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ELECTION & CAMPAIGN FINANCE
LAW
Legislation Carried Over to 2001
HOUSE BILL 392
General Assembly Campaign Finance Reform Act.
Patron: Phillip A. Hamilton
Summary: Imposes limits on contributions to
General Assembly candidates and provides for the voluntary acceptance
of expenditure limits by candidates for the General Assembly.
The limit on contributions is $2,500 per election cycle on contributions
by any person or committee to a candidate for the General Assembly.
The limit is $5,000 per election cycle to a candidate for the
General Assembly who declares as a Campaign Finance Reform Act
Candidate and agrees to abide by the expenditure limits set out
in the Act. The expenditure limit for a candidate for the House
of Delegates is $125,000 in an election year and for a candidate
for the Senate is $250,000 in an election year. The expenditure
limit in a non-election year is 50 percent of the election year
limit. Civil penalties for violations of the limits may equal
three times the excess amounts.
HOUSE BILL 587
Primary elections; voter registration by political party.
Patron: Richard H. Black
Summary: Adds party affiliation to the information
that an applicant is asked to provide when registering to vote
beginning January 1, 2001. The applicant may indicate that he
is an independent. Voters registered prior to January 1, 2001,
will be designated as independent unless they provide a political
party designation to the general registrar. Voters may change
their party affiliation or independent status by written notice
at any time except the 28 days before an election when the registration
records are closed. The state party chairman must notify the
State Board by January 31 of each year whether the party will
close its primaries and permit only registered party members
to participate or whether it will open its primaries to party
members and independent voters.
HOUSE BILL 656
Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; penalties.
Patron: Anne G. (Panny) Rhodes
Summary: Provides for a civil penalty of $500
for the failure to file a campaign report due during the four
months before through the 35 days after the November election.
Present law imposes a penalty of up to $300 for either late or
incomplete filings. The bill requires the Secretary of the State
Board of Elections to assess the penalty for missing the filing
deadline and to give public notice on the Internet of the penalty
and violator within five days of the missed deadline. The bill
does not change the $300 fine now applicable to timely but incomplete
filings before and after the November election. The bill also
amends the special provision that imposes a penalty for each
day that a statewide office campaign is in violation, increasing
the daily fine from $100 to $300.
HOUSE BILL 657
Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; audits of certain campaign committees.
Patron: Anne G. (Panny) Rhodes
Summary: Requires the State Board of Elections
to have an audit conducted of each candidate campaign committee
for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney
General and of at least 10 percent of the candidate campaign
committees, selected randomly, for the General Assembly. No audit
shall be conducted for committees expending less than $10,000.
The State Board is required to report its audit findings to the
Governor and General Assembly by the January 31 following the
election year for the office.
HOUSE BILL 827
Primary elections; voter registration by political party.
Patron: Robert G. Marshall
Summary: See HB 587, above, which is identical.
HOUSE BILL 928
General Assembly Campaign Finance Reform Act.
Patron: R. Creigh Deeds
Summary: Imposes limits on contributions to
candidates for the General Assembly. The limit on contributions
by individuals and other persons to a General Assembly candidate
is $2,000 per election cycle; on contributions by political action
committees, $10,000; and on contributions by political party
committees, $20,000. There are no limits on contributions by
a candidate to his own campaign. Civil penalties for violations
of the limits may equal two times the excess contribution amounts.
HOUSE BILL 1073
Campaign Finance Reform Act.
Patron: Kenneth R. Melvin
Summary: Imposes limits on contributions to
candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General
and the General Assembly. The limit on contributions by individuals
and other persons to a statewide office candidate is $10,000
per election cycle and, on contributions by political action
committees (PACs), $20,000. The limit on contributions by individuals
and other persons to a General Assembly candidate is $2,000 per
election cycle and, on contributions by PACs, $4,000. There are
no limits on contributions by political party committees or by
a candidate to his own campaign. Civil penalties for violations
of the limits may equal up to two times the excess contribution
amounts.
HOUSE BILL 1081
Restoration of civil rights to certain persons.
Patron: Jerrauld C. Jones
Summary: Provides that a person, who has lost
his civil rights because of a non-violent felony conviction,
may petition the circuit court of the locality where he was convicted
or where he now resides, for restoration of his civil rights.
If the court is satisfied that the petitioner, five or more years
previously, had completed service of sentence, probation and
parole, it may enter an order restoring the petitioner's civil
rights as of the 90th day after the order. The Governor may act
to deny restoration of rights during the 90-day period.
HOUSE BILL 1137
Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; audits of certain campaign committees;
penalties.
Patron: S. Chris Jones
Summary: Requires the State Board of Elections
to have random audits conducted of at least 50 percent of the
candidate campaign committees for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, and Attorney General and of at least 10 percent of
the candidate campaign committees for the General Assembly. No
audit shall be conducted for committees expending less than $10,000.
The State Board is required to report its audit findings to the
Governor and General Assembly by the January 31 following the
election year for the office. The bill also increases the possible
civil penalty for the failure to file a campaign report due during
the four months before through the 35 days after the November
election from $300 to $2,000 and for incomplete filings from
$300 to $1,000, the amount of the penalty to be determined by
the gravity of the violation.
HOUSE BILL 1138
Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; campaign reports.
Patron: S. Chris Jones
Summary: Requires any candidate for the General
Assembly, who accepts contributions or makes expenditures of
more than $5,000, to file campaign finance disclosure reports
with the State Board of Elections by computer or electronic means.
Other candidates for the General Assembly will continue to have
the option to file by computer or electronic means. Any candidate
for the General Assembly who does file by computer or electronic
means will be relieved of the requirement to file copies of the
reports with the local electoral board of the county or city
where he resides. The bill authorizes local electoral boards
to accept computer or electronic reports from candidates for
local office.
HOUSE BILL 1449
Campaign contributions by foreign nationals.
Patron: Dwight Clinton Jones
Summary: Prohibits the making or acceptance
of campaign contributions by foreign nationals in connection
with elections or nominations to any public office in the Commonwealth.
SENATE BILL 253
Elections; central absentee voter precinct procedures.
Patron: Phillip P. Puckett
Summary: Authorizes electoral boards to adopt
certain alternative procedures in localities with central counting
precincts and in which all absentee ballots are cast on paper
ballots that must be counted manually. The alternatives include
staffing by two, rather than three, officers before 5:00 p.m.
and beginning to count ballots at 5:00 p.m. rather than 7:00
p.m.
SENATE BILL 378
Campaign Finance Disclosure Act; audits of certain campaign committees.
Patron: D. Nick Rerras
Summary: Requires the State Board of Elections
to have an audit conducted of each candidate campaign committee
for the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney
General and of at least five percent of the candidate campaign
committees, selected randomly, for the General Assembly. No audit
shall be conducted for committees expending less than $10,000.
The State Board is required to report its audit findings to the
Governor and General Assembly by the January 31 following the
election year for the office.
SENATE BILL 431
Elections; local electoral boards and general registrars.
Patron: Mary Margaret Whipple
Summary: Prohibits an electoral board member
or general registrar from continuing in office after his spouse
or other close relative files as a candidate for an office to
be filled in whole or in part by the voters of the member's or
general registrar's county or city.
SENATE BILL 566
Primary elections; voter registration by political party.
Patron: Stephen H. Martin
Summary: See HB 587, above, which is identical.
SENATE BILL 646
Information on proposed constitutional amendments.
Patron: Mary Margaret Whipple
Summary: Modifies the present law requirement
for the preparation and distribution of a brief, neutral explanation
of each proposed constitutional amendment approved by the General
Assembly and submitted to the voters for approval or rejection.
The changes include a requirement to post the explanation on
the State Board of Elections website on the Internet, authorization
for a brief statement on the effect of a "yes" or "no"
vote and summary of pro and con arguments, and a deadline for
approval of the explanation.
SENATE BILL 772
Local electoral boards; appointments.
Patron: Kevin G. Miller
Summary: Provides that the county or city
political party committees of the two major political parties,
rather than the circuit court judges, will appoint the members
of the local electoral board and fill vacancies on the board.
Further Information
Alan Albert: 757/624-3055 (Norfolk), 804/697-1368 (Richmond)
E-mail: aalbert@maysval.com
Anne Leigh Kerr: 804/697-1465
E-mail: alkerr@maysval.com
(c) 2000 Virginia Association of Local Elected Constitutional
Officers.
This report may not be reproduced in whole or in part without
the written permission of the copyright holder.
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