AN ACT Relating to campaign financing; adding new sections to chapter 42.17 RCW; creating a new section; declaring an emergency; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The campaign contribution limitation provisions of section 3 of this act apply only to the financing of election campaigns in primary, general, special, or recall elections for state executive office and state legislative office. Limitations on contributions to political committees and political party committees apply to any such committees that make or have the expectation of making contributions or expenditures to the state campaigns described in this section even though the same committees also make contributions and expenditures to other campaigns. The campaign contribution limitation provisions of section 3 of this act do not apply to any political committee established for the exclusive purpose of receiving contributions and making expenditures in support of or in opposition to a ballot proposition campaign, other than the recall of a state executive or state legislator.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires to the contrary, the definitions in this section apply throughout sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act.

(1) "Campaign period" means:

(a) For a candidate, the time period beginning on the day an individual becomes a candidate or when a recall of the individual is demanded by filing a charge pursuant to RCW 29.82.015, and ending when the final report is filed pursuant to RCW 42.17.080(2)(c).

(b) For a political committee, the two-year period beginning January 1 of each odd-numbered year.

(2) "Candidate" means the individual seeking election or being recalled and any political committee that is under the direction or control of a candidate or any agent thereof.

(3) "In-kind labor" means services provided by an individual who volunteers all, or a portion, of his or her time to an election campaign and who receives no compensation from any person for such services.

(4) "Political party committee" means:

(a) With respect to each of the state, county, or legislative district organizations of a major political party, as defined in RCW 29.01.090, the political committee designated to receive contributions or make expenditures on the organization's behalf during the period between conventions by a majority of the voting delegates to the convention of that party organization, which conventions are called under RCW 29.42.020; and

(b) The group of persons that submits a certificate of nomination that is found valid by the secretary of state under RCW 29.24.060.

(5) "State executive office" means the executive offices for which all electors in the state are eligible to vote, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, state treasurer, secretary of state, commissioner of public lands, insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, justices of the supreme court, and judges of the court of appeals.

(6) "State legislative office" means elected office in the state senate or the state house of representatives.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Campaign contributions shall not exceed the following amounts adjusted by the commission in all years after 1984 for cost-of-living changes and rounded to the nearest fifty dollars:

(a) No person other than a political party committee may make to any candidate and no candidate may accept from any person other than a political party committee contributions exceeding one thousand dollars in value for state legislative office or more than three thousand dollars in value for state executive office in a campaign period.

(b) No person may make to any political committee and no political committee may accept from any person contributions exceeding one thousand dollars in value in a campaign period.

(c) No person may make to any political party committee contributions exceeding one thousand dollars in a campaign period. No political party committee may accept from any person contributions exceeding one thousand dollars in any campaign period.

(d) No political party committee may make to any candidate for state executive office, and no candidate for such office may accept from any such committee, contributions exceeding five thousand dollars in a candidate's campaign period.

(e) No political party committee may make to any candidate for state legislative office, and no candidate for such office may accept from any such committee, contributions exceeding three thousand dollars in a candidate's campaign period.

(2) The portion of any contribution which exceeds the applicable limit in this section received by any candidate or political committee shall, within one week of receipt, be returned to the contributor or escheat to the state.

(3) If a political committee which is not subject to the limitations of this section becomes a political committee under the direction or control of a candidate, the limitations imposed on contributions to candidates by subsection (1) (a), (d), or (e) of this section shall thereafter apply. Contributions made to that political committee during the twelve months prior to the change shall count toward the applicable limits. Any portion of a contribution exceeding the applicable limits shall not be expended but shall be returned to the contributor within two weeks of becoming a committee subject to limits of this section, or escheat to the state.

(4) Contributions received by a candidate for state executive office who during the same campaign period terminates that candidacy and becomes a candidate for state legislative office may be used in the new campaign. Any portion of a contribution exceeding the new applicable limits shall not be expended but shall be returned to the contributor within two weeks of becoming subject to the new limits, or escheat to the state.

(5) Contributions and expenditures by a person controlled by another person shall be regarded as contributions and expenditures by the latter. A corporation is controlled by another person when the latter owns, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent of the common stock of the corporation.

(6) A contribution to a political party committee or a political committee shall not be earmarked or designated, formally or informally, for a particular candidate or political committee nor may any committee solicit or accept any such contribution.

(7) The limitations imposed by this section do not apply to an individual's contributions of the individual's own personal resources to the individual's own campaign, or to contributions of in-kind labor to any campaign, or to surplus funds retained for use in a subsequent campaign of the individual.

(8) Contributions made by political committees established, financed, maintained, or controlled by any corporation, organization, or any other person, including any parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department, or local unit of such person, shall be considered to have been made by a single political committee.

(9) Nothing in this section limits transfers between candidates or political committees of funds raised through joint fund-raising efforts.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The public disclosure commission shall adopt voluntary expenditure guidelines for candidates to elective office.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act are intended to be remedial and shall be liberally construed to effect the purposes described in RCW 42.17.010.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 1 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 42.17 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety, the support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect July 1, 1985.