COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE
[8 CCR 1505-6]
RULES CONCERNING CAMPAIGN AND POLITICAL FINANCE

Preliminary Draft of Proposed Rules

March 11, 2011

Disclaimer:  This draft is not yet final.  The proposed changes to be considered at the public rulemaking hearing may be different than the proposed changes in this draft.  This draft is submitted to the Department of Regulatory Agencies for the purpose of complying with section 24-4-103(2.5), C.R.S., which requires that a draft be submitted to the Department at the time that a notice of proposed rulemaking is filed with the Secretary of State.

If revisions to this draft are made prior to the rulemaking hearing, a revised copy of the proposed rule changes will be available to the public no later than April 14, 2011, and a copy will be posted on the Department of State’s web site, in compliance with the requirement of section 24-4-103(4)(a), C.R.S., that “[a]ny proposed rule or revised proposed rule by an agency which is to be considered at the public hearing…shall be made available to any person at least five days prior to said hearing.”
Proposed additions to the current rules are reflected in small caps.  Proposed deletions from current rules are shown in stricken type.   Annotations may be included.
New Rule 15 would be adopted as follows:
15.	Requests for Waiver or Reduction of Campaign Finance Penalties
	a.	Requests for waiver or reduction of campaign finance penalties imposed by the Secretary of State under Article XXVIII, Section 10(2)(b)(I) shall be considered according to the following guidelines:
Scenario - applied in numerical order (i.e. if #1 doesn't apply, move to #2)	Result	
#1	A waiver is requested and establishes good cause that made timely filing impracticable (e.g. I was in the hospital, my sister got in a car accident, I was stranded by a blizzard, etc.). The event or events that made timely filing impracticable must occur within a reasonable time of the date on which the report was filed.	Waive penalty in full. A waiver shall be granted without consideration of previous delinquencies.	
#2	A waiver is requested but does not present circumstances that made timely filing impracticable (I forgot, I was out of town, my calendar crashed), and:	This scenario #2 shall apply only to penalties of $100 or more.	
	(a) Candidate or committee had contributions and/or expenditures during the reporting period.	First delinquency in 24 months: The penalty shall be reduced to $50.

Second delinquency in 24 months: The penalty shall be reduced by 50%.

Third (or subsequent) delinquency in 24 months: A reduction in penalty shall not be granted.

Penalties imposed under this section shall be capped at the higher of the contributions or expenditures made during the reporting period. 

For purposes of this analysis, previous delinquencies includes only those for which a waiver under scenario #1 was not granted.	
	(b)  Candidate or committee has no activity (contributions OR expenditures) during the reporting period and the committee balance is zero.	The penalty shall be reduced to $50.	
	(c) Candidate or committee has a fund balance greater than zero and candidate or committee has no activity (contributions OR expenditures) during the reporting period.	First delinquency in 24 months: The penalty shall be reduced to $50.

Second delinquency in 24 months: The penalty shall be reduced by 50%, subject to a cap of 10% of the fund balance as of the date of the violation.

Third (or subsequent) delinquency in 24 months: The penalty is capped at 10% of the fund balance as of the date of the violation, and a minimum penalty of $100 shall be imposed.

For purposes of this analysis, previous delinquencies includes only those for which a waiver under scenario #1 was not granted.	
#3	A waiver is requested, but submitted more than 30 days after the date of penalty imposition.	A request shall not be considered unless good cause has been shown for failure to meet the 30-day waiver filing requirement.	
	b.	For waiver requests that apply to more than one penalty, the guidelines shall be applied separately to each penalty in chronological order using the single request as the basis for each.
	c.	Penalty caps shall not apply to any willful delinquency.