Senate Bill No. 420
(By Senators Ball, Bailey, White, Fanning, Schoonover,
Love, Snyder, Dittmar, Bowman and Hunter)
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[Introduced March 21, 1997; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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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 election; circulation of written
matter; requiring all printed campaign material to contain
the party affiliation of the person or candidate authorizing
the printing; 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 may 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;
nor may any person publish,
issue or circulate, or cause to be published, issued or
circulated, any printed matter either for or against the
nomination or election of any candidate unless the party
affiliation of the sponsor and the candidate in whose behalf it
is issued is clearly indicated;
(b) No owner, publisher, editor or employee of a newspaper
or other periodical
shall may 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, unless directly
designating it as a paid advertisement and stating the name of
the person authorizing its publication and the candidate in whose
behalf it is published,
and the party affiliation thereof;
(c) No person
shall may, 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, 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 may 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 may any person or firm
solicit any contributions for any
such purpose during any
such
period.
(e) No person
shall may, 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 may, 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) (1) Not withstanding the provisions of subsection (f) of
this section to the contrary, the aggregate contributions made to
a state party executive committee shall be permitted only
pursuant to the limitations imposed by the provisions of this
subsection.
(2) No person
shall may, directly or indirectly, make
contributions to a state party executive committee which, in the
aggregate, exceed the value of one thousand dollars in any
calendar year.
(h) No person
shall may 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 a contribution. No person
shall may 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 may, 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.
(i) No person
shall may solicit a contribution from any
other person without informing
such the other person at the time
of
such the 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 a 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.
(j) Any person violating any provision of this section is
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 confinement.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that all
campaign material and paid political advertising clearly state
the party affiliation of the sponsor or the candidate in whose
behalf the material is issued.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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