REFERENCE TITLE: independent expenditures; violations; criminal enforcement |
State of Arizona Senate Fifty-second Legislature First Regular Session 2015
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SB 1356 |
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Introduced by Senator Quezada; Representatives Andrade, Velasquez
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AN ACT
amending section 16-917, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to campaign CONTRIBUTIONS and expenses.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 16-917, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-917. Independent expenditures; in-kind contribution; civil penalty; violation; classification
A. A political
committee, corporation, limited liability company or labor organization that
makes independent expenditures for literature or an advertisement relating to
any one candidate or office within sixty days before the day of any election to
which the expenditures relate,
shall send by certified mail a copy of the campaign literature or advertisement
to each candidate named or otherwise referred to in the literature or
advertisement twenty‑four hours after depositing it at the post office
for mailing, twenty‑four hours after submitting it to a
telecommunications system for broadcast or twenty‑four hours after
submitting it to a newspaper for printing.
B. The copy of the literature or advertisement sent to a candidate pursuant to subsection A of this section shall be a reproduction that is clearly readable, viewable or audible.
C. An expenditure by a
political committee, corporation, limited liability company, labor organization
or a person that does not meet the
definition of an independent expenditure is an in‑kind contribution to
the candidate and a corresponding expenditure by the candidate unless otherwise
exempted. In
addition to the civil penalty prescribed in this section and any other penalty
otherwise provided by law, any person who knowingly makes a purported
independent expenditure of twenty-five thousand dollars or more that does not
meet the definition of independent expenditure and any person who knowingly
receives the in-kind contribution of a purported independent expenditure of
twenty-five thousand dollars or more that does not meet the definition of
independent expenditure is guilty of a class 5 felony.
D. A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of three times the cost of the literature or advertisement that was distributed in violation of this section. This civil penalty shall be imposed as prescribed in section 16‑924.