2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 1 - Elections › Article 19A - Voter Action › Section 1-19A-7 - Guidelines and restrictions for contributions to and expenditures of certified candidates.

A. All money distributed to a certified candidate shall be used only for that candidate's campaign-related purposes in the election in which the money was distributed.
B. Money from the fund received by a candidate shall not be used for:
(1) the candidate's personal living expenses or compensation to the candidate or the candidate's spouse, domestic partner, children or stepchildren;
(2) a contribution to another campaign of the candidate or a payment to retire debt from another such campaign;
(3) a contribution to the campaign of another candidate or to a political party or political committee or to a campaign supporting or opposing a ballot proposition;
(4) an expenditure supporting the election of another candidate or the passage or defeat of a ballot proposition or the defeat of any candidate other than an opponent of the certified candidate; provided that a certified candidate may purchase joint advertisements or services with other certified candidates;
(5) payment of a fine levied by a court or the secretary; or
(6) a gift or transfer for which compensating value is not received.
C. A certified candidate shall return to the fund any amount that is unspent or unencumbered at the time that person ceases to be a candidate before a primary or general election for which the fund money was distributed.
D. A certified candidate shall limit total campaign expenditures to the amount of money distributed to that candidate from the fund, money received from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 and contributions collected pursuant to Section 1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978. A certified candidate shall not accept contributions from any other source except the certified candidate's political party, as specified in Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 and contributions collected pursuant to Section 1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978.
E. A certified candidate who does not remain a candidate in the general election shall, within thirty days after the primary election, transfer to the secretary for deposit in the fund any amount received from the fund, from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 or from private contributors pursuant to Section 1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978 that remains unspent or unencumbered by the date of the primary election.
F. A certified candidate shall, within thirty days after the general election, transfer to the secretary for deposit in the fund any amount received from the fund, from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 or from private contributors pursuant to Section 1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978 that remains unspent or unencumbered by the date of the general election.
G. If a certified candidate ceases to be a certified candidate for any reason, the previously certified candidate or candidate's campaign committee shall, within thirty days thereafter, transfer to the secretary for deposit in the fund any amount received from the fund, from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 or from private contributors pursuant to Section 1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978 that remains unspent or unencumbered by the date the candidate ceases to be a certified candidate.
History:
Laws 2003, ch. 14, § 7; 2007 (1st S.S.), ch. 2, § 4; 2019, ch. 175, § 5; 2023, ch. 39, § 79.
ANNOTATIONS
The 2023 amendment,
effective June 16, 2023, expanded the prohibition of using campaign funds for personal living expenses or compensation to include a domestic partner; and in Subsection B, after "candidate's spouse", added "domestic partner"; and changed "8 of this 2019 act" to "1-19A-4.1 NMSA 1978" throughout the section.
The 2019 amendment,
effective July 1, 2019, added restrictions on the use of campaign funds, restricted total campaign expenditures to the amount received from political parties under Section 1-19A-8 and allowable contributions, in addition to money distributed from the public election fund, and required candidates to return any unspent amounts to the public election fund; in Subsection A, after "shall be used", added "only"; added a new Subsection B and redesignated former Subsections B through E as Subsections C through F, respectively; in Subsection D, after "campaign expenditures", deleted "and debts", and added "money received from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 and contributions collected pursuant to Section 8 of this 2019 act", and added "and contributions collected pursuant to Section 8 of this 2019 act"; in Subsection E, added "who does not remain a candidate in the general election", after "shall", deleted "return to the secretary", after "primary election", deleted "any amount that is" and added "transfer to the secretary for deposit in the fund any amount received from the fund, from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 or from private contributors pursuant to Section 8 of this 2019 act that remains", and after "primary election", deleted "for direct deposit into the fund"; in Subsection F, after "certified candidate shall", deleted "return to the secretary", after "general election", deleted "any amount that is" and added "transfer to the secretary for deposit in the fund any amount received from the fund, from a political party pursuant to Section 1-19A-8 NMSA 1978 or from private contributors pursuant to Section 8 of this 2019 act that remains", and after "general election", deleted "for direct deposit into the fund"; and added Subsection G.
The 2007 amendment,
effective June 28, 2007, changed "two weeks" to "thirty days" in Subsections D and E.