3517.17 Division of Ohio political party fund.
3517.17 Division of Ohio political party fund.
(A) At the beginning of each calendar quarter, after the costs of audits are deducted under division (B)(1) of section 3517.16 of the Revised Code, the tax commissioner shall divide any remaining moneys that have accrued in the Ohio political party fund during the previous quarter equally among all qualified political parties in the following manner. Of the public moneys to which a party is entitled:
(1) One-half shall be paid to the treasurer of the state executive committee of the party;
(2) One-half shall be distributed to the treasurer of each county executive committee of the various counties in accordance with the ratio that the number of checkoffs in each county bears to the total number of checkoffs, as determined by the tax commissioner.
Each party treasurer receiving public moneys from the Ohio political party fund shall deposit those moneys into the party’s restricted fund created under section 3517.1012 of the Revised Code, shall expend and maintain those moneys subject to the requirements of that section and section 3517.18 of the Revised Code, and shall file deposit and disbursement statements as required by division (B) of section 3517.1012 of the Revised Code. The auditor of state shall annually audit the deposit and disbursement statements of the state committee of a political party that is eligible to receive public moneys collected during the previous year, to ascertain that all moneys in the party’s restricted fund are expended in accordance with law. The auditor of state shall audit the deposit and disbursement statements of each county committee of such a political party to ascertain that all moneys in the party’s restricted fund are expended in accordance with law at the time of the public office audit of that county under Chapter 117. of the Revised Code.
(B) Only major political parties, as defined in section 3501.01 of the Revised Code, may apply for public moneys from the Ohio political party fund. At the end of each even-numbered calendar year, the secretary of state shall announce the names of all such political parties, indicating that they may apply to receive such moneys during the ensuing two years. Any political party named at this time may, not later than the last day of January of the ensuing odd-numbered year, make application with the tax commissioner to receive public moneys. A political party that fails to make a timely application shall not receive public moneys during that two-year period. The tax commissioner shall prescribe an appropriate application form. Moneys from the fund shall be provided during the appropriate two-year period to each political party that makes a timely application in accordance with this division.
Effective Date: 07-26-1991; 03-31-2005