A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to reduce the three thousand dollar or less exemption for campaign reporting for candidates for municipal office, soil and water conservation district boards of supervisors, and sanitary district boards to five hundred dollars or less and to eliminate the three thousand dollar or less exemption for campaign reporting for candidates for all other offices.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 163‑278.10A reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑278.10A.  Threshold of $500.00 for financial reports for certain candidates.
(a)	Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, a candidate for a municipal office, soil and water conservation district board of supervisors, or sanitary district board shall be exempted from the reports of contributions, loans, and expenditures required in G.S. 163‑278.9(a), 163‑278.40B, 163‑278.40C, 163‑278.40D, and 163‑278.40E if to further the candidate's campaign that candidate:
(1)	Does not receive more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) in contributions, and
(2)	Does not receive more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) in loans, and
(3)	Does not spend more than five hundred dollars ($500.00).
To qualify for the exemption from those reports, the candidate's treasurer shall file a certification that the candidate does not intend to receive in contributions or loans or expend more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) to further the candidate's campaign. The certification shall be filed with the Board at the same time the candidate files the candidate's Organizational Report as required in G.S. 163‑278.7, G.S. 163‑278.9, and G.S. 163‑278.40A. If the candidate's campaign is being conducted by a political committee which is handling all contributions, loans, and expenditures for the candidate's campaign, the treasurer of the political committee shall file a certification of intent to stay within the threshold amount. If the intent to stay within the threshold changes, or if the five hundred dollar ($500.00) threshold is exceeded, the treasurer shall immediately notify the Board and shall be responsible for filing all reports required in G.S. 163‑278.9 and 163‑278.40B, 163‑278.40C, 163‑278.40D, and 163‑278.40E; provided that any contribution, loan, or expenditure which would have been required to be reported on an earlier report but for this section shall be included on the next report required after the intent changes or the threshold is exceeded.
(b)	The exemption from reporting in subsection (a) of this section applies to political party committees under the same terms as for candidates, except that the term "to further the candidate's campaign" does not relate to a political party committee's exemption, and all contributions, expenditures, and loans during an election shall be counted against the political party committee's threshold amount."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective January 1, 2010, and applies to all campaign finance reports covering periods on or after that date.