Opinion ID: 151935
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Florida Laws Regarding the Financing of Election Campaigns

Text: Florida laws regulate campaign financing for all candidates, political committees, committees of continuous existence, electioneering communication organizations, and political parties. Id. §§ 106.011-106.36. A candidate may not accept a contribution in excess of $500 from any person, political committee, or committee of continuous existence during an election. Id. § 106.08(1)(a). The statute defines a person as an individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate, or other combination of individuals having collective capacity. Id. § 106.011(8). For the purpose of contribution limits, the statute considers primary and general elections separate elections for all opposed candidates. Id. § 106.08(1)(c). By law, a candidate for statewide office may not accept contributions that exceed $250,000 in the aggregate from national, state, or county executive committees of a political party. Id. § 106.08(2)(b). Florida law does not limit the amount that a candidate may contribute personally to his campaign. Id. § 106.08(1)(b)(1). All candidates must file regular reports of all contributions received and all expenditures made by or on behalf of such candidate with the Division of Elections. Id. §§ 106.07, 106.075. Florida law does not consider an expenditure made for, or in furtherance of, an electioneering communication ... a contribution to or on behalf of any candidate. Id. § 106.011(18)(c). An electioneering communication is defined as any communication that is publicly distributed by television, radio, satellite, newspaper, magazine, direct mail, or telephone, and that clearly identifie[s] [a] candidate for office without expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate. Id. § 106.011(18)(a). The parties understand Florida law to permit a candidate to further his campaign by coordinating electioneering expenditures with organizations commonly known as section 527 organizations, which draw their name from the Internal Revenue Code that grants them tax-exempt status. See I.R.C. § 527. Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code provides that an organization operated primarily for the purpose of directly or indirectly accepting contributions or making expenditures need not declare contributions, dues or fundraising proceeds as income if the money is used for the function of influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal, State, or local public office. Id. § 527(c), (e). Unlike political action committees that directly advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate, most section 527 organizations indirectly support a candidate by electioneering communications and thus avoid regular disclosure of expenditures and contributions to the Federal Elections Commission. See id. § 527(j). In 2005, the Florida Division of Elections interpreted Florida law to mean that expenditures of section 527 organizations that were coordinated with candidates did not constitute contributions to those candidates. Electioneering Communications, DE 05-04 (Fla. Div. of Elections June 28, 2005). The Secretary informed the district court that electioneering expenditures also do not constitute candidate expenditures. A recent federal court decision that invalidated the provision of Florida election law upon which that interpretation is based calls into question whether this coordination remains legal. See Broward Coal. of Condo., Homeowners Ass'n & Cmty. Orgs. Inc. v. Browning, No. 4:08-cv-445-SMP, 2009 WL 1457972 (N.D.Fla. May 22, 2009). Regardless, the parties agree that candidates continue to coordinate with section 527 organizations. In 1986, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Election Campaign Financing Act, 1986 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. ch. 86-276 (codified at Fla. Stat. §§ 106.30-106.36). The Act establishes a system that provides matching public funds to candidates for state political offices who agree to certain conditions. To be eligible to participate in the system, a gubernatorial candidate must submit an application for matching funds, Fla. Admin. Code Ann. r. 1S-2.047(1); be an opposed candidate, Fla. Stat. § 106.33; agree to abide by an expenditure limit, which for the 2010 election is $24,901,170, id. § 106.34; raise an initial $150,000 in qualified contributions from Florida residents before receiving any public funds, id. § 106.33(2)(a)(1); agree to limit loans or contributions from his personal funds to $25,000, id. § 106.33(3); limit contributions from national, state, and county executive committees of a political party to $250,000 in the aggregate (this limit applies to all candidates participating or not), id.; submit disclosure and reporting statements of each qualified contribution, id. § 106.35(3)(a); and submit a post-election audit of the campaign account, id. § 106.33(4). The Secretary represented to the district court that a participating candidate, like a nonparticipating candidate, remains free to coordinate electioneering expenditures with section 527 organizations, and these expenditures do not count toward the participating candidate's expenditure limit. See id. § 106.011(18)(c). After the Division of Elections for the State of Florida certifies a candidate as eligible to participate in the system, the candidate is entitled to receive matching funds for certain qualifying contributions. Id. § 106.35. Participating candidates remain subject to the $500 cap on campaign contributions from persons or committees, id. § 106.08(1)(a), but become eligible as participants in the public financing system to receive matching state funds, up to $250, for each contribution made by a Florida resident after September 1 of the calendar year before the election, id. § 106.35(2)(b). The state matches only $250 for aggregate contributions from an individual that exceed $250. For each dollar of a qualifying contribution that makes up all or part of the initial $150,000 in contributions a gubernatorial candidate must initially raise, the state provides the participating candidate $2 in public funds. Id. § 106.35(2)(a)(1). After the participating candidate raises the initial $150,000 in contributions, the state matches qualifying contributions dollar for dollar. Id. § 106.35(2)(a)(2). In 1991, the Florida Legislature adopted section 106.355, which includes the excess spending subsidy that is the focus of this appeal. Section 106.355 provides a subsidy to a participating candidate when an opposing candidate who does not participate in public financing exceeds the statutory expenditure limit, which for this election is $24,901,170. 1991 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. ch. 91-107 § 24 (codified at Fla. Stat. § 106.355). Unlike the public funds that a participating candidate receives from the state that match private contributions to that candidate, the excess spending subsidy is tied to the spending of the participating candidate's opponent; Florida provides the participating candidate a dollar for every dollar his nonparticipating opponent expends above the statutory expenditure limit. Fla. Stat. § 106.355. This dollar-for-dollar subsidy is not a matching fund because the participating candidate receives the subsidy regardless of any effort that he makes to raise funds for his campaign. See id. ([These] funds shall not be considered matching funds.). This section also provides that a participating candidate is released from the expenditure limit to the extent that his nonparticipating opponent exceeds the limit. Id. Participating candidates remain eligible for matching funds up to the statutory expenditure limit for qualified private contributions and are released from a penalty that would require reimbursement of funds for contributions that exceed the expenditure limit. Id. Additionally, in enacting this subsidy, the legislature declared that [i]f any provision of the [1991 A]ct, or the application thereof ... is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions... of the [A]ct which can be given effect without the invalid provision. 1991 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. ch. 91-107 § 36. The Florida Legislature declared that it created the public financing system out of concern that the cost of running an effective campaign for statewide office ... discourage[s] persons from becoming candidates and limit[s] the persons who run for such office to those who are independently wealthy, or those who are supported by political committees or special interest groups that are capable of generating substantial contributions. Fla. Stat. § 106.31. According to the enabling statute, the purpose of public campaign financing is to make candidates more responsive to the voters of the State of Florida and as insulated as possible from special interest groups, and to dispel the misperception [that] government officials [are] unduly influenced by those special interests to the detriment of the public interest. Id. That statute also provides that the public campaign financing system is intended to encourage qualified persons to seek statewide elective office who would not, or could not otherwise do so and to protect the effective competition by a candidate who uses public funding. Id. The legislature declared its interest in strengthening the integrity of, and public confidence in, the electoral process. 1991 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. ch. 91-107, pmbl.