H. B. 2446
(By Delegates Collins, Kuhn, Mezzatesta, Manuel and Love)
[Introduced February 10, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twelve, article eight,
chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to elections;
regulation and control of elections; circulation of written
matter; requiring political advertisements to contain the
party affiliation of the person or candidate authorizing the
publication; and criminal penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twelve, article eight, chapter three of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. REGULATION AND CONTROL OF ELECTIONS.
§3-8-12. Additional acts forbidden; circulation of written
matter; newspaper advertising; solicitation of
contributions; intimidation and coercion of employees; promise of employment or other benefits;
limitations on contributions; public contractors;
penalty.
(a) No person shall publish, issue or circulate, or cause to
be published, issued or circulated, any anonymous letter,
circular, placard, or other publication tending to influence
voting at any election;
(b) No owner, publisher, editor or employee of a newspaper
or other periodical shall insert, either in its advertising or
reading columns, any matter, paid for or to be paid for, which
tends to influence the voting at any election whatever, unless
directly designating it as a paid advertisement and stating the
name and party affiliation of the person authorizing its
publication and the candidate in whose behalf it is published;
(c) No person shall, in any room or building occupied for
the discharge of official duties by any officer or employee of
the state or a political subdivision thereof, solicit orally or
by written communication delivered therein, or in any other
manner, any contribution of money or other thing of value for any
party or political purpose whatever, from any postmaster or any
other officer or employee of the federal government, or officer
or employee of the state, or a political subdivision thereof.
No officer, agent, clerk or employee of the federal government,
or of this state, or any political subdivision thereof, who may have charge or control of any building, office or room, occupied
for any official purpose, shall knowingly permit any person to
enter the same for the purpose of therein soliciting or receiving
any political assessments from, or delivering or giving written
solicitations for, or any notice of, any political assessments
to, any officer or employee of the state, or a political
subdivision thereof;
(d) Except as provided in section eight of this article no
person entering into any contract with the state or its
subdivisions, or any department or agency thereof, either for
rendition of personal services or furnishing any material,
supplies or equipment or selling any land or building to the
state, or its subdivisions, or any department or agency thereof,
if payment for the performance of such contract or payment for
such material, supplies, equipment, land or building is to be
made in whole or in part from public funds shall, during the
period of negotiation for or performance under such contract or
furnishing of materials, supplies, equipment, land or buildings,
directly or indirectly make any contribution to any political
party, committee or candidate for public office or to any person
for political purposes or use; nor shall any person or firm
solicit any contributions for any such purpose during any such
period;
(e) No person shall, directly or indirectly, promise any employment, position, work, compensation or other benefit
provided for, or made possible, in whole or in part by act of the
Legislature, to any person as consideration, favor or reward for
any political activity for the support of or opposition to any
candidate, or any political party in any election;
(f) No person shall, directly or indirectly, make any
contribution in excess of the value of one thousand dollars in
connection with any campaign for nomination or election to or on
behalf of any statewide or national elective office, or in excess
of the value of one thousand dollars, in connection with any
other campaign for nomination or election to or on behalf of any
other elective office in the state or any of its subdivisions, or
in connection with or on behalf of any committee or other
organization or person engaged in furthering, advancing or
advocating the nomination or election of any candidate for any
such office;
(g) No person shall solicit any contribution from any
nonelective salaried employee of the state government or of any
of its subdivisions or coerce or intimidate any such employee
into making such contribution. No person shall coerce or
intimidate any nonsalaried employee of the state government or
any of its subdivisions into engaging in any form of political
activity. The provisions hereof shall not be construed to
prevent any such employee from making such a contribution or from engaging in political activity voluntarily, without coercion,
intimidation or solicitation; and
(h) No person shall solicit a contribution from any other
person without informing such other person at the time of such
solicitation of the amount of any commission, remuneration or
other compensation that the solicitor or any other person will
receive or expect to receive as a direct result of such
contribution being successfully collected. Nothing in this
subsection shall be construed to apply to solicitations of
contributions made by any person serving as an unpaid volunteer.
Any person violating any provision of this section shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than one thousand dollars, or confined in jail for
not more than one year, or, in the discretion of the court, be
subject to both such fine and imprisonment.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require written
political advertisements to contain the party affiliation as well
as the name of the candidate or person authorizing the
publication.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.