16-903
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16-903. Candidate's campaign committees; exploratory committees; designation; candidate as agent; civil penalty A. Each candidate who intends to receive contributions or make expenditures of more than five hundred dollars in connection with a campaign for office shall designate in the format prescribed by the filing officer a political committee for each election to serve as the candidate's campaign committee. The candidate shall make the designation pursuant to this subsection by filing a statement of organization before making any expenditures, accepting any contributions, distributing any campaign literature or circulating any petitions. Each candidate who intends to receive contributions or make expenditures of five hundred dollars or less shall file a signed exemption statement in the format prescribed by the filing officer that states that intention before making any expenditures, accepting any contributions, distributing any campaign literature or circulating petitions. If a candidate who has filed a five hundred dollar exemption statement receives contributions or makes expenditures of more than five hundred dollars, that candidate shall file a statement of organization with the filing officer within five business days after exceeding the five hundred dollar limit. B. An individual who receives contributions or makes expenditures of more than five hundred dollars for the purpose of determining whether the individual will become a candidate for election to an office in this state shall designate in the format prescribed by the filing officer a political committee to serve as the individual's exploratory committee. The individual shall make the designation pursuant to this subsection before making any expenditures, accepting any contributions or distributing any campaign literature. C. An individual may have only one exploratory committee in existence at one time. A candidate may have only one campaign committee designated for each election, but a candidate may have more than one campaign committee simultaneously in existence. D. A political committee that supports or has supported another candidate or more than one candidate may not be designated as a candidate's campaign committee. E. Any candidate who receives a contribution or any loan for use in connection with the campaign of that candidate for election or who makes a disbursement in connection with that campaign shall be deemed as having received the contribution or loan or as having made the disbursement as an agent of the candidate's campaign committee for purposes of this article. F. An elected official is not deemed to have offered himself for nomination or election to an office or to have made a formal, public declaration of candidacy within the meaning of section 38-296 solely by his designation of a candidate campaign committee. G. A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty imposed as prescribed in section 16-924 of up to three times the amount of money that has been received, expended or promised in violation of this section or up to three times the value in money for an equivalent of money or other things of value that have been received, expended or promised in violation of this section. |