2007-2008 Bill 1094: Political Action Committee - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 117th Session, 2007-2008 3 4 S. 1094 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator Sheheen 10 Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\sheheen\jud0047.hla.doc 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on February 12, 2008 13 Introduced in the House on April 9, 2008 14 Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary 15 16 Summary: Political action committee 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 2/12/2008 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-7 23 2/12/2008 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-7 24 2/22/2008 Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Ritchie (ch), Rankin, Lourie, Scott, Ceips 25 3/26/2008 Senate Committee report: Favorable Judiciary SJ-14 26 3/27/2008 Scrivener's error corrected 27 4/2/2008 Senate Read second time SJ-13 28 4/8/2008 Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-10 29 4/9/2008 House Introduced and read first time HJ-7 30 4/9/2008 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-7 31 32 33 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 34 35 2/12/2008 36 3/26/2008 37 3/27/2008 38 1 Indicates Matter Stricken 2 Indicates New Matter 3 4 COMMITTEE REPORT 5 March 26, 2008 6 7 S. 1094 8 9 Introduced by Senator Sheheen 10 11 S. Printed 3/26/08--S. [SEC 3/27/08 12:27 PM] 12 Read the first time February 12, 2008. 13 14 15 THE COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY 16 To whom was referred a Bill (S. 1094) to amend the Code of 17 Laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding Section 8-13-1339 so as 18 to prohibit a political action committee organized by or on behalf, 19 etc., respectfully 20 REPORT: 21 That they have duly and carefully considered the same and 22 recommend that the same do pass: 23 24 JAMES H. RITCHIE, JR. for Committee. 25 26 27 STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT 28 ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT ON GENERAL FUND 29 EXPENDITURES: 30 $0 (No additional expenditures or savings are expected) 31 ESTIMATED FISCAL IMPACT ON FEDERAL & OTHER 32 FUND EXPENDITURES: 33 $0 (No additional expenditures or savings are expected) 34 EXPLANATION OF IMPACT: 35 The State Ethics Commission indicated that this bill would have 36 no impact on the General Fund of the State or federal and/or other 37 funds. 38 39 Approved By: 40 Harry Bell 41 Office of State Budget 42

1 [1094-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 8-13-1339 SO AS TO PROHIBIT 13 A POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE ORGANIZED BY OR 14 ON BEHALF OF CERTAIN STATEWIDE OFFICIALS; AND 15 TO AMEND SECTION 8-13-1340 OF THE 1976 CODE, SO AS 16 TO DELETE REFERENCES TO A COMMITTEE ORGANIZED 17 DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ESTABLISHED, FINANCED, 18 MAINTAINED, OR CONTROLLED BY A CANDIDATE OR 19 PUBLIC OFFICIAL. 20 21 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 22 Carolina: 23 24 SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding: 25 26 “Section 8-13-1339. A political action committee organized by 27 or on behalf of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, any other 28 statewide constitutional officer, a member of the General 29 Assembly, a director or deputy director of a state department 30 appointed by the Governor is prohibited. Any political action 31 committee prohibited by this section in existence on the effective 32 date of this act must distribute all unexpended contributions in the 33 manner provided for in Section 8-13-1370(C). A political action 34 committee does not include a candidate committee.” 35 36 SECTION 2. Section 8-13-1340 of the 1976 Code is amended to 37 read: 38 39 “Section 8-13-1340. (A) Except as provided in subsections 40 subsection (B) and (E), a candidate or public official shall not 41 make a contribution to another candidate or make an independent 42 expenditure on behalf of another candidate or public official from

1 [1094] 1 1 the candidate’s or public official’s campaign account or through a 2 committee, except legislative caucus committees, directly or 3 indirectly established, financed, maintained, or controlled by the 4 candidate or public official. 5 (B) This section does not prohibit a candidate from: 6 (1) making a contribution from the candidate’s own personal 7 funds on behalf of the candidate’s candidacy or to another 8 candidate for a different office; or 9 (2) providing the candidate’s surplus funds or material assets 10 upon final disbursement to a legislative caucus committee or party 11 committee in accordance with the procedures for the final 12 disbursement of a candidate under Section 8-13-1370 of this 13 article. 14 (C) Assets or funds which are the proceeds of a campaign 15 contribution and which are held by or under the control of a public 16 official or a candidate for public office on January 1, 1992, are 17 considered to be funds held by a candidate and subject to 18 subsection (A). 19 (D) A committee is considered to be directly or indirectly 20 established, financed, maintained, or controlled by a candidate or 21 public official if any of the following are applicable: 22 (1) the candidate or public official, or an agent of either, has 23 signature authority on the committee’s checks; 24 (2) funds contributed or disbursed by the committee are 25 authorized or approved by the candidate or public official; 26 (3) the candidate or public official is clearly identified on 27 either the stationery or letterhead of the committee; 28 (4) the candidate or public official signs solicitation letters 29 or other correspondence on behalf of the entity; 30 (5) the candidate, public official, or his campaign staff, 31 office staff, or immediate family members, or any other agent of 32 either, has the authority to approve, alter, or veto the committee’s 33 solicitations, contributions, donations, disbursements, or contracts 34 to make disbursements; or 35 (6) the committee pays for travel by the candidate or public 36 official, his campaign staff or office staff, or any other agent of the 37 candidate or public official, in excess of one hundred dollars per 38 calendar year. 39 (E) The provisions of subsection (A) do not apply to a 40 committee directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained, 41 or controlled by a candidate or public official if the candidate or 42 public official directly or indirectly establishes, finances, 43 maintains, or controls only one committee in addition to any

1 [1094] 2 1 committee formed by the candidate or public official to solely 2 promote his own candidacy and one legislative caucus committee. 3 (F) No committee operating under the provisions of Section 4 8-13-1340(E) may: 5 (1) solicit or accept a contribution from a registered lobbyist 6 if that lobbyist engages in lobbying the public office or public 7 body for which the candidate is seeking election; or 8 (2) transfer anything of value to any other committee except 9 as a contribution under the limitations of Section 8-13-1314(A) or 10 the dissolution provisions of Section 8-13-1370.” 11 12 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the 13 Governor. 14 ----XX---- 15

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