SB1662eng 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1662 Engrossed LRB096 10707 JAM 20885 b

AN ACT concerning elections.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section 9-3 as follows:

(10 ILCS 5/9-3) (from Ch. 46, par. 9-3)

Sec. 9-3. Every state political committee and every local political committee shall file with the State Board of Elections, and every local political committee shall file with the county clerk, a statement of organization within 10 business days of the creation of such committee, except any political committee created within the 30 days before an election shall file a statement of organization within 24 hours via facsimile transmission or electronic mail 5 business days. A political committee that acts as both a state political committee and a local political committee shall file a copy of each statement of organization with the State Board of Elections and the county clerk. The Board shall impose a civil penalty of $25 per business day upon political committees for failing to file or late filing of a statement of organization, except that for committees formed to support candidates for statewide office, the civil penalty shall be $50 per business day. Such penalties shall not exceed $5,000, and shall not exceed $10,000 for statewide office political committees. There shall be no fine if the statement is mailed and postmarked at least 72 hours prior to the filing deadline.

In addition to the civil penalties authorized by this Section, the State Board of Elections or any other affected political committee may apply to the circuit court for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction against the political committee to cease the expenditure of funds and to cease operations until the statement of organization is filed.

For the purpose of this Section, "statewide office" means the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, and State Comptroller.

The statement of organization shall include -

(a) the name and address of the political committee (the name of the political committee must include the name of any sponsoring entity);

(b) the scope, area of activity, party affiliation, candidate affiliation and his county of residence, and purposes of the political committee;

(c) the name, address, and position of each custodian of the committee's books and accounts;

(d) the name, address, and position of the committee's principal officers, including the chairman, treasurer, and officers and members of its finance committee, if any;

(e) (Blank);

(f) a statement of what specific disposition of residual fund will be made in the event of the dissolution or termination of the committee;

(g) a listing of all banks or other financial institutions, safety deposit boxes, and any other repositories or custodians of funds used by the committee;

(h) the amount of funds available for campaign expenditures as of the filing date of the committee's statement of organization.

For purposes of this Section, a "sponsoring entity" is (i) any person, political committee, organization, corporation, or association that contributes at least 33% of the total funding of the political committee or (ii) any person or other entity that is registered or is required to register under the Lobbyist Registration Act and contributes at least 33% of the total funding of the political committee; except that a political committee is not a "sponsoring entity" for purposes of this Section if it is a political committee organized by (i) an established political party as defined in Section 10-2, (ii) a partisan caucus of either house of the General Assembly, or (iii) the Speaker or Minority Leader of the House of Representatives or the President or Minority Leader of the Senate, in his or her capacity as a legislative leader of the House of Representatives or Senate and not as a candidate for Representative or Senator.

(Source: P.A. 93-574, eff. 8-21-03; 93-615, eff. 11-19-03; 94-645, eff. 8-22-05.)