Virginia House Bill 1574 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: Introduced on January 14 2020 - 25% progression, died in chamber
Action: 2020-01-24 - Incorporated by Privileges and Elections
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [HTML]

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaign funds; civil penalty. Adds a definition of "personal use of campaign funds" and prohibits the use of contributions, or conversion of items acquired using contributions, to a candidate or campaign committee for a strictly personal purpose with no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the candidate's campaign or public office. Complaints of alleged violations may be made to the State Board of Elections (the State Board) by any person who contributed to the candidate or candidate's campaign committee. The subject of the complaint has 30 days to either (i) reimburse the campaign committee the complained-of amount or (ii) provide to the State Board documentation or other evidence that the use of the campaign funds had an intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. If the subject of the complaint provides such documentation or other evidence, the State Board shall review the response made by the subject of the complaint and determine whether the use of campaign funds had any intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefit to the campaign or the candidate's public office. The State Board shall assess a civil penalty, in an amount not to exceed $250, against a complaining party who is found to have filed a frivolous complaint. The bill amends the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.) to allow closed meetings for the State Board to review complaints related to the personal use of campaign funds. If the State Board determines that there were no intended, reasonable, or foreseeable benefits and the complained-of amount has not been reimbursed, it shall call a public hearing. If the complaining party declines to participate in the hearing, the complaint shall be dismissed. A person found by a unanimous vote of the State Board to have willfully and knowingly violated the prohibition on personal use of campaign funds must repay to the campaign committee the amount unlawfully converted to the personal use of the candidate or a member of the candidate's immediate family and must return to the complaining party the full amount of the complaining party's contribution to the campaign. The State Board may also assess an additional civil penalty, in an amount not to exceed $250. The person found to be in violation may seek review under the Administrative Process Act. The bill authorizes the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council (the Council) to issue formal advisory opinions regarding the provisions governing the personal use of campaign funds pursuant to the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006 (§ 24.2-945 et seq.). A person who has relied on such an opinion in good faith after he provides full disclosure of the facts will not be subject to the penalties outlined in the bill. In addition, the bill requires the Council to develop and publish guidance on the provisions of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Act that prohibit the personal use of campaign funds. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2021.

Campaign finance; prohibited personal use of campaign funds, civil penalty.

Del. Mark Cole [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2020-01-24	House	Incorporated by Privileges and Elections
2020-01-23	House	Subcommittee recommends incorporating (HB848-Simon) by voice vote
2020-01-17	House	Assigned P & E sub: Campaign Finance
2020-01-14	House	Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections
2020-01-14	House	Presented and ordered printed 20104849D

Chapter	Article	Section	Citation Type	Statute Text
2	2	3711	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	946	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	948.4	(n/a)	See Bill Text
24	2	948.5	(n/a)	See Bill Text

Type	Source
Summary	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB1574
Text	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB1574+hil