PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor

Ch. 562

CHAPTER 562
(Senate Bill 127)

AN ACT concerning

Campaign Finance and Ethics Law - Fund-Raising and Disclosure

FOR the purpose of prohibiting the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General,
Comptroller, members of the General Assembly, a candidate for election to any of
these offices, or persons acting on behalf of any of these individuals, from receiving
contributions, conducting a fund-raising event, or soliciting or selling tickets to an
event, during certain periods of time; providing certain exceptions; establishing a
certain penalty for certain violations of this prohibition; requiring that certain
campaign finance reports required to be filed by statewide candidates or their
committees be submitted to and maintained by the State Administrative Board of
Election Laws in an electronic storage format beginning with a certain campaign
finance report due by a certain date; authorizing certain other campaign finance
reports to be submitted and maintained by the State Board in an electronic storage
format beginning with a certain campaign finance report due by a certain date;
requiring all campaign finance reports filed with the State Board to comply with
certain electronic filing requirements by a certain date; requiring the State Board,
after a certain date, to provide certain materials to persons required to file certain
campaign fund reports; requiring the State Board to make the campaign finance
report information that it maintains in an electronic storage format easily accessible
available to the public; defining certain terms; requiring the State Board to adopt
certain regulations; providing that an official need not include as a gift on the
financial disclosure statement attendance at certain events that are otherwise
reported by regulated lobbyists; altering certain lobbyist reporting requirements as
to certain functions to include events to which all members of a county or regional
delegation of the General Assembly are invited; providing that a presiding officer of
the Senate or House of Delegates shall be deemed an ex officio member of a
standing committee of the presiding officer's chamber; expanding the prohibition
against lobbyists from soliciting or transmitting certain contributions to include the
campaigns of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and
Comptroller and candidates for election to these offices; prohibiting certain
lobbyists from serving on a certain fund-raising or political committee; committees;
requiring the State Administrative Board of Election Laws to submit a certain
report to the Legislative Policy Committee, by a certain date, that includes a certain
plan and schedule for the full implementation of mandatory electronic filing for
certain purposes; and generally relating to fund-raising and disclosure requirements
under the campaign finance and ethics law.

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments,
Article 33 - Election Code
Section 1-1(a)(5)
Annotated Code of Maryland
(1993 Replacement Volume and 1996 Supplement)

- 3069 -