WSR 16-21-036 PROPOSED RULES PUBLIC DISCLOSURE COMMISSION [Filed October 11, 2016, 12:01 p.m.]
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 16-17-027.
Title of Rule and Other Identifying Information: New WAC 390-16-236 Surplus funds accounts—Disclosure.
Hearing Location(s): Office of the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), 711 Capitol Way, Room 206, Olympia, WA 98504, on Thursday, December 8, 2016, at 9:30 a.m.
Date of Intended Adoption: December 8, 2016.
Submit Written Comments to: Evelyn Fielding-Lopez, P.O. Box 40908, Olympia, WA 98504, e-mail evelyn.lopez@pdc.wa.gov, fax (360) 664-2735, by November 30, 2016.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Jana Greer by e-mail Jana.Greer@pdc.wa.gov or (360) 753-1985.
Purpose of the Proposal and Its Anticipated Effects, Including Any Changes in Existing Rules: The proposed new rule establishes deadlines for reporting expenditures made from a surplus funds account. Surplus funds are the unspent campaign contributions remaining after the election that are not needed to satisfy campaign debts. RCW 42.17A.430 allows an elected official to establish a bank account in which only surplus funds are deposited. The account may be used by elected officials for nonreimbursed, public office-related expenses and other uses provided for in RCW 42.17A.430. Expenditures from the account must be disclosed, but there is no prescribed reporting schedule.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: Establishing a reporting schedule eliminates confusion over when reports are due and provides the public with timely information about how surplus funds are spent. The proposed disclosure schedule aligns with the statutory deadlines for filing campaign reports, a schedule that is likely to be familiar to surplus funds account holders. Establishing a reporting schedule is also likely to stop the complaints alleging lack of disclosure of surplus funds spending the commission has received. The proposed new rule establishes an enforceable disclosure schedule and is expected to make disclosure of surplus funds expenditures more reliable and uniform.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Agency Comments or Recommendations, if any, as to Statutory Language, Implementation, Enforcement, and Fiscal Matters: No fiscal impact is expected to result from the proposed rule.
Name of Proponent: PDC, governmental.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Lori Anderson, 711 Capitol Way, Room 206, Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 664-2737; Implementation and Enforcement: Evelyn Lopez, 711 Capitol Way, Room 206, Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 664-2735.
No small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW. The implementation of these rule amendments has minimal impact on small business. PDC is not subject to the requirement to prepare a school district fiscal impact statement, per RCW 28A.305.135 and 34.05.320.
A cost-benefit analysis is not required under RCW 34.05.328. PDC is not an agency listed in subsection (5)(1)(i) of RCW 34.05.328. Further, PDC does not voluntarily make that section applicable to the adoption of these rules pursuant to subjection [subsection] (5)(a)(ii), and to date, the joint administrative rules review committee has not made the section applicable to the adoption of these rules.
October 4, 2016
Lori Anderson
Communications and
Training Officer
NEW SECTION
WAC 390-16-236 Surplus funds accounts—Disclosure.
(1) Registering a surplus funds account.
(a) Any person who opens an account into which surplus funds will be deposited shall register the account by filing PDC Form C-1, Candidate Registration with the public disclosure commission. The committee name on the C-1 will be the name used by the campaign committee that raised the surplus funds followed by the designation, "surplus funds account." The C-1 must identify by name the treasurer of the account and the bank or depository where the account is held.
(b) The C-1 must be filed within two weeks after the date the account is opened.
(2) Depositing surplus funds.
(a) After a surplus funds account is established, a candidate may deposit into the account all surplus funds from subsequent campaigns.
(b) Only surplus funds may be deposited in a surplus funds account.
(c) A candidate who deposits surplus funds into a surplus funds account discloses an expenditure of campaign funds with the description "transfer to surplus funds account," the amount transferred, and the date the transfer occurred.
(3) Disclosing surplus funds expenditures.
(a) The treasurer shall file with the commission a report on the tenth day of each month detailing expenditures made in the preceding calendar month. This report need only be filed if the total expenditures made since the last such report exceeded two hundred dollars. The report shall be on PDC Form C-4, Campaign Summary Receipt & Expenditures.
(b) The treasurer shall file reports as required by (a) of this subsection until the account is closed, at which time a final report shall be filed.
(c) All reports filed disclosing expenditures from the surplus funds account shall be certified as correct by the treasurer.
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