HB595: AN ACT relating to elections and declaring an emergency.

Legislative Summary

Amends KRS 13B.020 to remove the Registry of Election Finance from the list of agencies exempt from conducting administrative hearings pursuant to that chapter; amends KRS 67C.135 to require that county clerks mail voters a notice informing them of their current legislative council district and member upon the completion of reapportionment; amends KRS 116.085 to require that county clerks mail voters a notice informing them of their current district number, state representative, and state senator upon the enactment of a new redistricting plan; amends KRS 121.015 to include in the definition of “campaign committee” that persons receiving contributions and making expenditures in support of a candidate or slate of candidates must be authorized to do so, to define “independent expenditure-only committee,” to include independent expenditure-only committee and federally registered political committee in the definition of “permanent committee,” and to define “reasonable cause”; amends KRS 121.140 to increase the maximum penalty per day for violations, and to require that the registry conduct administrative hearings pursuant to KRS Chapter 13B; amends KRS 121.150 to prohibit independent expenditure-only committees from certain solicitations and contributions regarding religious, charitable, civic, eleemosynary, or other causes or organizations established primarily for the public good, to allow certain campaign committees to make unlimited contributions to an independent expenditure-only committee, or as allowed by federal law to a federally registered political committee with provisions, to allow that campaign funds be used for the repayment of debt in a previous campaign for the same office, to allow independent expenditure-only committees to accept contributions from a corporation, and to make technical corrections; amends KRS 121.160 to make technical corrections; amends KRS 121.170 to allow a committee campaign treasurer to be a registered voter from any state if the chair of the committee is a registered voter in Kentucky, to replace “federally registered out of state permanent committee” with “federally registered political committee,” and to conform to 52 U.S.C. sec 30101(4)(a) and 52 U.S.C. sec. 30118; amends KRS 121.175 to allow members of the General Assembly to use campaign funds for certain legal fees; amends KRS 121.180 to increase the threshold from $3,000 to $5,000 for campaign finance reporting requirements, to change the amount of campaign funds per event or affair that a candidate or slate of candidates can use to purchase admission tickets for or contribute to another candidate or slate of candidates, to establish deadlines by which candidates and slates of candidates shall file the required spending intent form, to establish a penalty for persons who fail to file the required form, and to replace “unauthorized campaign committee” with “independent expenditure-only committee”; amends KRS 121.180 and 121.210 to conform; amends KRS 121.190 to establish additional guidelines for disclaimers in campaign communications; amends KRS 121.230 to establish permissible expenditures for the administrative costs of maintaining a political party headquarters; and amends KRS 121.990 to establish a penalty for persons who fail to comply with requests from the registry for records for audits; EMERGENCY.