SENATE BILL No. 1325

 

 

May 20, 2008, Introduced by Senator SCHAUER and referred to the Committee on Campaign and Election Oversight.

 

 

 

     A bill to amend 1976 PA 388, entitled

 

"Michigan campaign finance act,"

 

by amending section 54 (MCL 169.254), as amended by 1995 PA 264.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 54. (1) Except with respect to the exceptions and

 

conditions in subsections (2) and (3) and section 55, and to loans

 

made in the ordinary course of business, a corporation, joint stock

 

company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization shall

 

not make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer

 

personal services that are excluded from the definition of a

 

contribution pursuant to under section 4(3)(a).

 

     (2) An officer, director, stockholder, attorney, agent, or any


 

other person acting for a labor organization, a domestic dependent

 

sovereign, or a corporation or joint stock company, whether

 

incorporated under the laws of this or any other state or foreign

 

country, except corporations formed for political purposes, shall

 

not make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer

 

personal services that are excluded from the definition of a

 

contribution pursuant to under section 4(3)(a).

 

     (3) A corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent

 

sovereign, or labor organization may make a contribution to a

 

ballot question committee subject to this act. A corporation, joint

 

stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization

 

may make an independent expenditure in any amount for the

 

qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question. A

 

corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or

 

labor organization that makes an independent expenditure under this

 

subsection is considered a ballot question committee for the

 

purposes of this act.

 

     (4) A person shall not accept a contribution that is

 

prohibited by this section.

 

     (5) (4) A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty

 

of a felony punishable, if the person is an individual, by a fine

 

of not more than $5,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than 3

 

years, or both, or, if the person is not an individual, by a fine

 

of not more than $10,000.00.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act is curative and

 

intended to correct any misinterpretation by the secretary of state

 

that this section does not prohibit a person from accepting a


 

contribution that is prohibited by this section.