HB1717sam001 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 5/26/2011

09700HB1717sam001 LRB097 08733 HLH 56081 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1717

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1717 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act is amended by adding Section 5-57 as follows:

(5 ILCS 430/5-57 new)

Sec. 5-57. Divesting and freezing of election funds of board and commission members.

(a) This Section applies to an appointed member of a board or commission (i) whose appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate, (ii) who is confirmed by the Senate, who holds office by a temporary appointment under Section 9 of Article V of the Illinois Constitution, or who is appointed by the Governor pursuant to any statute to serve as an acting member of a board or commission, and (iii) who receives a salary from the State for serving on that board or commission.

(b) A member who maintains or controls a candidate political committee must divest or freeze the funds in his or her candidate political committee as provided in Section 9-8.7 of the Election Code.

(c) A member may not establish a candidate political committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or commission.

(d) For purposes of this Section, "salary" means compensation other than reimbursement for reasonable expenses related to travel and attendance at meetings.

Section 10. The Election Code is amended by adding Section 9-8.7 as follows:

(10 ILCS 5/9-8.7 new)

Sec. 9-8.7. Divesting or freezing of campaign funds controlled by State board and commission members.

(a) This Section applies to an appointed member of a board or commission (i) whose appointment requires the advice and consent of the Senate, (ii) who is confirmed by the Senate, who holds office by a temporary appointment made under Section 9 of Article V of the Illinois Constitution, or who is appointed by the Governor pursuant to any statute to serve as an acting member of a board or commission, and (iii) who receives a salary from the State for serving on that board or commission.

(b) A member who maintains or controls a candidate political committee must divest or freeze the funds in his or her candidate political committee.

(c) A member may not establish a candidate political committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or commission.

(d) A member must:

(1) divest himself or herself of any funds in the candidate political committee by (A) a direct return of funds to contributors in amounts not to exceed his or her individual contributions; (B) a transfer of funds to a charitable organization or organizations; or (C) a combination of items (A) and (B); or

(2) freeze the funds in the candidate political committee by placing the funds in an account that is frozen for the duration of his or her term as a member of the board or commission; for the purposes of this paragraph (2), an account is deemed frozen if the only activity in the account is related to covering the reasonable costs of maintaining the account or preparing reports required by this Code; "reasonable costs" shall be defined by the Board by rule.

If the member's committee has outstanding debt, then the member may maintain his or her committee for the purpose of paying any debt owed by that member's committee only if the debt was incurred by the committee prior to the member's appointment. During the member's term on the board or commission, the committee may make payments on the committee's outstanding debt, may pay reasonable costs of maintaining the account or preparing reports required by this Code, and may accept contributions from the member and the member's spouse, parent, sibling, or child as provided by this Code. "Reasonable costs" shall be defined by the Board by rule.

A member whose term of office begins on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must divest or freeze those funds within 15 days after he or she is confirmed by the Senate or, if the member holds office by a temporary appointment or as an acting member, within 15 days after he or she is appointed. A member who is serving on a board or commission on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must divest or freeze those funds within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.

(e) A member who maintains or controls a candidate political committee must submit an affidavit to the State Board of Elections that states that the member maintains or controls a candidate political committee, that the candidate political committee has been divested or frozen, and that the member will not establish a candidate political committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or commission. Each other member must submit an affidavit to the State Board of Elections that states that the member does not maintain or control a candidate political committee and will not establish such a committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or commission. A member whose term of office begins on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must submit an affidavit under this subsection (e) within 15 days after he or she is confirmed by the Senate or, if the member holds office by a temporary appointment or as an acting member, within 15 days after he or she is appointed. A member who is serving on a board or commission on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must submit an affidavit under this subsection (e) within 60 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.

(f) Failure to divest or freeze an account in accordance with this Section shall result in forfeiture of all funds maintained in the candidate political committee account. Forfeited funds shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund. A member who establishes a candidate political committee during his or her term on the board or commission is subject to a $5,000 fine.

(g) Nothing in this Section prevents the spouse or immediate family members of a member from seeking elected office or establishing or maintaining a candidate political committee.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".