§11-193 - Duties of the commission.
§11-193 Duties of the commission. (a) The duties of the commission under this subpart are:
(1) To develop and adopt reporting forms required by this subpart;
(2) To adopt and publish a manual for all candidates and committees, describing the requirements of this subpart, including uniform and simple methods of recordkeeping;
(3) To preserve all reports required by this subpart for at least ten years from the date of receipt;
(4) To permit the inspection, copying, or duplicating of any report required by this subpart pursuant to rules adopted by the commission; provided that no information or copies from the reports shall be sold or used by any person for the purpose of soliciting contributions or for any commercial purpose;
(5) To ascertain whether any candidate, committee, or party has failed to file a report required by this subpart or has filed a substantially defective or deficient report, and to notify these persons by first class mail that their failure to file or filing of a substantially defective or deficient report must be corrected and explained, and that a penalty may be assessed. All penalties collected under this section shall be deposited in the general fund of the State;
(6) To hold public hearings;
(7) To investigate and hold hearings for receiving evidence of any violations;
(8) To adopt a code of fair campaign practices as a part of its rules;
(9) To establish rules pursuant to chapter 91;
(10) To request the initiation of prosecution for the violation of this subpart pursuant to section 11-229;
(11) To administer and monitor the distribution of public funds under this subpart;
(12) To suggest accounting methods for candidates, parties, and committees, as the commission may deem advisable, in connection with reports and records required by this subpart;
(13) To employ or contract, without regard to chapters 76, 78, and 89 and section 28-8.3, and, at pleasure, to dismiss persons it finds necessary for the performance of its functions, including a full-time executive director, and to fix their compensation;
(14) To do random audits, field investigations, as necessary;
(15) To file for injunctive relief when indicated; and
(16) To render advisory opinions upon the request of any candidate, candidate committee, noncandidate committee, or other person or entity subject to this chapter, as to whether the facts and circumstances of a particular case constitute or will constitute a violation of the campaign spending laws. If no advisory opinion is rendered within ninety days after all information necessary to issue an opinion has been obtained, it shall be deemed that an advisory opinion was rendered and that the facts and circumstances of that particular case do not constitute a violation of the campaign spending laws. The opinion rendered or deemed rendered, until amended or revoked, shall be binding on the commission in any subsequent charges concerning the candidate, candidate committee, noncandidate committee, or other person or entity subject to this chapter, who sought the opinion and acted in reliance on it in good faith, unless material facts were omitted or misstated by the persons in the request for an advisory opinion. Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow the commission to issue rules through an advisory opinion.
(b) In performing the functions and duties under this subpart, the commission may subpoena witnesses, examine them under oath, and require the production of books, papers, documents, or objects, to the commission office at any place in the State whether or not the subpoena is in connection with any hearing; provided that the person or documents subpoenaed shall be relevant to a matter under study or investigation by the commission. The books, papers, documents, or objects may be retained by the commission for a reasonable period of time for the purpose of examination, audit, copying, testing, and photographing. The subpoena power shall be exercised by the chairperson of the commission, or such other person as the chairperson may designate. Upon application of the commission, obedience to the subpoena shall be enforced by the circuit court in the county where the person subpoenaed resides or is found in the same manner as a subpoena issued by a circuit court.
(c) The commission shall be exempt from section [26-35(a)(1), (4), and (5)] and shall:
(1) Make direct communications with the governor and legislature;
(2) Make all decisions regarding employment, appointment, promotion, transfer, demotion, discharge, and job descriptions of all officers and employees of or under the jurisdiction of the commission without the approval of the comptroller; and
(3) Purchase all supplies, equipment, or furniture without the approval of the comptroller.
The commission shall follow all applicable personnel laws. [L 1979, c 224, pt of §2; am L 1980, c 232, §1; gen ch 1985; am L Sp 1993, c 8, §53; gen ch 1993; am L Sp 1995, c 10, §2(4) superseding L Sp 1995, c 27, §§6, 15; am L 1996, c 13, §21; am L 1997, c 2, §1 and c 375, §3; am L 1999, c 96, §2; am L 2000, c 253, §150; am L 2004, c 57, §4; am L 2005, c 203, §3; am L 2008, c 244, §25]
Case Notes
Where defendants argued that plaintiff waived constitutional right to free speech by voluntarily signing Code of Fair Campaign Practices (Code), plaintiff did not waive ability to assert First Amendment rights; campaign spending commission's (commission) administrative decision did not have preclusive effect on the court proceeding; Code unconstitutionally burdened protected speech; commission's censure of plaintiff violated plaintiff's First Amendment rights to free speech. 135 F. Supp. 2d 1114.