Oregon Campaign Finance Reporting

Transcription

1 Oregon Campaign Finance Reporting Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division October 1, 2015

2 History of Campaign Finance Reporting Prior to 2007 most committees were required to file campaign finance information by completing and submitting paper reports with the appropriate filing officer by deadlines set in statute. Some state committees were required to file reports electronically in a format prescribed by the Elections Division. The electronic files were uploaded by staff to the Elections Division s EBS database. This data could not be accessed by the public. The 2005 Legislative Assembly passed HB 3458 requiring the Secretary to provide, free of charge, an electronic campaign finance reporting system to be used by all state and local candidates and political committees. Implementation date was January 2, ORESTAR (Oregon Elections System for Tracking and Reporting) was developed in-house to comply with the passage of HB 3458, and is the online application used by committees to report campaign finance activity. There are currently 2,143 committees registered in ORESTAR. Since the implementation of HB 3458 there have been 1,736,568 transactions filed in ORESTAR.

3 Who Must Establish A Committee A combination of two or more individuals, or a person other than an individual that has solicited a contribution or made an expenditure to support or oppose a candidate, measure or political party. The Chief petitioners of an initiative, referendum or recall committee. Types of committees that may be filed are: Candidate Committee Political Action Committee Caucus, Recall, Measure, Political Party or Miscellaneous Petition Committee Initiative, Referendum or Recall All committees must establish a dedicated bank account.

4 Are there exceptions to forming a committee A candidate is not required to establish a campaign account, file a Statement of Organization or file contribution and expenditure transactions, if all three of the following conditions are met: The candidate does not expect to receive or spend more than $750 during a calendar year. If at any time during a calendar year the candidate exceeds $750 in either contributions or expenditures, the candidate must establish a campaign account, file a Statement of Organization and file contribution and expenditure transactions using ORESTAR; The candidate serves as the candidate s own treasurer; and The candidate does not have an existing candidate committee.

5 Deadline to Create a Committee A candidate committee must file a Statement of Organization and establish a dedicated campaign account within three business days of first receiving a contribution or making an expenditure and no later than the deadline for filing a nominating petition, declaration of candidacy, or certificate of nomination. A political action committee must file a Statement of Organization and establish a dedicated campaign account within three business days of first receiving a contribution or making an expenditure. A petition committee must file a Statement of Organization within three business days of first receiving a contribution or making an expenditure after filing a prospective petition with the appropriate filing officer or no later than the date the petition is approved for circulation, whichever occurs first.

6 Filing a Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures If a committee does not expect to receive a total of more than $3,500 or spend a total of more than $3,500 in a calendar year the committee may file a Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures. A certificate must be filed no later than seven calendar days after receiving the first contribution or making the first expenditure in a calendar year. If a committee exceeds the $3,500 certificate threshold the committee must file all transactions electronically within seven calendar days after the date of the transaction that exceeds the threshold. Note: A candidate that meets the exception to filing a candidate committee and chooses not to file a committee and an Independent Expenditure filer are not eligible to file a certificate.

7 Independent Expenditure Filer The 2013 Legislative Assembly passed HB 3253 which requires persons making independent expenditures to electronically file using ORESTAR. A person who makes an independent expenditures of more than $750 in a calendar year for a communication that supports or opposes any candidate or measure must register as an Independent Expenditure Filer and is required to file all expenditures made on or after January 1 of that calendar year electronically using ORESTAR. Any additional expenditures that are made after exceeding the threshold are also required to be filed no later than seven days or 30 days (depending on the date of the expenditure and proximity to the election) after exceeding the $750 threshold. Example: A person independently purchases an ad in a newspaper supporting or opposing a candidate without the knowledge of the candidate.

8 When must a transaction be reported Generally, a transaction is due no later than 11:59:00 pm, 30 calendar days after the date of the transaction. There are certain timeframes when a transaction is due no later than seven calendar days after the date of the transaction. (6 weeks prior to the Election through Election Day) Contributions received January 1 through Sine Die of an annual legislative session are required to be disclosed not later than two business days after receipt by certain committees.

9 Transaction review by the Elections Division After the deadline for filing a transaction or after a transaction is filed, whichever is later, the Elections Division has 10 business days to review transactions with an aggregate amount of over $100 and determine whether the transaction includes all of the required information. If the Elections Division determines that a transaction is missing required information, the filer is notified of the insufficiency in an exam letter which provides a deadline to correct the identified insufficiencies without penalties being assessed. Filing an amendment late may result in a penalty being assessed. Other violations of campaign finance law other than late or insufficient filings are complaint driven. If the Elections Division receives a complaint with sufficient evidence regarding a possible campaign finance violation the division will conduct an investigation if the alleged violation is within the jurisdiction of the Elections Division. Note: If a total calculated penalty for a committee is less than $50, a proposed penalty notice will not be issued and there will be no violation found.

10 Transaction Information The detail of a transaction is disclosed to the public if the aggregate received from a contributor or aggregate paid to a payee has exceeded $100 in a calendar year. The following fields are included on the transaction add/edit screen and may or may not need to be completed in order to file a transaction: - Transaction Date - Transaction Type - Transaction Subtype - Payer of Personal Expenditure - Contributor/Payee - Payment Method - Check Number - Amount - Interest Rate - Repayment Schedule - Description - Occupation Letter Date - Notes - Transactions Purpose(s) - Transaction Association - In-Kind or Independent Expenditure Information

11 Penalties for failure to file timely or sufficient campaign finance transactions The maximum penalty that may be imposed by statute is 10% of the amount of each late or insufficient transaction. A late transaction reaches the maximum penalty if it is filed 20 business days after the due date. Note: Article IV, Section 9 of the Oregon Constitution provides that State Senators and State Representative shall not be subject to any civil process during any session of the Legislative Assembly. Notices are sent to legislators after final adjournment of the legislative session.

12 Who is responsible for penalties assessed to a committee For a candidate committee, the candidate is responsible. For a political action committee or petition committee the treasurer is responsible. For an independent expenditure filer the filer is liable.