Assigned to JUDE                                                                                                             AS PASSED BY COW

 

 

 

 


ARIZONA STATE SENATE

Fifty-Seventh Legislature, First Regular Session

 

AMENDED

FACT SHEET FOR H.B. 2667

 

campaign finance complaints; resolution

Purpose

Deems a campaign finance violation complaint dismissed if the complaint is not resolved or ruled on by the filing officer within 180 days and the deadline for resolving or ruling is not extended.

Background

A filing officer is the sole public officer authorized to initiate an investigation into alleged violations of campaign contributions and expenses law. A filing officer must limit investigation to violations that are within the officer's jurisdiction. The Secretary of State (SOS) must publish guidelines in the Election Procedures Manual (EPM) that outline procedures and processes that apply to investigations by all filing officers. Filing officer means the SOS or the county, city or town officer in charge of elections for that jurisdiction who accepts statements and reports for those elections (A.R.S. §§ 16-901 and 16-938).

A filing officer must review a complaint for compliance with required criteria outlined in the EPM. If the criteria are not met, the filing officer should notify the complainant of the deficiencies and that no action will be taken on the complaint. A filing officer may dismiss a matter that does not merit further use of government resources including: 1) if the matter is not within the filing officer's jurisdiction; 2) if there is a small dollar amount at issue; 3) the insignificance of the alleged violation; and 4) the vagueness or weakness of the evidence. If the alleged violator takes corrective action within 20 days after the date of issuance of the notice of violation by the enforcement officer, the alleged violator is not subject to any penalty (A.R.S.
§ 16-938; EPM Ch. 14 (II) (C)).

There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.

Provisions

1.   Deems a campaign finance violation complaint dismissed if the complaint is not resolved or ruled on by the filing officer within 180 days of the date the complaint is filed, and the deadline for resolving or ruling on the complaint is not extended by the filing officer.

2.   Becomes effective on the general effective date.


Amendments Adopted by Committee of the Whole

1.   Specifies that the filing officer is the person who must resolve, extend or rule on a campaign finance violation complaint within the prescribed timeframe.

2.   Makes technical changes.

House Action

FMAE             2/19/25      DP       7-0-0-0               JUDE              3/19/25      DP              5-2-0

3rd Read          3/3/25                    57-0-3

 

Prepared by Senate Research

April 17, 2025

ZD/AW/ci