Legislative Document No. 1187 H.P. 861 House of Representatives, March 12, 2019
An Act To Apply the Same Auditing Standards to All Candidates and Political Action Committees
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT Clerk
Presented by Representative RISEMAN of Harrison. Cosponsored by Senator CHENETTE of York and Representatives: ACKLEY of Monmouth, BEEBE-CENTER of Rockland, DODGE of Belfast, DOUDERA of Camden, EVANGELOS of Friendship, HIGGINS of Dover-Foxcroft, PEBWORTH of Blue Hill, PLUECKER of Warren.
Printed on recycled paper 1 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2 Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1003, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2013, c. 162, §1, is 3 further amended to read:
4 1. Investigations. The commission may shall undertake the audits and 5 investigations provided for under this section to determine whether a person has violated 6 this chapter, chapter 14 or the rules of the commission. For this purpose, the commission 7 may subpoena witnesses and records whether located within or without the State and take 8 evidence under oath. A person or entity that fails to obey the lawful subpoena of the 9 commission or to testify before it under oath must be punished by the Superior Court for 10 contempt upon application by the Attorney General on behalf of the commission. The 11 Attorney General may apply on behalf of the commission to the Superior Court or to a 12 court of another state to enforce compliance with a subpoena issued to a nonresident 13 person. Service of any subpoena issued by the commission may be accomplished by: 14 A. Delivering a duly executed copy of the notice to the person to be served or to a 15 partner or to any officer or agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive 16 service of process on behalf of that person; 17 B. Delivering a duly executed copy of the notice to the principal place of business in 18 this State of the person to be served; or 19 C. Mailing by registered or certified mail a duly executed copy of the notice, 20 addressed to the person to be served, to the person's principal place of business. 21 Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1003, sub-§1-A is enacted to read: 22 1-A. Random audits and investigations. The commission shall undertake random 23 audits and investigations to determine whether candidates for state office and political 24 action committees required to file reports with the commission under section 1058 have 25 violated this chapter, chapter 14 or the rules of the commission. The commission shall 26 adopt rules to implement this subsection. Rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are 27 routine technical rules pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A. At a minimum, 28 the rules must: 29 A. Require the commission to audit and investigate an equal percentage of primary 30 candidates for all state offices who are certified as Maine Clean Election Act 31 candidates under section 1125, subsection 5 and primary candidates for all state 32 offices who are not certified as Maine Clean Election Act candidates; 33 B. Require the commission to audit and investigate an equal percentage of general 34 election candidates for all state offices who are certified as Maine Clean Election Act 35 candidates under section 1125, subsection 5 and general election candidates for all 36 state offices who are not certified as Maine Clean Election Act candidates; 37 C. Require the commission to audit and investigate a percentage of all political 38 action committees required to file reports with the commission under section 1058 39 equal to the percentage of candidates audited and investigated under paragraph B;
Page 1 - 129LR1764(01)-1 1 D. Require candidates and political action committees selected for an audit and 2 investigation to disclose records of all contributions and expenditures to the 3 commission or its auditor; and 4 E. Establish standard auditing requirements that must be applied to each candidate or 5 political action committee selected for an audit and investigation under this 6 subsection. 7 Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §1125, sub-§12-B, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 443, Pt. B, §6, 8 is repealed.
9 SUMMARY 10 This bill directs the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to 11 conduct random audits of political action committees that are required to file campaign 12 finance reports with the commission and candidates for state office, including candidates 13 for Governor, State Senator, State Representative and presidential elector. The bill 14 directs the commission to adopt rules to implement this requirement. The rules must 15 direct the commission to audit an equal percentage of candidates for state office who are 16 certified as Maine Clean Election Act candidates, candidates for state office who are not 17 certified as Maine Clean Election Act candidates and political action committees. The 18 rules must also establish standard auditing requirements to be applied to each candidate 19 and political action committee.
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