AN ACT relating to campaign finance.
     Amend KRS 121.015 to define "independent expenditures committee", "expenditure", "coordinated expenditure", "personal monies", "authorized agent", "clearly identified", "expressly advocates", "cash", "intentionally", "file", "election laws", "campaign finance laws", and "disbursement", and amend the definitions of "candidate", "slate of candidates", "contribution", "knowingly", and "independent expenditure"; amend KRS 121.120 to require that the Registry of Election Finance reports knowing or intentional campaign finance law violations to the appropriate authorities, and include reporting and auditing of disbursements in the registry's duties; amend KRS 121.140 to delete administrative fee payment as a civil penalty, require that the registry refer a violation to the Attorney General upon a finding of probable cause of an intentional, as well as a knowing, violation of the campaign finance law, and specify that no person shall be prosecuted for a campaign finance violation except upon a determination of probable cause by the registry; amend KRS 121.150 to move provisions on reporting independent expenditures to a new subsection, delete prohibition against a political issues committee receiving more than an $1,000 contribution, add requirement that personal monies loaned to a candidate's or slate's campaign, and all contributions of personal monies, shall be subject to reporting requirements; amend KRS 121.160, 121.175, 121.180, 121.210, 121.220, 121.230 to include disbursements in the reporting requirements; amend KRS 121.990 to separate knowing violations of election laws, unintentional violations of the campaign finance laws in KRS Chapter 121, and knowing or intentional violations of the campaign finance laws in KRS Chapter 121, and eliminate references to KRS Chapter 121A; amend KRS 121A.010 to include definitions for "participating slate", "independent expenditures committee", "political party", "participating political party", "file", "expenditure", "coordinated expenditure", "personal monies", "authorized agent", "clearly identified", "expressly advocates", "cash", "reserve account", "election laws", "campaign finance laws", and "disbursement", and amend definitions of "contribution", "knowingly", "slate of candidates", and "independent expenditure"; create new section of KRS Chapter 121A to establish special committees for the purpose of political parties who wish to participate in the public financing of parties for gubernatorial races, specify duties, require that special committee consist of at least a chairperson and treasurer, require a separate bank account for contributions and transfers, and require that payment be made out of the account only upon an invoice; amend KRS 121A.020 to change references from qualifying slate to participating slate, include reporting of disbursements, include participating political party and special committee in reporting requirements and provisions to distribute transfers of funds from the registry, provide additional reporting requirement that slates or campaign committees shall report contributions from personal monies, deposits of funds attributable to personal monies of a member of a slate, or expenditures or disbursements made for advertising within 24 hours of the transaction if made within 28 days of the primary or general election or within 14 days of a runoff primary; amend KRS 121A.030 to change references from qualifying to participating slate, provide that a political party participating in public financing shall not spend more than $2 million plus an average overhead cost, during the period between the primary and the general election, with the average overhead cost calculated as the total political party disbursements for the 2 years prior to the election year, minus expenditures during those years for advertising purchases supporting or opposing a slate, times 25%, include participating political party in prohibitions against spending more than the expenditure limit, specify procedures for an executive committee of a political party to file a statement of intent to accept spending limits, require that in order for either a slate or a political party to be eligible for transfers from the fund, both the party and the slate must have executed statements of intent to accept transfers, specify that if a slate has executed a statement to accept funds and the slate's political party rejects funds, the slate is not eligible for any transfers from the fund in the regular election, and the slate will be treated as if it has executed a statement of intent to reject transfers from the fund; amend KRS 121A.060 to delete the prohibition against a qualifying slate of candidates accepting more than the maximum threshold amount of qualifying contributions unless another slate has been released from the limitations, require that a participating slate that has received contributions in excess of the maximum threshold amount make a binding election within 3 days of the contributions' receipt to either dispose of the contributions, retain the contributions or place the contributions in a reserve account, provide that if the contributions are retained then the matching funds shall be reduced dollar for dollar for the amount that the retained contributions exceed the maximum threshold amount, specify that if the contributions are placed in a reserve account they may be used if a nonparticipating slate exceeds the contribution or expenditure limits, specify that reserve account balance from the primary may be transferred to the campaign account, set minimum threshold qualifying amount for participating political parties at $210,000, specify that a participating political party shall be eligible for transfers from the fund on a one for one matching ratio of qualifying party contributions to fund transfer dollars up to a maximum of $1 million, provide for CPI adjustment, specify that qualifying party contributions and fund transfers can be received by the special committee and deposited in the special committee account, permit contributions over $1 million to a participating political party to be retained by the party but will not count as a qualifying party contribution and cannot be deposited in the special committee's account, specify procedure for a participating political party's request for certification from the registry to receive transfers from the fund and standards for review of that request, provide procedures for certification by the registry of eligibility, specify that nothing prohibits a participating slate from raising more than the maximum threshold amount if no opposing slate has raised the minimum threshold qualifying amount, and if no opposing slate receives the minimum threshold amount, then the participating slate is released from the maximum contribution limit; amend KRS 121A.070 to specify that interest earned on deposits made to the candidate campaign account of a participating slate or to the special committee account of a participating political party, regardless of the source of the funds, will not count towards a participating slate's or a participating political party's maximum contribution expenditure limits; amend KRS 121A.080 to permit upon certification by the registry, the participating political party to submit transfer entitlement vouchers to the fund, and the voucher may document total qualifying political party contributions of not less than $210,000 but not more than $1 million for a regular election, allow for hearings upon notice to all political parties if the fund appropriations are insufficient to cover fund transfers, permit a participating slate or political party to accept aggregate qualifying contributions that will not exceed the expenditure limit if the registry reduces the matching ratio of fund transfers, specify that if a participating slate is released from expenditure limits, then the political party is also released from the contribution and expenditures limits but will not be eligible for additional fund transfers; specify that if a political party not accepting expenditure limits has made expenditures in excess of the $2 million limit then the participating political parties are released from the contribution and expenditure limitations but will not be eligible for additional fund transfers, include participating political parties in requirements for submitting vouchers, specify that if a participating slate has no opposition in a regular election or has no opposition receiving contributions of not less than the minimum qualifying amount, the registry will not make a transfer to the slate or its political party for the regular election and the slate and its party will be treated as if they rejected transfers from the fund; amend KRS 121A.110 to include the treasurer of a slate's campaign committee, political party chairperson, and treasurer for a political party's special committee in the prohibition against using fund transfers to defray qualified campaign expenses, delete "knowingly" from the requirements of the statute; amend KRS 121A.990 to provide for civil penalties for unintentional violations of KRS Chapter 121A, include civil penalty of 5 times the amount by which the expenditure limit was exceeded if a participating slate or participating political party exceeds the expenditure limit, include criminal penalties for political parties, the treasurer of a campaign committee, the treasurer or chairperson of a special committee, or the political party chairperson that intentionally or knowingly violates expenditure or contribution limitations, intentionally or knowingly misuses transfers from the fund, intentionally or knowingly falsifies any record, and provide for a Class D felony, include intentional as well as knowing violations, provide that the registry has primary jurisdiction over all alleged knowing or intentional violations of KRS Chapter 121A, require the Commonwealth's attorney or county attorney to be the chief prosecutor in any criminal prosecution, specify that violations of KRS Chapter 121A include certain acts or omissions, require an office or candidacy declared vacant to be filled as provided by law, permit the Attorney General, Commonwealth's attorney, the registry, or any qualified voter to sue for injunctive relief to compel compliance with KRS Chapter 121A; amend KRS 15.242 to define "election laws" for purposes of that section and KRS 15.243 and specify that the Attorney General has primary jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute violations of the election laws; amend KRS 15.243 to require the registry to forward knowing or intentional violations of the campaign finance laws under KRS Chapters 121 or 121A to the Attorney General for prosecution; amend KRS 121A.050 to delete "knowingly" from the statute and change internal references; amend KRS 121A.015 to change the reference to the penalty section under KRS Chapter 121A; amend KRS 121A.310 to limit the prohibition against coercement of employees to vote for a political party or candidate to state, county, city, or other public employees; amend KRS 61.012, 45A.110, 45A.115, 45A.395, 45A.400, and 176.150 to delete "or should have been aware" from the definition of "knowingly".

     Feb 17-introduced in House
     Feb 18-to Elections, Const. Amendments & Intergovernmental Affairs (H); posted in committee
     Mar 1-reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar
     Mar 2-2nd reading, to Rules
     Mar 3-posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Monday, March 6, 2000
     Mar 7-floor amendment (1) filed
     Mar 8-floor amendment (2) filed
     Mar 9-floor amendment (3) filed
     Mar 15-floor amendment (4) filed
     Mar 16-3rd reading; floor amendment (4) defeated ; passed 50-41 with floor amendment (3)
     Mar 17-received in Senate
     Mar 21-to State and Local Government (S)