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2000 Arizona Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2000)

handle is hein.sag/sagaz0024 and id is 1 raw text is: AG Opinions - Jan 07 1999 To: The Honorable Betsey Bayless January 19, 2000 Arizona Secratary of State Re: 100-001(R99-051) Questions Presented You have asked the following questions about the reporting requirements in the Citizens Clean Elections Act (Act), Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R. S.) §§ 16-940 to -961: (1) What amount of contributions may non-participating candidates for the Legislature and the Corporation Commission receive that would require those candidates to file original reports with the Secretary of State's Office under A.R.S. § 16-941(B)(2); and (2) if, by September 28, 1999, a non-participating candidate had received the amount of contributions requiring an original report, when would that candidate be required to file the report?- Summary Answer (1) Before the primary election, a non-participating legislative candidate must file a report when that candidate's expenditures exceed $7,000, and a non-participating Corporation Commission candidate must file a report when expenditures exceed $28,000. After the primary election, reports are triggered when contributions less expenditures through the primary election exceed $10,500 for non-participating legislative candidates and $42,000 for Corporation Commission candidates. For elections after 2000, the amounts that establish reporting obligations will be adjusted for inflation under A.R.S. § 16-959. (2) Contributions received as of September 28, 1999, will not trigger a reporting requirement because through the primary election, reports are triggered by expenditures, not contributions. After the primary election, reports are triggered by contributions less expenditures through primary election day. Background At the 1998 general election, Arizona's voters passed Proposition 200, which created the Act.- The Act establishes public funding of legislative and statewide election campaigns for those political candidates who voluntarily participate in limiting campaign spending and fundraising. See Betsy Bayless, Secretary of State, Ballot Propositions For The General Election of November 3, 1998 at 84 (1998) (analysis by Legislative Council). Candidates who qualify for the clean elections program receive public funding for their campaigns, based on amounts specified in the Act. See A.R.S. §§ 16-951, -961(G), (H). The Act also establishes reporting requirements, some of which apply to non-participating candidates. See A.R.S. §§ 16- 941 (B), -958(B). Non-participating candidates must comply with the Act's reporting requirements, as well as the campaign finance reporting requirements under A.R.S. § 16-913.U1 The Act provides that such reports shall be filed with the Secretary of State in electronic format. A.R.S. § 16-958(E). The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (Commission), which is responsible for implementing the Act, uses the non-participating candidates' reports to determine whether participating candidates are entitled to receive additional public funding. See A.R.S. § 16-952. Through the primary election, a non-participating candidate must file a report when expenditures other than independent expenditures on behalf of the candidate, from the beginning of the election cycle to any date up to primary election day, exceed seventy percent of the original primary election spending limit applicable to a participating candidate seeking the same office. A.R.S. § 16-941(B)(2)(a). The Act refers to this as an original report. A.R.S. § 16- 958(A).0 For the 2000 elections, this report requirement applies to expenditures after November 3, 1998 (the date of Pagel of 4

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