GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 295
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/25/91

Short Title:  PAC Contribution Limits.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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March 21, 1991

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO LOWER LIMITS ON CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY POLITICAL COMMITTEES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 163-278.13 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163-278.13.  Limitation on contributions.
(a)	No individual shall contribute to any candidate or political committee any money or make any other contribution in any election in excess of four thousand dollars ($4,000) for that election.
(a1)	No political committee shall contribute to any candidate or other political committee any money or make any other contribution in any election in excess of the following limits for that election:
(1)	If the recipient is a candidate for statewide office or a statewide officeholder, or a political committee the primary purpose of which is to support or assist one candidate for statewide office or statewide officeholder, the limit is one thousand dollars ($1,000);
(2)	If the recipient is a candidate for non-statewide office, a non-statewide officeholder, or a political committee the primary purpose of which is to support or assist one candidate for non-statewide office or non-statewide officeholder, the limit is five hundred dollars ($500.00). For purposes of this section, a superior court judge is a non-statewide officer;
(3)	If the recipient is a candidate for:
a.	Justice or Judge of the Appellate Division of the  General Court of Justice; or
b.	Superior Court Judge,
	the holder of an office in a. or b., or a political committee the primary purpose of which is to support or assist one candidate for or one holder of an office in a. or b., the limit is five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(4)	If the recipient is a political committee the principal purpose of which is not to support or assist only one candidate or officeholder, the limit is one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(b)	No candidate or political committee shall accept or solicit any contribution from any individual or other political committee of any money or any other contribution in any election in excess of the limits set out in subsections (a) and (a1) of this section.
(c)	Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section, it shall be lawful for a candidate or a candidate's spouse, parents, brothers and sisters to make a contribution to the candidate or to the candidate's treasurer of any amount of money or to make any other contribution in any election in excess of the limits set out in subsection (a) of this section.
(d)	For the purposes of this section, the term 'an election' means any primary, second primary, or general election in which the candidate or political committee may be involved, without regard to whether the candidate is opposed or unopposed in the election.
(e)	This section shall not apply to any State, district or county executive committee of any political party. For the purposes of this section only, the term 'political party' means only those political parties officially recognized under G.S. 163-96.
(e1)	No referendum committee which received any contribution from a corporation, labor union, insurance company, business entity, or professional association may make any contribution to another referendum committee, to a candidate or to a political committee.
(f)	Any individual, candidate, political committee, or referendum committee who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor."
Sec. 2. This act becomes effective with respect to elections occurring on or after January 1, 1992.