WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 566

By Senators Prezioso, Baldwin, Beach, Ihlenfeld, Jeffries, Lindsay, Palumbo, Plymale, Romano, Stollings, and Woelfel

[Introduced January 21, 2020; referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend and reenact §3-8-5c of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to modifying limits on political contributions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 8. REGULATION AND CONTROL OF ELECTIONS.

§3-8-5c. Contribution limitations.

(a)(1) A person, political party, or political action committee may not, in an election cycle:

(A) Contribute more than $2,800 $1,000, directly or indirectly, to a candidate’s committee for a candidate seeking nomination, including by making contributions to the candidate’s committee; or

(B) Contribute more than $2,800 $1,000, directly or indirectly, to a candidate’s committee for a candidate seeking election, including by making contributions to the candidate’s committee: Provided, That a candidate may receive contributions for the general election prior to nomination, however, such funds may not be expended until after the date of the nomination is declared.

(2) The contribution limits of this section apply only to elections to be held after the effective date of this section and do not apply to candidate committees that were created for elections held prior to the effective date of this section.

(b) A person may not, directly or indirectly, make contributions to a state party executive committee, or any subsidiary, branch, or local unit thereof, or a caucus campaign committee which, in the aggregate, exceed $10,000 $1,000 in any calendar year: Provided, That a person may not earmark or otherwise designate any portion of a contribution made pursuant to this subsection to be used to support or oppose the election of a particular candidate: Provided, however, That any such designation or earmark that accompanies a contribution made pursuant to this subsection may not be binding on the entity that receives the contribution.

(c) A person may not, directly or indirectly, make contributions to a political action committee, related to a particular election, which, in the aggregate, exceed $5,000 $1,000.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the amounts of lawful political campaign contributions to pre-2019 levels.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.