HOUSE BILL NO. 1788 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MURPHY.
5473H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal section 130.031, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to campaign finance.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 130.031, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu 2 thereof, to be known as section 130.031, to read as follows: 130.031. 1. No contribution of cash in an amount of more than one hundred dollars 2 shall be made by or accepted from any single contributor for any election by a continuing 3 committee, a campaign committee, a political party committee, an exploratory committee or a 4 candidate committee. 5 2. Each expenditure of more than fifty dollars, except an in-kind expenditure, shall be 6 made by check signed by the committee treasurer, deputy treasurer, or candidate or by other 7 electronic means authorized by the treasurer, deputy treasurer, or candidate and drawn on the 8 committee's depository or credit card in the name of the committee and authorized by the 9 treasurer, deputy treasurer, or candidate. A single expenditure of cash shall not exceed fifty 10 dollars, and the aggregate of all expenditures of cash during a calendar year shall not exceed 11 the lesser of five thousand dollars or ten percent of all expenditures made by the committee 12 during that calendar year. 13 3. No contribution shall be made or accepted and no expenditure shall be made or 14 incurred, directly or indirectly, in a fictitious name, in the name of another person, or by or 15 through another person in such a manner as to conceal the identity of the actual source of the 16 contribution or the actual recipient and purpose of the expenditure. Any person who receives 17 contributions for a committee shall disclose to that committee's treasurer, deputy treasurer or
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 1788 2
18 candidate the recipient's own name and address and the name and address of the actual source 19 of each contribution such person has received for that committee. Any person who makes 20 expenditures for a committee shall disclose to that committee's treasurer, deputy treasurer or 21 candidate such person's own name and address, the name and address of each person to whom 22 an expenditure has been made and the amount and purpose of the expenditures the person has 23 made for that committee. 24 4. No anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars shall be made by any 25 person, and no anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars shall be accepted by 26 any candidate or committee. If any anonymous contribution of more than twenty-five dollars 27 is received, it shall be returned immediately to the contributor, if the contributor's identity can 28 be ascertained, and if the contributor's identity cannot be ascertained, the candidate, 29 committee treasurer or deputy treasurer shall immediately transmit that portion of the 30 contribution which exceeds twenty-five dollars to the state treasurer and it shall escheat to the 31 state. 32 5. The maximum aggregate amount of anonymous contributions which shall be 33 accepted in any calendar year by any committee shall be the greater of five hundred dollars or 34 one percent of the aggregate amount of all contributions received by that committee in the 35 same calendar year. If any anonymous contribution is received which causes the aggregate 36 total of anonymous contributions to exceed the foregoing limitation, it shall be returned 37 immediately to the contributor, if the contributor's identity can be ascertained, and, if the 38 contributor's identity cannot be ascertained, the committee treasurer, deputy treasurer or 39 candidate shall immediately transmit the anonymous contribution to the state treasurer to 40 escheat to the state. 41 6. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 5 of this section, contributions from 42 individuals whose names and addresses cannot be ascertained which are received from a 43 fund-raising activity or event, such as defined in section 130.011, shall not be deemed 44 anonymous contributions, provided the following conditions are met: 45 (1) There are twenty-five or more contributing participants in the activity or event; 46 (2) The candidate, committee treasurer, deputy treasurer or the person responsible for 47 conducting the activity or event makes an announcement that it is illegal for anyone to make 48 or receive a contribution in excess of one hundred dollars unless the contribution is 49 accompanied by the name and address of the contributor; 50 (3) The person responsible for conducting the activity or event does not knowingly 51 accept payment from any single person of more than one hundred dollars unless the name and 52 address of the person making such payment is obtained and recorded pursuant to the record- 53 keeping requirements of section 130.036; HB 1788 3
54 (4) A statement describing the event shall be prepared by the candidate or the 55 treasurer of the committee for whom the funds were raised or by the person responsible for 56 conducting the activity or event and attached to the disclosure report of contributions and 57 expenditures required by section 130.041. The following information to be listed in the 58 statement is in addition to, not in lieu of, the requirements elsewhere in this chapter relating to 59 the recording and reporting of contributions and expenditures: 60 (a) The name and mailing address of the person or persons responsible for conducting 61 the event or activity and the name and address of the candidate or committee for whom the 62 funds were raised; 63 (b) The date on which the event occurred; 64 (c) The name and address of the location where the event occurred and the 65 approximate number of participants in the event; 66 (d) A brief description of the type of event and the fund-raising methods used; 67 (e) The gross receipts from the event and a listing of the expenditures incident to the 68 event; 69 (f) The total dollar amount of contributions received from the event from participants 70 whose names and addresses were not obtained with such contributions and an explanation of 71 why it was not possible to obtain the names and addresses of such participants; 72 (g) The total dollar amount of contributions received from contributing participants in 73 the event who are identified by name and address in the records required to be maintained 74 pursuant to section 130.036. 75 7. No candidate or committee in this state shall accept contributions from any out-of- 76 state committee unless the out-of-state committee from whom the contributions are received 77 has filed a statement of organization pursuant to section 130.021 or has filed the reports 78 required by sections 130.049 and 130.050, whichever is applicable to that committee. 79 8. Any person publishing, circulating, or distributing any printed matter relative to 80 any candidate for public office or any ballot measure shall on the face of the printed matter 81 identify in a clear and conspicuous manner the person who paid for the printed matter with the 82 words "Paid for by" followed by the proper identification of the sponsor pursuant to this 83 section. For the purposes of this section, "printed matter" shall be defined to include any 84 pamphlet, circular, handbill, sample ballot, advertisement, including advertisements in any 85 newspaper or other periodical, sign, including signs for display on motor vehicles, or other 86 imprinted or lettered material; but printed matter is defined to exclude materials printed and 87 purchased prior to May 20, 1982, if the candidate or committee can document that delivery 88 took place prior to May 20, 1982; any sign personally printed and constructed by an 89 individual without compensation from any other person and displayed at that individual's 90 place of residence or on that individual's personal motor vehicle; any items of personal use HB 1788 4
91 given away or sold, such as campaign buttons, pins, pens, pencils, book matches, campaign 92 jewelry, or clothing, which is paid for by a candidate or committee which supports a candidate 93 or supports or opposes a ballot measure and which is obvious in its identification with a 94 specific candidate or committee and is reported as required by this chapter; and any news 95 story, commentary, or editorial printed by a regularly published newspaper or other periodical 96 without charge to a candidate, committee or any other person. 97 (1) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a candidate from the candidate's 98 personal funds, it shall be sufficient identification to print the first and last name by which the 99 candidate is known. 100 (2) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a committee, it shall be sufficient 101 identification to print the name of the committee as required to be registered by subsection 5 102 of section 130.021 and the name and title of the committee treasurer who was serving when 103 the printed matter was paid for. 104 (3) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a corporation or other business entity, 105 labor organization, or any other organization not defined to be a committee by subdivision (7) 106 of section 130.011 and not organized especially for influencing one or more elections, it shall 107 be sufficient identification to print the name of the entity, the name of the principal officer of 108 the entity, by whatever title known, and the mailing address of the entity, or if the entity has 109 no mailing address, the mailing address of the principal officer. 110 (4) In regard to any printed matter paid for by an individual or individuals, it shall be 111 sufficient identification to print the name of the individual or individuals and the respective 112 mailing address or addresses, except that if more than five individuals join in paying for 113 printed matter it shall be sufficient identification to print the words "For a list of other 114 sponsors contact:" followed by the name and address of one such individual responsible for 115 causing the matter to be printed, and the individual identified shall maintain a record of the 116 names and amounts paid by other individuals and shall make such record available for review 117 upon the request of any person. No person shall accept for publication or printing nor shall 118 such work be completed until the printed matter is properly identified as required by this 119 subsection. 120 9. Any broadcast station transmitting any matter relative to any candidate for public 121 office or ballot measure as defined by this chapter shall identify the sponsor of such matter as 122 required by federal law. 123 10. The provisions of subsection 8 or 9 of this section shall not apply to candidates for 124 elective federal office, provided that persons causing matter to be printed or broadcast 125 concerning such candidacies shall comply with the requirements of federal law for 126 identification of the sponsor or sponsors. HB 1788 5
127 11. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any person required to be identified as 128 paying for printed matter pursuant to subsection 8 of this section or paying for broadcast 129 matter pursuant to subsection 9 of this section to refuse to provide the information required or 130 to purposely provide false, misleading, or incomplete information. 131 12. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any committee to offer chances to win 132 prizes or money to persons to encourage such persons to endorse, send election material by 133 mail, deliver election material in person or contact persons at their homes; except that, the 134 provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit hiring and paying a campaign 135 staff. 136 13. No campaign committee shall solicit automatically recurring donations from 137 individuals, whether through electronic funds transfers, credit or debit cards, or any 138 other automated recurring payment system. 139 14. All solicitations shall state clearly, in a clear and conspicuous manner, the 140 continuing committee, a campaign committee, a political party committee, an 141 exploratory committee, or a candidate committee that will benefit from any funds 142 received as a result of the solicitation. ✔
Statutes affected: