An Act To Improve the Disclosure of Major Contributors Influencing Maine Elections
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1480
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Amends: 21-A MRSA §1052, 21-A MRSA §1056-B, 21-A MRSA §1060, 21-A MRSA §1060-A

Legislative Document
No. 1480
H.P. 1019
House of Representatives, April 18, 2017
An Act To Improve the Disclosure of Major Contributors 
Influencing Maine Elections
Reported by Representative LUCHINI of Ellsworth for the Commission on Governmental 
Ethics and Election Practices pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 1, section 1009.
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed 
pursuant to Joint Rule 218.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §1052, sub-§5, ¶B, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §32, is 
further amended to read: 
B.    Does not include:  
(1)  A candidate or a candidate's treasurer under section 1013-A, subsection 1;  
(2)  A candidate's authorized political committee under section 1013-A, 
subsection 1, paragraph B;  
(3)  A party committee under section 1013-A, subsection 3; or 
(4)  An organization whose only payments of money in the prior 2 years in a 
calendar year for the purpose of influencing a campaign in this State are cash 
contributions to candidates, party committees, political action committees or 
ballot question committees registered with the commission or a municipality and 
that has not raised and accepted any contributions during the calendar year for the 
purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign in this State. 
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §1056-B, first ¶, as amended by PL 2015, c. 408, §3, is 
further amended to read: 
A person not defined as a political action committee that receives contributions or 
makes expenditures, other than by cash contribution to a political action committee or a 
ballot question committee, aggregating in excess of $5,000 for the purpose of initiating or 
influencing a campaign as defined by section 1052, subsection 1 shall register as a ballot 
question committee and file reports with the commission in accordance with this section.  
For the purposes of this section, "campaign" does not include activities to influence the 
nomination or election of a candidate.  For the purposes of this section, expenditures 
include paid staff time spent for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign. 
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §1056-B, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2015, c. 408, §3, is 
further amended to read: 
2.  Content.  A report required by this section must contain an itemized account with 
the date, amount and purpose of each expenditure made for the purpose of initiating or 
influencing a campaign; an itemized account of contributions received from a single 
source aggregating in excess of $50 in any election; the date of each contribution; the 
date and purpose of each expenditure; the name and address of each contributor, payee or 
creditor; and the occupation and principal place of business, if any, for any person who 
has made contributions exceeding $50 in the aggregate.  The filer is required to report 
only those contributions made to the filer for the purpose of initiating or influencing a 
campaign and only those expenditures made for those purposes.  The definitions of 
"contribution" and "expenditure" in section 1052, subsections 3 and 4, respectively, apply 
to persons required to file ballot question reports. 
Sec. 4.  21-A MRSA §1056-B, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §§40 
and 41, is further amended to read: 
2-A.  Contributions.  For the purposes of this section, "contribution" includes, but is 
not limited to: 
A.  Funds or anything of value that the contributor specified were given in connection 
with for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign; 
A-1.  Funds or anything of value solicited by the committee, in whole or in part, for 
the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign; 
B.  Funds or anything of value provided in response to a solicitation that would lead 
the contributor to believe that all or a portion of the funds or thing of value, such as 
services, would be used specifically for the purpose of initiating or influencing a 
campaign; 
C.  Funds or anything of value that can reasonably be determined to have been 
provided by the contributor, in whole or in part, for the purpose of initiating or 
influencing a campaign when viewed in the context of the contribution and the 
recipient's activities regarding a campaign; and 
D.  Funds or transfers from the general treasury of an organization filing a ballot 
question report. 
Sec. 5.  21-A MRSA §1060, sub-§6, as amended by PL 2011, c. 389, §47, is 
repealed and the following enacted in its place: 
6.  Identification of contributions.  Names, occupations, places of business and 
mailing addresses of contributors who have given more than $50 to the political action 
committee in the reporting period and the amount and date of each contribution as 
follows. 
A.  A person or fund qualifying as a political action committee under section 1052, 
subsection 5, paragraph A, subparagraphs (1) or (4) shall report the required 
information for all contributions exceeding the $50 aggregate threshold. 
B.  An organization qualifying as a political action committee under section 1052, 
subsection 5, paragraph A, subparagraph (5) shall report the required information 
only for those contributions made to the organization for the purpose of initiating or 
influencing a campaign, including: 
(1)  Contributions solicited by the political action committee, in whole or in part, 
for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign; 
(2)  Contributions that the contributor specified were given for the purpose of 
initiating or influencing a campaign; 
(3)  Contributions provided in response to a solicitation that would lead the 
contributor to believe that all or a portion of the funds or any services contributed 
would be used for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign; 
(4)  Contributions that can reasonably be determined to have been provided by 
the contributor, in whole or in part, for the purpose of initiating or influencing a 
campaign when viewed in the context of the contribution and the recipient's 
activities regarding a campaign; and 
(5)  Funds or transfers from the general treasury of an organization filing a 
political action committee report; and 
Sec. 6.  21-A MRSA §1060-A is enacted to read: 
§1060-A.  Reporting by major contributors 
Any person, other than an individual, that makes cash contributions to a political 
action committee, party committee or ballot question committee aggregating in excess of 
$100,000 within a calendar year is considered a major contributor to the recipient 
committee and shall file reports as set out in this section.  The requirement to file a report 
as a major contributor does not apply to a political action committee, party committee or 
ballot question committee registered with the commission or a municipality. 
1.  Notice to major contributor.  Within 5 days of receiving more than $100,000 in 
the aggregate within a calendar year from a major contributor, the recipient committee 
shall provide written notice to the major contributor of the reporting requirement under 
this section and shall submit a copy of the notice to the commission.  If the contribution 
that exceeds the $100,000 aggregate amount is received during the last 13 days before an 
election, the recipient committee shall provide written notice of the reporting requirement 
to the major contributor within 24 hours of receipt and submit a copy of the notice to the 
commission.  The commission shall prepare a sample written notice for this purpose. 
2.  Required reports.  A major contributor shall file a report containing the 
information required in subsection 3 on or before the filing deadline under section 1059, 
subsection 2 for the recipient committee's October quarterly or 11-day preelection 
campaign finance report, whichever occurs first after the major contributor receives 
notice of the reporting requirement.  If a major contributor makes a contribution of more 
than $100,000 during the 13 days before an election, the major contributor shall file a 
report within 2 business days of receiving notice from the recipient committee or the 
commission.  The commission shall prescribe and prepare forms for these reports and 
may require major contributors to file reports electronically. 
3.  Content.  In the reports required under subsection 2, a major contributor shall 
provide: 
A.  The name of and relevant contact information for the major contributor and the 
name of a responsible officer of the major contributor; 
B.  The form of organization and purpose of the major contributor; 
C.  The amounts and dates of each contribution from the major contributor to the 
recipient committee during the calendar year; 
D.  A certification that the major contributor has not received contributions, in whole 
or in part, for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign in this State, or if 
the major contributor has received such contributions, the date, source and amount of 
any such contributions; 
E.  Information concerning the 5 largest sources of funds received by the major 
contributor during the 12 months prior to the filing of the report, including but not 
limited to the source and amounts of the funds and the dates received; and 
F.  A statement indicating whether the major contributor is exempt from taxation 
under the United States Internal Revenue Code and a list of any governmental 
jurisdictions within the United States in which the major contributor has filed 
campaign finance reports during the previous 12 months. 
The commission may require by rule additional information to be reported consistent with 
subsection 3 to facilitate disclosure to citizens of this State of financial activity conducted 
for the purpose of influencing elections in the State.  The commission may, by rule, 
permit major contributors to exclude the sources of funds that are restricted to purposes 
unrelated to elections. 
4.  Noncompliance.  The commission may assess a civil penalty against a major 
contributor that does not file a timely report required under this section.  The preliminary 
penalty is 10% of the total contributions required to be reported, up to a maximum of 
$50,000.  Within 2 weeks of receiving notice of the preliminary penalty from the 
commission, the major contributor may request that the penalty be waived in full or in 
part.  In considering a request for a waiver, the commission shall consider, among other 
things, any lack of notice to the major contributor of the reporting requirement, the 
number of days that the report was filed late and the amount of the contributions required 
to be reported.  The commission may assess a civil penalty in the same amount against a 
recipient committee that has not provided written notice of the reporting requirements to 
the major contributor, using the same procedures as set out in this subsection for penalties 
against the major contributor. 
SUMMARY 
This bill amends the law governing campaign financing and reporting by: 
1.  Setting more specific criteria for the reporting of contributions by an organization 
that has received funds for multiple purposes and has formed a political action 
committee; and 
2.  Requiring an organization that has contributed more than $100,000 to a political 
action committee, party committee or ballot question committee in this State to file a one-
time report with the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices 
disclosing information about the organization, its top 5 sources of funding and a 
certification as to whether the organization has received money to influence elections in 
this State.