read:

3-A.__County, district and municipal party committee reports.__ A state party committee that fails to comply with the requirements of section 1017-A, subsection 6 for notifying all county, district and municipal party committees of the same political party of the party committee reporting requirements must pay 1/2 of the total penalty assessed against a county, district or municipal party committee that fails to file a required report on time because of that failure by the state party committee to provide the required notice.__The balance of the total assessed penalty must be paid by the county, district or municipal party committee.

Sec. 10. 21-A MRSA §1021 is enacted to read:

§1021.__Civil offenses

If no other penalty for a violation of this subchapter is prescribed, the commission may assess a penalty equal to 3 times the amount of an unlawful contribution or expenditure.

Sec. 11. Revisor's review; cross-references. The Revisor of Statutes shall review the Maine Revised Statutes and include in the errors and inconsistencies bill submitted to the Second Regular Session of the 120th Legislature pursuant to Title 1, section 94, any sections necessary to correct and update any cross-references in the statutes to provisions of law repealed in the Act.

SUMMARY

This bill amends the provisions governing reports on campaigns for office in the laws administered by the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. The bill defines personal expenses. The bill clarifies that contributions made by a husband and wife are separate contributions. The bill also sets a limit of $10 as an anonymous contribution that a candidate may accept. The bill prohibits the use of campaign contributions for personal expenses. The bill also provides that if the state party committee does not notify all county, district and municipal committees of reporting dates, it must pay 1/2 of the penalty for not reporting.