2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 1 - Elections › Article 19 - Campaign Practices › Section 1-19-34.7 - Contribution limitations; candidates; political committees.

A. Except as provided in Subsections H through J of this section:
(1) a person, including a political committee, shall not make a contribution to a candidate, including the candidate's campaign committee, or to a political committee in an amount that will cause that person's total contributions to the candidate or political committee to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) during a primary election cycle or five thousand dollars ($5,000) during a general election cycle; provided that a person may make a contribution attributable to the general election cycle during the primary election cycle even though the person has contributed the maximum amount allowed for the primary election cycle:
(a) if that contribution is not used to pay for any expenditure related to the primary election; and
(b) if the candidate is not on the general election ballot, all contributions made to the candidate for the general election are returned to the persons who made the contributions or deposited in the public election fund; and
(2) a primary election candidate who does not become a candidate on the general election ballot shall remain subject to the contribution limits of the primary election cycle and shall not accept a contribution from a person who has contributed the maximum allowable amount during the primary election cycle to pay for primary election expenditures of the campaign.
B. A person, including a political committee, shall not make a contribution to a candidate committee authorized for the purpose of electing a candidate for governor in an amount that will cause that person's total contributions to the committee to exceed two times the limit imposed pursuant to Subsection A of this section.
C. Except as provided in Subsection K of this section, a person, including a political committee, shall not make a contribution to a political party or legislative caucus committee in an amount that will cause that person's total contributions to the political party or legislative caucus committee to exceed five times the limit imposed pursuant to Subsection A of this section.
D. All contributions made by a person to a candidate, either directly or indirectly, including contributions that are in any way earmarked or otherwise directed through another person to a candidate, shall be treated as contributions from the person to that candidate.
E. A person, including a political committee, shall not knowingly accept or solicit a contribution, directly or indirectly, including a contribution earmarked or otherwise directed or coordinated through another person, including a political committee, that violates the contribution limits provided for in this section.
F. On January 1 after each general election, the contribution amounts provided in Subsection A of this section shall be increased by the percentage of the preceding two calendar years' increase of the consumer price index for all urban consumers, United States city average for all items, published by the United States department of labor. The amount of the increase shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of one hundred dollars ($100). The secretary of state shall publish by October 1 before each general election the adjusted contribution limits that shall take effect the January 1 following general election.
G. All contributions in excess of the limits imposed by the provisions of this section shall be deposited in the public election fund upon a finding by the secretary of state that the contribution limits have been exceeded.
H. The limitation on contributions to a candidate provided for in Subsection A of this section shall not apply to a candidate's own contribution from the candidate's personal funds to the candidate's own campaign.
I. The limitations on contributions to political committees provided for in Subsection A of this section shall not apply to a political committee that makes only independent expenditures or to a contribution to a political committee that is deposited in a segregated bank account that may only be used to make independent expenditures.
J. The limitations on contributions to candidates or campaign committees provided for in Subsection A of this section shall not apply to the value of in-kind contributions from a political party or legislative caucus committee to a candidate nominated by that party in a general election cycle.
K. The limitations on contributions to political parties or legislative caucus committees provided for in Subsection C of this section shall not apply to contributions from a campaign committee authorized for the purpose of electing a candidate from that party in a primary or general election cycle. For purposes of this subsection, "campaign committee" includes a candidate committee regulated by the federal election commission.
L. The members of a political party in a chamber of the legislature shall not maintain more than one legislative caucus committee in each chamber.
History:
Laws 2009, ch. 68, § 1; 2019, ch. 262, § 12.
ANNOTATIONS
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2019, ch. 262, § 16 provided that the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general, shall promulgate rules to implement the amendatory provisions of this act by August 1, 2019.
The 2019 amendment,
effective July 1, 2019, set a flat limit on contributions to all candidates and political committees of $5,000 per election cycle, provided that a primary election candidate who does not move on to the general election shall remain subject to the primary election cycle contribution limits and shall not accept a contribution from a person who has contributed the maximum allowable amount during the primary election cycle to pay for primary election expenditures, provided that a person, including a political committee, shall not make a contribution to a candidate committee authorized for the purpose of electing a candidate for governor in an amount that will cause that person's total contributions to the committee to exceed two times the limit imposed by the section during a primary or a general election cycle, prohibited contributions to a political party or legislative caucus committee that will cause the contributor's total contributions to the political party or legislative caucus committee to exceed five times the limit imposed by the section during a primary or a general election cycle, changed the date on which contribution limits are increased, provided that the limitation on contributions to candidates or campaign committees do not apply to the value of in-kind contributions from political parties or legislative caucus committees to candidates nominated by the parties in the general election, excluded contributions from candidates or campaign committees from the limitations on contributions to political parties or legislative caucus committees, and limited a political party caucus to one legislative caucus committee in each chamber of the legislature; deleted former Subsection A, added new Subsections A through C and redesignated former Subsections B through F as Subsections D through H, respectively; in Subsection F, after "On", deleted "the day" and added "January 1", and after "shall take effect the", deleted "day after the" and added "January 1"; and deleted former Subsection G and added Subsections I through L.
Severability.
— Laws 2009, ch. 68, § 5 provided that if any part or application of this act is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.
Constitutionality.
— For a contribution limit to survive, a state must first show a sufficiently important interest in that limit, and that the challenged contribution limits are closely drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgement of associational freedoms.
Republican Party of N.M. v. Torrez
, ___ F.Supp.3d ___ (D. N.M. 2023).
Campaign Reporting Act's limit on contributions from persons and political committees to state political parties is constitutional.
— The state has established that it has a sufficiently important interest in limiting contributions to political parties to prevent circumvention of other valid contribution limits and actual or apparent
quid pro quo
corruption, and the Campaign Reporting Act's limits on contributions to parties are closely drawn to the state's interest in preventing circumvention and actual or apparent
quid pro quo
corruption.
Republican Party of N.M. v. Torrez
, ___ F.Supp.3d ___ (D. N.M. 2023).
Campaign Reporting Act's limit on contributions from state to county political parties is unconstitutional.
— The state has failed to put forth evidence that there is a serious risk of donors circumventing valid contribution limits by donating money to a state party with the intention that the money be donated to a county party so that the money can ultimately be donated to a candidate in exchange for a
quid pro quo
arrangement or the appearance of one. The limit on contributions from state to county parties, therefore, is too attenuated from the root concern of
quid pro quo
corruption between individuals and candidates.
Republican Party of N.M. v. Torrez
, ___ F.Supp.3d ___ (D. N.M. 2023).
Campaign Reporting Act's limit on contributions from state political parties to nongubernatorial candidates and gubernatorial candidates is unconstitutional.
— The state has established that it has a sufficiently important interest in limiting contributions from state parties to candidates to prevent circumvention of other valid contribution limits, but the Campaign Reporting Act's limits on contributions by state parties to candidates are substantially lower than limits previously upheld by the United States supreme court and are substantially lower than comparable limits in other states, and the state has failed to show that it tailored its contribution limits to how much it costs to run a competitive statewide and local campaign, which demonstrates that the limits on contributions from state parties to candidates are not closely drawn to the state's interest in preventing circumvention of other valid contribution limits.
Republican Party of N.M. v. Torrez
, ___ F.Supp.3d ___ (D. N.M. 2023).
A political committee that makes contributions to candidates may solicit unlimited contributions from allowable persons on behalf of political committees that only make "independent expenditures".
— The Campaign Reporting Act, §§ 1-19-25 to 1-19-36 NMSA 1978, limits the amounts persons may contribute to candidates, candidates' campaign committees, and political committees during primary and general election cycles, and further prohibits persons, including political committees, from knowingly soliciting or accepting contributions from other persons, including political committees, that exceed these limits, § 1-19-34.7(A)(1), (E), but § 1-19-34.7(I) provides that these limits and prohibitions do not apply to political committees that make "independent expenditures" only, and therefore a political committee that only makes independent expenditures may indirectly solicit unlimited contributions through a political committee that makes contributions to candidates, and further, a political committee that makes contributions to candidates may solicit unlimited contributions on behalf of a political committee that only makes independent expenditures. For similar reasons, an officeholder and a candidate may request third-party donors to contribute at any amount to a political committee that only makes independent expenditures. 2022 Op. Ethics Comm'n No. 2022-05.
A candidate may not solicit unlimited contributions for a political committee that makes expenditures to support the candidate's election.
— The Campaign Reporting Act's prohibitions on fundraising do not apply to political committees that only make "independent expenditures", but if a candidate solicits contributions to be given to a political committee, and the political committee uses contributions to pay for advertisements supporting the candidate's election, then the political committee is not making an "independent expenditure", but is making a "coordinated expenditure", which is prohibited by 1-19-34.7(E) NMSA 1978. 2022 Op. Ethics Comm'n No. 2022-05.
Contributions by national committees of political parties.
— The Campaign Reporting Act prohibits the national committee of a political party from contributing to its state political party in an amount greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000) during a primary election or during a general election. 2010 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 10-03.
Contributions by an individual and through a corporation owned by the individual.
— The campaign Reporting Act does not prohibit an individual and a corporation controlled by the individual from making separate contributions in their own names up to the limits of the act. If, however, instead of separate contributions by the individual and the corporation, the individual makes a personal contribution and transfers funds to the corporation for purposes of making another contribution, the act would attribute both contributions to the individual for purposes of the act's contribution limits and if the contributions, in the aggregate exceed the contribution limits for either a primary or a general election, the contributions would be a violation of the act, even if the violation was not intentional. 2010 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 10-03.