41-133

41-133. Officeholder expenses; account;
reporting; limitations; civil penalty; definition

A. Any person who holds elected statewide public office or a legislative office in
this state, whether by election or appointment, may receive or spend monies to defray the
costs of performing officeholder duties as follows:

1. An officeholder may receive contributions pursuant to this section only from
individuals, and the maximum amount that may be received from an individual during an
election cycle is one hundred fifty dollars.

2. The total amount that an officeholder may receive or spend pursuant to this
section during an election cycle is ninety-eight thousand three hundred sixty dollars for
the governor, fifty-one thousand six hundred eighty dollars for the secretary of state
and the attorney general, twenty-five thousand eight hundred forty dollars for all other
statewide officeholders and nine thousand eight hundred dollars for a legislator, which
may include personal monies as prescribed by paragraph 3 of this subsection. The
secretary of state shall adjust this amount biennially as prescribed in section 16-905,
subsection H.

3. An officeholder may contribute up to thirty per cent of the limits as prescribed
by paragraph 2 of this subsection of the officeholder's personal monies to the
officeholder's expense account.

B. For an officeholder's future campaign monies received do not constitute a
contribution as defined in section 16-901 if the monies are received, expended and
reported as prescribed in this section.

C. An officeholder shall establish a separate account for officeholder expenses,
which shall be separate from any candidate campaign account. The officeholder shall file
a statement of organization for the account designated as an officeholder expense
account. Monies raised or spent for officeholder expenses shall be reported under
campaign finance reporting requirements pursuant to title 16, chapter 6, article 1.

D. An officeholder shall not use monies in the officeholder account for campaign
purposes. Permissible uses of monies in an officeholder account include the following:

1. Office equipment and supplies.

2. Travel related to the officeholder's duties.

3. Meeting or communicating with constituents.

4. Expenses for informational and educational purposes, including subscriptions to
newspapers, magazines or other periodicals or websites or other informational services,
membership or participation in community, professional or fraternal organizations and
participation in conferences and seminars.

E. An officeholder shall not receive or spend monies from the officeholder account
during the period beginning April 30 in an election year, shall complete the purchase or
otherwise use the item before April 30 in an election year and shall not spend those
monies until after the day of the general election. Any monies remaining in the
officeholder expense account beginning April 30 in an election year may not be used
except as follows:

1. Paid to the state general fund.

2. For a person who continues to hold office as prescribed in this section, carried
forward to an officeholder expense account for another office or term of office, subject
to the limitations prescribed by this section.

F. An officeholder shall not transfer officeholder account monies to any other
account or committee except for another officeholder account for that same officeholder.

G. Section 41-1234.01 applies to contributions to an officeholder account for
legislators.

H. A person who violates this section is subject to a civil penalty of three times
any amount improperly received, spent or reported.

I. Section 16-924 applies for the implementation and enforcement of this section.

J. Any monies held by an officeholder pursuant to the officeholder expense account
rules established by the citizens clean elections commission are subject to this section,
and the citizens clean elections commission has no further authority with respect to
those monies.

K. For the purposes of this section, "officeholder" means a person who holds an
elected statewide public office or a legislative office in this state, whether by
election or appointment.