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2014 Op. Vt. Att'y Gen. 1 (2014)

handle is hein.sag/sagvt0047 and id is 1 raw text is: WILLIAM H. SORRELL TEL: (802) 828-3171 ATTORNEY GENERAL FAX: (802) 828-3187 TTY: (802) 828-3665 SUSANNE R. YOUNG DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL http://www.atg.state.vLus WILLIAM E. GRIFFIN CHIEF ASST. ATTORNEY . GENERAL STATE OF VERMONT OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL lo9 STATE STREET MONTPELIER, VT 056o9-1ool Formal Opinion #2014-1 May 13, 2014 Hon. Jim Condos Secretary of State 128 State Street Montpelier VT 05601- 1101 Re: Act 90 - An Act Relating to Campaign Finance Law Dear Secretary Condos: You have asked whether limits on campaign contributions are in effect during 2014 in light of the passage of 2013 (Adj. Sess.) Acts & Resolves No. 90 (Act 90). Our opinion is that the limits set forth in the law as enforced by the State of Vermont prior to the passage of Act 90 remain in effect through December 31, 2014. As you know, 17 V.S.A. § 2805(a) (2012) specifies that political committees and political parties shall not accept contributions totaling more than $2,000 from a single source, political committee, or political party in any two-year general election cycle. Furthermore, 17 V.S.A. § 2805(a) & (b) as added by 1981 (Adj. Sess.) Acts & Resolves No. 197, § 1 and amended by 1987 (Adj. Sess.) Acts & Resolves No. 263, § 3, specifies that no candidate for election to Vermont office shall accept contributions totaling more than $1,000 from a single source or more than $3,000 from a political committee for any election.' It is our opinion that the Legislature intended that these limits remain in effect through December 31, 2014, despite the literal reading of Act 90. Act 90 re-organized and revised Vermont's campaign finance law. It repealed chapter 59 of title 17, effective January 23, 2014, and replaced it with a new chapter, which established contribution limits for political campaigns that will go ' After the United States Supreme Court found the limits on contributions to candidates that had been enacted in 1997 by Act 64 to be unconstitutional in Randall v. Sorrell, 548 U.S. 230 (2006), the former provisions of the statute were revived. Oxfeld v. Sorrell (D. Vt. Oct. 15, 2008) 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81872. The former provisions are the source of the limits on contributions to candidates.

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