Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 24, 1979: 19790424 (April 24, 1979)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Charles Pickering

P. O. Box 713

Laurel Mississippi 39440

Dear Senator Pickering:

I am in receipt of your letter of April 19, 1979, wherein you inquire as to whether expenditures are required to be reported at any time other than sixty (60) days after the date of the election at which the result as to the particular candidate is decided.

Upon receipt of your inquiry, I checked with other attorneys in this office and with the Office of the Secretary of State. It seems that there has been some degree of uncertainty over this issue of whether any other expenditure reports are required to be filed.

As cited in your letter of request, Section 23–3–41(3), Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, as amended, states, in part, as follows:

‘Each candidate shall list in this first report all contributions and expenditures which are required to be reported by this chapter which are received or made for the purpose of the campaign at any time prior to the date of the report. The first report shall also list all personal property used by a candidate, including transportation vehicles and airplanes, after the date of the candidate's public announcement of his candidacy or the date of qualification by the candidate, whichever is earlier; provided, however, that the value of the use of such property equals or exceeds the amount required to be reported and is not owned by the candidate.’

Based on the foregoing language, the office attorneys who prepared the ‘Guide to the 1978 Campaign Disclosure Act’ concluded that Section 23–3–41(3), supra, required the listing of all reportable expenditures on the first report due to be filed within the four month period prior to the election. After this initial expenditure report, no further expenditure report is required until sixty (60) days after the election at which time the post-election report becomes due.

As stated in the preface to the ‘Guide to the 1978 Campaign Disclosure Act’, the conclusions reached therein were not considered to be official opinions of the Attorney General. However, in light of the confusion concerning expenditure reports, this letter is intended to establish these conclusions as the official opinion of the Attorney General relative to expenditure reports.

In response to your telephone inquiry, this is to advise that where a reporting deadline falls on a weekend or holiday when official offices are closed, the required report shall be filed on the last day that said offices are open prior to the deadline.

With personal regards, I am

Very truly yours,

A. F. Summer, Attorney General.

Donald Clark, Jr., Special Assistant Attorney General.