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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-012 Council OrdinancesCouncil Member Neal introduced the following ordinance and moved its adoption: CITY OF LINO LAKES COUNTY OF ANOKA STATE OF MINNESOTA ORDINANCE NO. 93 — 12 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE LINO LAKES CITY CODE BY ADDING A CHAPTER TO READ AS FOLLOWS: CHAPTER NO. 216, CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS REPORT REQUIRED The City Council of the City of Lino Lakes hereby ordains as follows: i. Section 216.01 Definitions of Terms 1. A "candidate" means any individual for whom it is contemplated or desired that votes may be cast at any election, and who either tacitly or expressly consents to be so considered. An individual shall be deemed to seek nomination for election if he or she has taken the action necessary to qualify himself or herself for nomination of election, has received contributions or made expenditures in excess of $25.00, or has given his or her implicit or explicit consent for any other person to receive contributions or make expenditures in excess of $25.00, for the purpose of bringing about his or her nomination or election. 2. A "committee" means any personal campaign committee or political committee unless the intent is clearly shown to be otherwise. 3. A "contribution" means a transfer of funds or a donation in kind. "Contribution" includes any loan or advance of credit to a political committee, party committee or personal campaign committee, which loan or advance credit is forgiven or paid by an entity other than the political committee, or personal campaign committee to which the loan or advance of credit is made. If an advance of credit or a loan is forgiven or paid as provided in this definition, it is a contribution in the year in which the loan or advance of credit is made. PAGE 1 A contribution made for the purpose of defeating a candidate is considered made for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of that candidate or any opponent of that candidate. "Contribution" does not include services provided without compensation by an individual volunteering his time on behalf of a candidate, ballot question, political committee, personal campaign committee or the publishing or broadcasting of news items or editorial comments by the news media. 4. "Depository" means any bank, savings and loan association or credit union organized under federal or state law and transacting business within Minnesota. 5. "Disbursement" means every act by or through which any money, property, office, or position or other thing of value passes or is directly or indirectly conveyed, given, promised, paid, expended, pledged, contributed or lent, and also any money, property, office, or position or other thing of value so given, provided, paid, expended, promised, pledges, contributed or lent. 6. "Donation in kind" means anything of value other than money or negotiable instruments given by an individual or association to a political committee or personal campaign committee for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of a candidate or for the purpose of promoting or defeating a ballot question. "Donation in kind" includes an approved expenditure. 7. "Election" means: A. A general, special, primary or runoff election; or B. A convention or caucus of a political party held to nominate a candidate. 8. "Person" means an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, labor organization and any other organization or group of persons, including a committee organized for political purposes, which is not included in the definition of "political committee or political fund." 9. "Personal campaign committee" means any committee appointed by a candidate for any election. 10. "Political committee". Every two (2) or more persons elected or appointed by a major political party or association for the purpose, wholly or partly, of raising, collecting or disbursing money, or directing the PAGE 2 raising, collecting or disbursing thereof, for nomination or election purposes, and every two (2) or more persons who shall cooperate in the raising, collecting or disbursing of money used, or to be used for or against the election to public office of any person or any class or number of persons, or for or against the adoption of any law, ordinance, or Charter amendment, or to support, oppose or influence any petition for initiative, referendum or recall shall be deemed a "political committee". 11. "Political fund" means any accumulation of dues or voluntary contributions by an association other than a political committee, which accumulation is collected or expended for the purpose of influencing the nomination or election of a candidate or for the purpose of promoting or defeating a ballot question. 12. "Public office" means any elective office as set forth under the Charter of the City of Lino Lakes but does not include judges or other officials as are provided by statute. 13. "Political party" means as association, committee or organization which nominates and supports a candidate for election to any public office whose name appears on the election ballot as the candidate of such association, committee or organization. Section 216.02 Administration Subdivision 1. City Clerk to Administer. The City Clerk shall be in charge of administering and carrying out the various provisions of this chapter. Subd. 2 City Clerk; Powers and Duties. The City Clerk shall have the following duties and powers: (1) Prescribe, adopt and distribute the form for registration forms, statements and reports required to be filed which shall, whenever possible, be identical to or consistent with state forms. (2) Receive and accept for filing in the City Clerk's office the registration forms, statements and reports required by this chapter. (3) Make the statements and reports filed with the City Clerk available for public inspection and copying. A reasonable fee for the cost PAGE 3 of copying may be charged. (4) Preserve all statements and reports for a period of four (4) years from the date of filing, or, in the event that the committee represents a candidate or party which permanently terminates activity within two (2) years,then said records and accounts shall be kept for two (2) years. (5) Report findings of noncompliance to the City Council acting as the elections board. Section 216.03 Reporting Requirements of Individual Candidates, Committees and Political Funds Subdivision 1. Organization; Funds (1) Every committee and political fund shall have a chairperson and a treasurer, who may be the same person. Every candidate or personal campaign committee shall have a secretary. Either the candidate or the secretary may be designated as the treasurer. (2) No contribution shall be accepted and no expenditure shall be made by or on behalf of a committee at a time then there is a vacancy in the office of treasurer. (3) The treasurer of a committee or political fund and the treasurer of a personal campaign committee shall designate a separate depository for depositing campaign contributions and disbursing expenditures. No more than one (1) depository shall be designated. All monetary contributions received by or on behalf of any candidate or committee or political fund shall, within fourteen (14) days after the receipt thereof, be deposited in a depository account designated "Campaign Fund of (name of committee, fund or candidate)". (4) No funds of a committee, political fund or personal campaign shall be co -mingled with any personal funds of the officers, members, associates of the committee or candidate. PAGE 4 (5) Candidates for City offices cannot accept contributions from congressional, statewide, or legislative campaigns and cannot transfer local campaign funds to candidates for constitutional, legislative, or judicial office. (See State Statute 211A.13) (6) The use of campaign funds shall be restricted according to Section 10A.01, State Statutes. (7) Personal use of campaign funds is prohibited according to Section 10A.01, State Statutes. (8) Non-profit corporations and partnerships and for profit corporations campaign contributions are restricted as outlined in State Statute 211B.12. Subd. 2 Record Keeping (1) It shall be the duty of the treasurer of every committee and every political fund to keep a detailed and accurate account of all identification data with respect to both contributions received and expenditures made by such committee. (2) The accounts shall be current within fourteen (14) days after receiving a contribution or making an expenditure. (3) The treasurer shall preserve all records and accounts for four (4) years; provided, however, that in the event that the committee or political fund represents a candidate or party which permanently terminates activity within two (2) years, then said records and accounts shall be kept for two (2) years. (4) Each individual required to file any report or statement as required by this chapter shall maintain records'on the matters required to be reported, including vouchers, canceled checks, bills, invoices, worksheets. Subd. 3 Registration (1) The treasurer of every committee, every political fund and personal campaign shall register with the City Clerk by filing a PAGE 5 statement of organization no later than fourteen (14) days after the date upon which the committee, political fund or personal campaign receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $25.00. (2) The statement of organization shall include: (A) The name and address of the committee or political fund or personal campaign; (B) The purpose of the committee or political fund or personal campaign; (C) The name, address and position of the custodian of books and accounts; (D) The name and address of the chairperson, the treasurer and any other principal officers; (E) The name, address, office sought and party affiliation, if any, of each candidate whom the committee, fund or personal campaign is supporting, or, if the committee or fund is supporting the entire ticket of,any party, the name of the party; (3) Any change in information required in sub- paragraph (2) above shall be forwarded to the City Clerk by the chairman or treasurer of the committee, political fund or personal campaign within ten (10) days of the change. Subd. 4 Campaign Reports (1) Every candidate, the secretary of every personal campaign committee and treasurer of every committee or political fund shall file with the City Clerk the reports required by this section in any year it receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of $25.00. (2) Every candidate, the secretary of every personal campaign committee and treasurer of every committee or political fund shall file a financial statement as follows: (A) Ten (1) days before the regular or PAGE 6 special election; (B) On January 31 of each year the personal campaign committee or the committee is in existence; and (C) Thirty (30) days after the special or regular election. The statements shall cover all transactions made up to and including the third day before the filing of the statement and not accounted for and reported upon in statements previously filed, except that no transactions shall be made thereafter which are not included in the final statement. Each statement after the first shall contain a summary of all preceding statements and summarize all items theretofore reported under the provisions of this subdivision. (3) Each report under this subdivision shall disclose: (A) Every sum of money and all property, and every other thing of value, received by such candidate or committee or political fund during such period from any source whatsoever which the candidate or committee uses or has used, or is at liberty to use for political purposes, together with the name and address of every person or source from which it was received and the date when each was received, together with the total amount received from all sources in any amount or manner; except that names and addresses of every person or source need not be disclosed if the contribution is $25.00 or less. (B) Every promise or pledge of money, property or other thing of value received by the candidate or committee or political fund during such period, the proceeds of which the candidate uses or has used, or is at liberty to use for political purposes, together with the names of the persons by whom each was promised or pledged, and the date when each was so promised or pledged, together with the total amount promised or pledged from all PAGE 7 sources in any amounts or manner; except that the names and addresses of persons by whom each was promised or pledged need not be named if the promise or pledged is valued less than $25.00. (C) Every disbursement by such candidate or committee or political fund for political purposes made during such period, together with the name of every person to whom the disbursement is made, the specific purpose for which each was made, and the date when each was made, together with the total amount of disbursements made in any amounts or manner; and (D) Every obligation, expressed or implied, to make any disbursement incurred by such candidate or committee or political fund for political purposes during such period, together with the names of the person or persons to or with whom each such obligation has been incurred, the specific purposes for which each was made, and the date when each was incurred, together with the total amount of such obligations made in any amount or manner. (4) Requirements respecting reports and statements: (A) The reports or statements required by this chapter shall be signed and certified as true by the person required to file the report or statement. (B) Each contribution in kind shall be valued at fair market value and reported on the appropriate schedule of receipts, identified as to its nature and listed as "contributions in kind". The total amount of goods and services contributed in kind shall be deemed to have been consumed in the reporting period in which received. Each contribution in kind shall be declared as an expenditure at the same fair market value and reported on the appropriate expenditure schedule, identified as "contribution in kind". PAGE 8 (C) Any material changes in information previously submitted and any corrections to a report shall be reported in writing to the City Clerk within fourteen (14) days following the date of the event prompting the change or the date upon which the person filing became aware of the inaccuracy. The change or correction shall identify the form and the paragraph containing the information to be changed or corrected. (5) Every individual who received a contribution for a committee or political fund or candidate shall, within fourteen (14) days after receipt of the contribution, inform the treasurer of the information required to be kept by paragraph (4). (6) No anonymous contribution or contributions shall be retained by a committee, political fund or candidate, but shall be turned over to the finance department for deposit into the general fund. (7) Exemptions: The City's elections board shall exempt any committee, political fund or political party, or any of their members or contributors, from the provisions of subparagraph (4) if disclosures would expose any or all of them to economic reprisal, loss of employment or threat of physical coercion. The City's elections board shall issue a written resolution to exempt any individual. The• City's election board shall establish a procedure so that any individual seeking an exemption may proceed anonymously if the individual would be exposed to reprisals if the individual's identity were revealed. Subd. 5 Ballot Questions Any individual, committee, political fund, association or corporation that makes any contribution or expenditure to promote or defeat a ballot question shall file reports as required by Subd. 4 Campaign Reports, paragraph (2) of this section. Reports shall be filed with the City Clerk PAGE 9 for placing the question on the ballot. Each report shall show the following information, covering the period from the last report to seven (7) days before the filing date: (A) The name and address of each committee, political fund, individual or other person to whom aggregate contributions or expenditures in excess of $25.00 have been made to promote or defeat a ballot question, together with the amount, date and purpose of the contribution or expenditure; except that names and addresses need not be disclosed if the contribution is $25.00 or less. (B) The total amount of contributions and expenditures made to promote or defeat a ballot question; and (C) Identification of the ballot question which the individual, committee, political fund, association or corporation seeks to promote or defeat. For the purpose of this section: (i) "Ballot question" means a question or proposition which is placed on the ballot and which may be voted on by the voters; and (ii) A contribution or expenditure for activities related to qualifying a question for placement on the ballot is a contribution or expenditure to promote or defeat the ballot question. Section 216.04 Violations Subdivision 1. Candidates. Any candidate, or secretary of a personal campaign committee or treasurer of a committee or political fund who receives, accepts, benefits from or, expends any campaign contributions which said candidate, secretary or treasurer knows to have been contributed or expended in violation of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. Subd. 2 Contributors. Any person or responsible officer of an entity who makes a contribution in violation of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. For purposes of this section, "responsible officer" means that person having final decision-making authority to make a contribution where the contributor is some entity other than a person. Subd. 3 Records and Reports. Any person who is required by this chapter to make reports or keep records and PAGE 10 who fails to do so is guilty of a misdemeanor. Section 216.05 Contribution Limitations No individual or committee or political fund shall make contributions to any candidate or committee or political fund with respect to any election for a city office which, in the aggregate exceeds $300.00 in an election year or more than $100.00 in a nonelection year. (Per State Statutes.) No individual or committee or political fund shall make contributions or expenditures to promote or defeat a ballot question which, exceeds $300.00 in an election year or more than $100.00 in a nonelection year. (Per State Statutes.) City candidates cannot accept contributions from congressional, statewide, or legislative campaigns and cannot transfer local campaign funds to such campaigns. (Per State Statutes.) IIo This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage by the City Council and publication as required by the City Charter. Passed by the City Council this 9th day of August , 1993. Vernon F. Reinert, Mayor (sLA,t \>&J Oily G. Anderson, Clerk -Treasurer The motion for the adoption of the foregoing ordinance was duly seconded by Council Member Elliott and upon vote being taken thereon, the following voted in favor thereof: Bergeson, Elliott, Kuether, Neal, Reinert. The following voted against same: none. Whereupon said ordinance was declared duly passed and adopted. PAGE 11