HB2630 - 502R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 16-918, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-918. Campaign finance reports; notice; civil penalty; prohibition on candidacy

A. If a political committee fails to file a report in a timely manner as required by this chapter, the filing officer shall send written notice of the delinquency of the report to the political committee and the candidate, in the case of the candidate's campaign committee, or to the designating individual, in the case of an individual's exploratory committee. The notice shall be sent by certified mail within fifteen days after the filing officer determines there may be a failure to file a campaign finance report. The notice shall provide with reasonable particularity the nature of the failure and a statement of the penalties provided in this section.

B. A political committee, or in the case of a candidate's campaign committee, the candidate, or in the case of an exploratory committee, the designating individual, is liable for a late penalty of ten dollars for each business day after failure to make or file a campaign finance report that is required pursuant to this chapter up to a maximum of four hundred fifty dollars. For filings for an officeholder expense account pursuant to section 41‑133, the late penalty is five dollars for each day after failure to make or file the campaign finance report, and the late penalty shall not accrue on days during which the office of the secretary of state is not open for business. The filing officer shall not accept a campaign report unless any penalties owed as a result of this section or any penalties imposed pursuant to section 16‑924 are paid with the report shall accept a late campaign finance report when submitted, and the late penalty stops accruing on the day of submittal.

C. A political committee, or in the case of a candidate's campaign committee, the candidate, or in the case of an exploratory committee, the designating individual, that has failed to file within fifteen days after receiving a notice of delinquency pursuant to subsection A of this section is liable for a civil penalty of twenty‑five dollars for each subsequent day that the filing is late. This penalty shall be assessed pursuant to section 16‑924.

D. For the purposes of this section, there is a failure to make and file a campaign finance report by the treasurer, the designating individual, in the case of an exploratory committee, the candidate, in the case of a candidate's campaign committee, and for all other political committees, the chairman, if any of the following occurs:

1. The report is not filed in a timely manner as prescribed by section 16‑913.

2. The report is not signed in accordance with section 16‑913.

3. A good faith effort is not made to substantially complete the report as prescribed by section 16‑915.

E. It is a defense to an enforcement action brought pursuant to this section if good cause is shown by the treasurer, the designating individual, in the case of an exploratory committee, or the candidate, in the case of a candidate's campaign committee, for the failure to make and file a campaign finance report. For the purposes of this subsection, "good cause" includes an illness or absence from this state at the time the campaign finance report was due or the written notice of delinquency was delivered if the illness or absence reasonably prevented the treasurer, designating individual or candidate from filing the report or receiving the written notice.

F. In addition to the enforcement actions prescribed by this section, a person who was a candidate for nomination or election to any local or state office and who after written notice pursuant to this section failed to make and file a campaign finance report as required by this chapter is not eligible to be a candidate for nomination or election to any local or state office for five years after the last failure to make and file a campaign finance report occurred. This penalty shall be imposed as follows:

1. A candidate's failure to make and file a campaign finance report with a filing officer for a jurisdiction is grounds for that filing officer to refuse the candidate's nomination paper for any public office in that jurisdiction as described in this subsection.

2. A candidate's failure to make and file a campaign finance report with any filing officer is grounds for a filing officer from another jurisdiction to refuse the candidate's nomination paper for any public office on presentation of a certified copy of a final order issued pursuant to section 16‑924.

G. For a standing political committee, in addition to any late penalty and civil penalty assessed pursuant to this section, if the standing political committee makes a late filing three or more times, the standing political committee is no longer eligible for consolidated filing status pursuant to section 16‑913, subsection K and shall make all of its filings in each reporting jurisdiction in which it is active.

H. For any political committee that has failed to file three consecutive campaign finance reports with the filing officer as prescribed by section 16‑913, the filing officer shall send the committee chairman and treasurer a written notice of intent to suspend the political committee. The notice of intent to suspend shall state that failure of the political committee to fully comply with all filing requirements for that committee, including any required payments, within thirty days of the date of the notice shall result in suspension of the political committee's authority to operate in that jurisdiction. On suspension of the political committee's authority to operate, the filing officer is no longer required to provide any further notice of delinquency to the political committee. This subsection does not reduce or eliminate the political committee's continuing obligation to make campaign finance filings and pay any fines, penalties, civil penalties or other sanctions that may continue to accrue as otherwise provided by law. This subsection does not apply to reports required pursuant to article 2 of this chapter or to a candidate's campaign committee designated by that candidate pursuant to section 16‑903 during that election cycle. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 19-113, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE19-113. Withdrawal of petition signature; payment of remuneration; violation; classification

A. A person who has signed a petition prescribed by statute for any candidate nomination, initiative, referendum or formation or modification of a county, municipality or district may withdraw the person's signature from the petition not later than 5:00 p.m. on the date the petition containing the person's signature is actually filed. A person who has signed a recall petition may withdraw the person's signature from the petition not later than 5:00 p.m. on the day that is ten days before the date the petition containing the person's signature is actually submitted for verification pursuant to section 19‑203. the filing officer shall promptly notify the candidate of any signature that is withdrawn.

B. To withdraw a petition signature, a person may do any of the following:

1. Verify the withdrawal by signing a simple statement of intent to withdraw at the office of the receiving officer.

2. Mail a signed, notarized statement of intent to withdraw to the receiving officer.

3. Draw a line through the signature and printed name on the petition.

C. A signature withdrawn pursuant to subsection B of this section and received by the receiving officer within the time provided for in subsection A of this section shall not be counted in determining the legal sufficiency of the petition.

D. A person who knowingly gives or receives money or any other thing of value for signing a statement of signature withdrawal pursuant to subsection B of this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 19-121.02, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE19-121.02. Certification by county recorder

A. Within fifteen days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays, after receiving the facsimile signature sheets from the secretary of state pursuant to section 19‑121.01, the county recorder shall determine which signatures of individuals whose names were transmitted shall be disqualified for any of the following reasons:

1. No residence address or description of residence location is provided.

2. No date of signing is provided.

3. The signature is illegible and the signer is otherwise unidentifiable.

4. The address provided is illegible or nonexistent.

5. The individual was not a qualified elector on the date of signing the petition after examination of the best available voter registration information.

6. The individual was a registered voter but was not at least eighteen years of age on the date of signing the petition or affidavit.

7. The signature was disqualified after comparison with the signature on the affidavit of registration.

8. If a petitioner signed more than once, all but one otherwise valid signature shall be disqualified.

9. For the same reasons any signatures or entire petition sheets could have been removed by the secretary of state pursuant to section 19‑121.01, subsection A, paragraph 3. Notwithstanding any other law, failure to use every consecutive line on a signature sheet is not a basis to remove one or more otherwise valid signatures or an entire sheet of signatures.

B. Within the same time period provided in subsection A of this section, the county recorder shall certify to the secretary of state the following:

1. The name of any individual whose signature was included in the random sample and disqualified by the county recorder together with the petition page and line number of the disqualified signature.

2. The total number of signatures selected for the random sample and transmitted to the county recorder for verification and the total number of random sample signatures disqualified.

C. The secretary of state shall prescribe the form of the county recorder's certification.

D. At the time of the certification, the county recorder shall:

1. Return the facsimile signature sheets to the secretary of state.

2. Send notice of the results of the certification by mail to the person or organization that submitted the initiative or referendum petitions and to the secretary of state.END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 19-205, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE19-205. Signatures and verification; registration of circulators

A. Every qualified elector signing a petition for a recall election shall do so in the presence of the person who is circulating the petition and who is to execute the affidavit of verification statement on the reverse side of the signature sheet. At the time of signing, the qualified elector shall sign and print his first and last name and the elector so signing shall write, in the appropriate spaces following the signature, his residence address, giving street and number or, if the elector has no street address, a description of his residence location, and the date on which he signed the petition.

B. The person before whom the signatures were written on the signature sheet by signing at the bottom of each signature sheet shall in an affidavit subscribed and sworn to by him before a notary public verify that each of the names on the sheet was signed in his presence on the date indicated, and that in his belief each signer was a qualified elector of the election district on the date indicated in which such recall election will be conducted. All signatures of petitioners on a signature sheet shall be those of qualified electors who are registered to vote in the same county. However, if signatures from more than one county appear on the same signature sheet, only the valid signatures from the same county which that are most numerous on the signature sheet shall be counted. In the absence of a legible signature, the name as it is printed shall be the name used to determine the validity of the signature.

C. The affidavit statement shall be in the a form similar to that prescribed for initiative and referendum except that notarization is not required. In addition it shall also require a statement by the circulator that the circulator believes that the circulator is qualified to register to vote and all signers thereof are qualified to vote in the recall election.

D. Circulators of recall petitions must be registered with the secretary of state before circulating recall petitions. The secretary of state shall provide for a method of receiving service of process for those petition circulators who register pursuant to this section. The secretary of state shall establish in the instructions and procedures manual issued pursuant to section 16-452 a procedure for registering circulators and receiving service of process.END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Section 19-208.04, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE19-208.04. Judicial review of actions by county recorder

A. If the county recorder fails to comply with the provisions of section 19‑208.02, any elector may apply, within ten calendar days after such refusal, to the superior court for a writ of mandamus to compel him to do so. If the court finds that the county recorder has not complied with the provisions of section 19‑208.02, the court shall issue an order for the county recorder to comply.

B. If an elector wishes to challenge the number of signatures certified by the county recorder under the provisions of section 19‑208.02, he shall, within ten calendar days after the receiving officer has notified the governor and the county recorders of the number of certified signatures received by him, commence an action in the superior court for a determination thereon. The action shall be advanced on the calendar and heard and decided by the court as soon as possible. If an elector challenges the number of signatures certified by the county recorder and prevails in the action, the court shall order the county recorder to pay the ELECTOR'S reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in the action. Either party may appeal to the supreme court within ten calendar days after judgment.

C. An action filed in the superior court under the provisions of this section against a county recorder shall be filed in the county of such county recorder, except that when any such action involves more than one county recorder such action shall be filed in Maricopa county. END_STATUTE