An Act To Increase Penalties for Certain Violations of the Campaign Reports and Financing Laws
Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1017-A, sub-§5, as corrected by RR 2003, c. 1, §13, is amended to read:
Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1020-A, sub-§4-A, as amended by PL 2007, c. 443, Pt. A, §22, is further amended to read:
Any penalty of less than $10 is waived.
Violations accumulate on reports with filing deadlines in a 2-year period that begins on January 1st of each even-numbered year. Waiver of a penalty does not nullify the finding of a violation.
A report required to be filed under this subchapter that is sent by certified or registered United States mail and postmarked at least 2 days before the deadline is not subject to penalty.
A registration or report may be provisionally filed by transmission of a facsimile copy of the duly executed report to the commission, as long as the facsimile copy is filed by the applicable deadline and an original of the same report is received by the commission within 5 calendar days thereafter.
The penalty for late filing of an accelerated campaign finance report as required in section 1017, subsection 3-B may be up to but no more than 3 times the amount by which the contributions received or expenditures obligated or made by the candidate exceed the applicable Maine Clean Election Fund disbursement amount, per day of violation. The commission shall make a finding of fact establishing when the report was due prior to imposing a penalty under this subsection. A penalty for failure to file an accelerated campaign finance report must be made payable to the Maine Clean Election Fund. In assessing a penalty for failure to file an accelerated campaign finance report, the commission shall consider the existence of mitigating circumstances. For the purposes of this subsection, "mitigating circumstances" has the same meaning as in subsection 2.
Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §1020-A, sub-§4-B is enacted to read:
Any penalty of less than $10 is waived.
Violations accumulate on reports with filing deadlines in a 2-year period that begins on January 1st of each even-numbered year. Waiver of a penalty does not nullify the finding of a violation.
A report required to be filed under this subchapter that is sent by certified or registered United States mail and postmarked at least 2 days before the deadline is not subject to penalty.
A registration or report may be provisionally filed by transmission of a facsimile copy of the duly executed report to the commission, as long as the facsimile copy is filed by the applicable deadline and an original of the same report is received by the commission within 5 calendar days thereafter.
Sec. 4. 21-A MRSA §1020-A, sub-§5-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 190, Pt. A, §14, is further amended to read:
Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §1062-A, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2007, c. 443, Pt. A, §39, is further amended to read:
Any penalty of less than $10 is waived.
Violations accumulate on reports with filing deadlines in a 2-year period that begins on January 1st of each even-numbered calendar year. Waiver of a penalty does not nullify the finding of a violation.
A report required to be filed under this subchapter that is sent by certified or registered United States mail and postmarked at least 2 days before the deadline is not subject to penalty.
A required report may be provisionally filed by transmission of a facsimile copy of the duly executed report to the commission, as long as an original of the same report is received by the commission within 5 calendar days thereafter.
Sec. 6. 21-A MRSA §1062-A, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2009, c. 190, Pt. A, §30, is further amended to read:
Sec. 7. 21-A MRSA §1127, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2009, c. 302, §23, is further amended to read:
summary
This bill sets the basic penalties for filing a late report by a party committee and a political action committee to 5% of the committee's total contributions or expenditures for the relevant filing period multiplied by the number of calendar days late for a first violation, 10% for a 2nd violation and 15% for a 3rd and subsequent violation. The bill also changes the law setting out the maximum penalties to provide for a $100,000 penalty for late reports required under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, section 1019-B, subsection 3 and Title 21-A, sections 1056-B and 1059; a $100,000 penalty for late state party committee reports required under section 1017-A, subsection 4-A, paragraphs A, B, C and E; a $5,000 penalty for reports required under Title 21-A, section 1017, subsection 2, paragraph A; and a $1,000 penalty for late reports by municipal, district and county committees required under Title 21-A, section 1017-A, subsection 4-B. The bill eliminates the cap on the penalty for reports required under Title 21-A, section 1017, subsection 3-A, paragraph A.
The bill also allows the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to assess a fine up to $100,000 for a violation of the reporting requirements of Title 21-A, sections 1017 and 1019-B if it determines that the failure to file a timely and accurate report resulted in the late payment of matching funds.
The bill also corrects a cross-reference.