A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to restrict voter registration forms and ballots to the english language except as required by federal law; and to limit the role of political parties in campaign fund‑raising.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a)  Article 14A of Chapter 163 of the General Statutes reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑82.4A.  Voter registration application form in English only, except where required by federal law.
The State Board of Elections and any county board of elections shall not print or make available the voter registration forms described in this Article in any language other than English, except to the extent doing so in another language is required by federal law."
SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 163‑82.5 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑82.5.  Distribution of application forms.
Except as prohibited by G.S. 163‑82.4A, the State Board of Elections shall make the forms described in G.S. 163‑82.3 available for distribution through governmental and private entities, with particular emphasis on making them available for organized voter registration drives."
SECTION 1.(c)  Nothing in this section shall affect the acceptance by a board of elections of an otherwise valid voter registration application submitted on a form that is not in English.
SECTION 2.  G.S. 163‑165.5A reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑165.5A.  (Effective until January 1, 2012) Ballot instructions in English and Spanish; official ballots in English only.
In every county or municipality where the Hispanic population exceeds six percent (6%), in accordance with the most recent decennial federal census, all instructions to the voter for ballots shall be printed in both English and Spanish. The State Board of Elections shall prepare a Spanish translation of ballot instructions for local boards of elections.
Except as otherwise required by federal law, all official ballots shall be in English only."
SECTION 3.  G.S. 163‑278.13 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑278.13.  Limitation on contributions.
(a)	No individual, political committee, or other entity shall contribute to any candidate or other political committee any money or make any other contribution in any election in excess of four thousand dollars ($4,000) for that election.
(b)	No candidate or political committee shall accept or solicit any contribution from any individual, other political committee, or other entity of any money or any other contribution in any election in excess of four thousand dollars ($4,000) for that election.
(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 four thousand dollars ($4,000) for that election.
(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, except that where a candidate is not on the ballot in a second primary, that second primary is not "an election" with respect to that candidate.
(e)	Except as provided in subsections (e2) and (e3) of this section, and except for contributions to political party executive committees by candidates or candidate campaign committees and contributions by political party executive committees to candidates or candidate campaign committees, this section shall not apply to any national, 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. As used in this section, "candidate campaign committee" is as defined in G.S. 163‑278.38Z(3).
(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.
(e2)	In order to make meaningful the provisions of Article 22D of this Chapter, the following provisions shall apply with respect to candidates for justice of the Supreme Court and judge of the Court of Appeals:
(1)	No candidate shall accept, and no contributor shall make to that candidate, a contribution in any election exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) except as provided for elsewhere in this subsection.
(2)	A candidate may accept, and a family contributor may make to that candidate, a contribution not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000) in an election if the contributor is that candidate's parent, child, brother, or sister.
(3)	No candidate shall accept, and no contributor shall make to that candidate, a contribution during the period beginning 21 days before the day of the general election and ending the day after the general election if that contribution causes the candidate to exceed the "trigger for rescue funds" defined in G.S. 163‑278.62(18). This subdivision applies with respect to a candidate opposed in the general election by a certified candidate as defined in Article 22D of this Chapter who has not received the maximum rescue funds available under G.S. 163‑278.67. The recipient of a contribution that apparently violates this subdivision has three days to return the contribution or file a detailed statement with the State Board of Elections explaining why the contribution does not violate this subdivision.
As used in this subsection, "candidate" is also a political committee authorized by the candidate for that candidate's election. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a candidate or the spouse of that candidate from making a contribution or loan secured entirely by that individual's assets to that candidate's own campaign.
(e3)	Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this section, no candidate for superior court judge or district court judge shall accept, and no contributor shall make to that candidate, a contribution in any election exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), except as provided in subsection (c) of this section. As used in this subsection, "candidate" is also a political committee authorized by the candidate for that candidate's election. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a candidate or the spouse of that candidate from making a contribution or loan secured entirely by that individual's assets to that candidate's own campaign.
(f)	Any individual, candidate, political committee, referendum committee, or other entity that violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective January 1, 2008, and applies to all contributions made or accepted on or after that date.