HOUSE BILL NO. 1751 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MILLER.
5214H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal section 130.031, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to elections, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 130.031, RSMo, is repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu 2 thereof, to be known as sections 115.008 and 130.031, to read as follows: 115.008. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all 2 candidates for public office in elections governed under the provisions of this chapter 3 shall declare a political party affiliation. A candidate shall declare only a political party 4 affiliation that matches the candidate's voter registration record. The political party 5 affiliation shall appear on the ballot next to the candidate's name. Candidates shall also 6 be required to notify the Missouri ethics commission of the candidate's party affiliation 7 at the time of the declaration of candidacy. Nothing in this section shall be construed to 8 prevent candidates from declaring or registering as independent. The provisions of this 9 section shall apply only to candidates whose party affiliation is that of a party that, at 10 the time of declaration, is a political party recognized by the state of Missouri. 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
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 1751 2
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 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: HB 1751 3
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; 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. (1) Any person publishing, circulating, or distributing any printed matter relative 80 to 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 HB 1751 4
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, or on the internet; sign, including signs for display on 86 motor vehicles[,]; or other imprinted or lettered material; but printed matter is defined to 87 exclude materials printed and purchased prior to May 20, 1982, if the candidate or committee 88 can document that delivery took place prior to May 20, 1982; any sign personally printed and 89 constructed by an individual without compensation from any other person and displayed at 90 that individual's place of residence or on that individual's personal motor vehicle; any items of 91 personal use given away or sold, such as campaign buttons, pins, pens, pencils, book matches, 92 campaign jewelry, or clothing, which is paid for by a candidate or committee which supports 93 a candidate or supports or opposes a ballot measure and which is obvious in its identification 94 with a specific candidate or committee and is reported as required by this chapter; and any 95 news story, commentary, or editorial printed by a regularly published newspaper or other 96 periodical without charge to a candidate, committee or any other person. 97 [(1)] (a) 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)] (b) 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)] (c) In regard to any printed matter paid for by a corporation or other business 105 entity, labor organization, or any other organization not defined to be a committee by 106 subdivision (7) of section 130.011 and not organized especially for influencing one or more 107 elections, it shall be sufficient identification to print the name of the entity, the name of the 108 principal officer of the entity, by whatever title known, and the mailing address of the entity, 109 or if the entity has no mailing address, the mailing address of the principal officer. 110 [(4)] (d) In regard to any printed matter paid for by an individual or individuals, it 111 shall be sufficient identification to print the name of the individual or individuals and the 112 respective mailing address or addresses, except that if more than five individuals join in 113 paying for printed matter it shall be sufficient identification to print the words "For a list of 114 other sponsors contact:" followed by the name and address of one such individual responsible 115 for causing the matter to be printed, and the individual identified shall maintain a record of 116 the names and amounts paid by other individuals and shall make such record available for 117 review upon the request of any person. No person shall accept for publication or printing nor HB 1751 5
118 shall such work be completed until the printed matter is properly identified as required by this 119 subsection. 120 (2) Printed matter shall be distributed only in the English language unless the 121 English and non-English translations appear side by side. The translations shall be 122 substantively identical, as determined by a translator with a level B1 certification 123 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or a 124 successor organization. Notwithstanding the penalties otherwise provided by this 125 chapter, a second or subsequent violation of this subdivision shall be a class E felony. 126 9. (1) Any broadcast station transmitting any matter relative to any candidate for 127 public office or ballot measure as defined by this chapter shall identify the sponsor of such 128 matter as required by federal law. Broadcast matter shall be defined to include 129 transmission via internet. 130 (2) Broadcast matter shall be transmitted only in the English language, except 131 that non-English broadcast matter may be transmitted if no more than thirty seconds of 132 non-English is immediately followed by an English translation. The translations shall 133 be substantively identical, as determined by a translator with a level B1 certification 134 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or a 135 successor organization. Notwithstanding the penalties otherwise provided by this 136 chapter, a second or subsequent violation of this subdivision shall be a class E felony. 137 10. The provisions of subsection 8 or 9 of this section shall not apply to candidates for 138 elective federal office, provided that persons causing matter to be printed or broadcast 139 concerning such candidacies shall comply with the requirements of federal law for 140 identification of the sponsor or sponsors. Except as prohibited by federal law, the 141 requirements of subdivision (2) of subsection 8 of this section and subdivision (2) of 142 subsection 9 of this section shall apply to federal candidates. 143 11. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any person required to be identified as 144 paying for printed matter pursuant to subsection 8 of this section or paying for broadcast 145 matter pursuant to subsection 9 of this section to refuse to provide the information required or 146 to purposely provide false, misleading, or incomplete information. 147 12. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any committee to offer chances to win 148 prizes or money to persons to encourage such persons to endorse, send election material by 149 mail, deliver election material in person or contact persons at their homes; except that, the 150 provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to prohibit hiring and paying a campaign 151 staff. ✔
Statutes affected: