HOUSE BILL 838

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2006

INTRODUCED BY

W. Ken Martinez

AN ACT

RELATING TO CAMPAIGN FINANCE; CLARIFYING PERMISSIBLE USES OF CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS; DEFINING PERSONAL USE OF FUNDS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 1-19-29.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 46, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

     "1-19-29.1. CAMPAIGN FUNDS--LIMITATION ON USE.--

          A. It is unlawful for [any] a candidate or [his] a candidate's agent to make an expenditure of contributions received, except for the following purposes or as otherwise provided in this section:

                (1) expenditures of the campaign;

                (2) expenditures of legislators and other elected state officers that are reasonably related to performing the duties of the office held, including mail, telephone and travel expenditures to serve constituents, but excluding personal and legislative session living expenses;

                (3) donations to the state general fund;

                (4) donations to an organization to which a federal income tax deduction would be permitted under Subparagraph (A) of Paragraph (1) of Subsection (b) of Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; 

                (5) expenditures to eliminate the campaign debt of the candidate for the office sought or expenditures incurred by the candidate when seeking election to another public office covered by the Campaign Reporting Act;

                (6) donations to a political committee or party or to another candidate seeking election to public office and other general political or partisan purposes; provided that it is unlawful for a candidate or a candidate's agent to convert any contribution received to personal use; or

                (7) disbursements to return unused funds pro rata to the contributors if no campaign debt exists.

          B. A judge subject to a nonpartisan retention election or a candidate for judicial office shall solicit or accept campaign funds and return unused funds in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

          C. No contributions solicited for or received in a federal election campaign may be used in a state election campaign.

          D. For purposes of this section:

                (1) "personal use" means any use of contributions received to fulfill a commitment, obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate's campaign or duties as an officeholder, including but not limited to:

                     (a) household food items or supplies;

                     (b) clothing other than items of de minimis value used in the campaign such as shirts or caps with campaign slogans;

                     (c) tuition payments, other than those associated with training campaign staff;

                     (d) mortgage, rent or utility payments for any part of any personal residence of the candidate or candidate's family or for real or personal property that is owned by the candidate or member of the candidate's family and used for campaign purposes, to the extent the payments exceed the fair market value of the property usage;

                     (e) admission to a sporting event, concert, theater or other form of entertainment, unless it is part of a specific campaign or officeholder activity or event;

                     (f) dues, fees or gratuities at a country club, health club, recreational facility or other nonpolitical organization, unless they are part of the costs of a specific campaign event that takes place on the organization's premises;

                     (g) salary payment to a member of the candidate's family, unless the family member is providing bona fide services to the campaign;

                     (h) salary payments to the candidate in excess of the lesser of the minimum salary paid to a state officeholder holding the state office the candidate seeks or the earned income that the candidate received during the year prior to becoming a candidate;

                     (i) a vacation or other travel that is not campaign-related; provided that if a committee uses contributions received to pay expenses associated with travel that involves both personal activities and campaign- or officeholder-related activities, the incremental expenses that result from the personal activities are personal use; and

                     (j) vehicle expenses; provided that, if a committee uses contributions received to pay expenses associated with a vehicle that is used for both personal activities beyond a de minimus amount and campaign- or officeholder-related activities, the portion of the vehicle expenses associated with the personal activities is personal use; and

                (2) "personal use" does not include gifts of nominal value or donations of a nominal amount, unless made to the candidate or to a member of the candidate's family."