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Maine Regulations § 270-1-15 SIMPLIFIED REGISTRATION AND REPORTING PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL COMMITTEES

⤴ Up to Chapter 1: Procedures

Regulation Text

1. Waivers of the separate campaign account requirement. A political action committee or ballot question committee may apply for a waiver of the requirement in 21-A M.R.S. § 1054 to maintain a separate campaign bank account on the grounds that maintaining a separate account would be administratively burdensome. The Commission's Director shall make the initial decision on the application. The committee may appeal the Director's decision to the Commission. The Director and the Commission shall consider expected or actual expenditures aggregating more than $25,000 as a factor in opposition to a waiver, except for a ballot question committee that consists of a single individual.
The committee receiving the waiver shall disclose all expenditures made for activities to initiate or influence a campaign in Maine and operational expenditures that promote or support those activities. The committee may pro-rate operational expenditures based on the portion that may reasonably be attributed to initiating or influencing a Maine campaign. The committee shall disclose all contributions made to or received by the committee for the purpose of initiating or influencing a campaign and any other funds used to make reported expenditures. The committee shall maintain records of these contributions and expenditures in accordance with 21-A M.R.S. § 1057 .
2. Individual qualifying as a ballot question committee. An individual who qualifies as a ballot question committee may file a simplified registration form that discloses contact information for the individual and for any treasurer or other person authorized to file campaign finance reports. The registration must also include the ballot question the individual expects to support or oppose. If the individual is sharing fundraising or spending decisions with another person, they shall comply with the full registration requirements of 21-A M.R.S. § 1052-A .
In lieu of full compliance with the record-keeping requirements in Title 21-A, section 1057 , subsections 1-4, an individual qualifying as a ballot question committee shall keep a vendor invoice or receipt for every expenditure in excess of $50 made for the purpose of initiating or influencing a Maine campaign, and records of any contributions from a donor that has provided contributions exceeding $50 in the aggregate for purposes of initiating or influencing the campaign.