Campaign finance requirements in Arkansas

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Arkansas campaign finance requirements govern the following:

  • how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations,
  • how much and how often they must report those contributions, and
  • how much individuals, organizations and political parties may contribute to campaigns.

In addition to direct campaign contributions, campaign finance laws also apply to third-party organizations and nonprofit organizations that seek to influence elections through independent expenditures or issue advocacy.

As of May 2015, individuals could contribute no more than $2,000 to candidates for office. Corporations and unions could not directly contribute to candidates for office, but these groups could make unlimited contributions to ballot measure campaigns.

Background

Seal of the United States Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign election laws. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions, and overseeing public funding of presidential elections.[1] According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate and must begin reporting campaign finances once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in his or her campaign. Within 15 days of this benchmark, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, which is responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered it. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.[2]

The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a number of rulings pertaining to federal election campaign finance regulations. In the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited. The court's decision also overturned the ban on for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and unions broadcasting electioneering communications in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before a general election.[3] In the SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission decision, the first application of the Citizens United decision, the court held that contribution limits on what individuals could give to independent expenditure-only groups, and the amount these organizations could receive, were unconstitutional. Contribution limits on donations directly to candidates, however, remained unchanged.[4][5] In 2014's McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court overturned biennial aggregate campaign contribution limits, and held that individuals may contribute to as many federal candidates as they want, but may only contribute up to the federal limit in each case.[6]

While the FEC governs federal election campaigns and contribution limits, individual states enforce their own regulation and reporting requirements. Regulations vary by state, as do limits on campaign contributions and third-party activities to influence elections.

Contribution limits

The table below details contribution limits as they applied to various types of individuals and groups in Arkansas as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.[7] A legislative caucus committee is defined as follows:[8]

“ a person that is composed exclusively of members of the General Assembly, that elects or appoints officers and recognizes identified legislators as members of the organization, and that exists for research and other support of policy development and interests that the membership hold in common.[9] ”
—AR Code § 7-6-201(13)(A)
Arkansas contribution limits as of May 2015
Individuals Single candidates committees PACs Legislative caucus committee Political party Super PACs* Corporations Unions
Statewide Candidate (incl. Governor) $2,000 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,500 $0 $0 $0
Senate $2,000 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,500 $0 $0 $0
House $2,000 $0 $2,000 $2,000 $2,500 $0 $0 $0
PAC $5,000 $0 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $0 $5,000 $5,000
Party committees $5,000 surplus funds $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $0 $5,000 $5,000
Legislative caucus committee $5,000 surplus funds $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $0 $5,000 $5,000
Ballot measures unlimited $0 unlimited unlimited unlimited $0 unlimited unlimited
Sources: State Board of Election Commissioners, "Running for Public Office," accessed May 22, 2015
Arkansas Ethics Commission, "Rules on Campaign Finance and Disclosure," accessed May 22, 2015
National Law Review, "New Campaign Finance, Lobbying, and Ethics Laws Take Effect," January 16, 2015
Arkansas Ethics Commission, "Rules on Ballot and Legislative Question Committees," accessed May 22, 2015

Candidate requirements

Seal of Arkansas

DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Title 7, Chapter 6 of the Arkansas Code

Candidates seeking a federal office must file with the Federal Election Commission. Reporting details for federal candidates are not included in this section. Candidates seeking state office file with the Arkansas Secretary of State.

Reporting requirements

A candidate is not required to file any financial reports or documents, with the exception of the final report, until his or her contributions or expenditures exceed $500. After contributions or expenditures exceed $500, the candidate must file the following reports with the Arkansas Secretary of State:[10]

  • Monthly Reports are first filed in January of the year in which a candidate will be listed on a ballot for election and are filed each month of the election year, except when they coincide with pre-election reports. Monthly Reports are due no later than 15 days after the end of the month that they cover.[10][11]
  • Pre-election Reports must be filed before any primary, runoff, general, or special election in which the candidate’s name appears on the ballot. These reports cover all campaign finances between the last report and 10 days before the election. In the case of a runoff election, the report should cover campaign finances between the first election and 10 days before the runoff election. Pre-election Reports are due seven days prior to the applicable election.[10][11]
  • Final Reports cover all contributions, loans and expenditures not covered by former reports. These reports are due no later than 30 days after a primary, general or runoff election in which the candidate's name appeared on the ballot or no later than 30 days after a candidate withdraws from an election. These reports close financial handling for that election year and must detail how extra funds were disposed of (or if they will be retained). Any retained balances must be brought over to the next election year's Monthly Report.[10][11]

Records of all reports must be maintained and made available to the Arkansas Ethics Commission for a period of four years.[12]

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Arkansas state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.


Election and campaign ballot measures

See also: Elections and campaigns on the ballot and List of Arkansas ballot measures

Ballotpedia has tracked 15 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.

  1. Arkansas Campaign Contribution Limits and Disclosure, Proposed Initiated Act 1 (1996)
  2. Arkansas Establishment of Date for Proposed Constitution Vote, Referred Question Act 3 (1978)
  3. Arkansas Standards of Conduct for Candidates and Political Campaigns, Proposed Initiated Act 1 (1990)
  4. Arkansas Poll Tax Repeal, Proposed Amendment 54 (1964)
  5. Arkansas Legislative Authority to Submit Ballot Measures, Proposed Amendment 54 (1968)
  6. Arkansas Political Party Registration, Referred Act 457 (1968)
  7. Arkansas Primary Laws, Act 1 (1916)
  8. Arkansas Consolidation of Elections, Act 1 (1926)
  9. Arkansas Poll Tax Elimination, Proposed Amendment 26 (1938)
  10. Arkansas Repeal of Double Primary, Proposed Amendment 30 (1940)
  11. Arkansas Direct Political Party Response, Initiated Act No. 3 (1948)
  12. Arkansas Poll Tax Exemption, Proposed Amendment 37 (1944)
  13. Arkansas Election of County Clerks, Amendment 41 (1952)
  14. Arkansas Authorization of Non-Elected Revenue Bonds, Proposed Amendment 67 (1986)
  15. Arkansas Voting and Elections, Proposed Amendment 1 (2008)

Election-related agencies

See also: Campaign finance agencies in Arkansas and State election agencies

Candidates running for office may require some form of interaction with the following agencies:

  • Secretary of State Elections Division:
Why: This agency oversees all candidate filing and reporting.
Main Offices
State Capitol, RM 256
Little Rock, AR 72201
Telephone: 501-682-5070
Email: [email protected]
http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/
  • Arkansas Ethics Commission:
Why: This agency issues guidelines on ethics, campaigning and lobbying and investigates election and campaign violations.
P.O. Box 1917
Little Rock, AR 72203-1917
Telephone: (501) 324-9600
Toll Free: (800) 422-7773
Email: [email protected]
http://www.arkansasethics.com/
  • Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners:
Why: This agency monitors all election procedures and funds state political party primaries and special elections.
501 Woodlane Dr., Suite 401 N
Little Rock, AR 72201
Telephone: (501) 682-1834
Fax: (501) 682-1782
Email: [email protected]
http://www.arkansas.gov/sbec/

Counties

See also: Counties in Arkansas

A write-in candidate must file with every county in which he or she wishes to appear on the ballot. Individual county contact information can be found in the table below. If a website is not provided in the table, it is because one does not exist for this municipality. To provide a link or information for the table below, please email us.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Arkansas campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Campaign finance requirements in Arkansas - Google News

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "About the FEC," accessed June 27, 2012
  2. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candidate Registration Brochure," accessed December 7, 2012
  3. ↑ New York Times, "Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit," January 21, 2010
  4. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Speechnow.org v. FEC," April 7, 2014
  5. ↑ OpenSecrets, "Two Federal Court Rulings Could Change Campaign Finance Landscape," March 26, 2010
  6. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Ongoing Litigation," accessed March 18, 2015
  7. ↑ vox.com, "Superpacs and dark money," accessed March 17, 2015
  8. ↑ Justia U.S. Law, "AR Code § 7-6-201," accessed May 22, 2015
  9. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Running for Public Office, "A 'Plain English' Handbook for Candidates," 2012 Edition, accessed October 21, 2013 (dead link)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Arkansas Code, "Section 7-6-207," accessed November 20, 2014
  12. ↑ Arkansas Code, "Section 7-6-206," accessed December 9, 2013
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