OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1225
AN ACT CONCERNING REFERENDA, INDEPENDENT
EXPENDITURES, STATE ELECTIONS ENFORCEMENT
COMMISSION COMPLAINTS AND REPAYMENT OF SURPLUS
CITIZENS' ELECTION PROGRAM GRANT FUNDS.
Primary Analyst: MT 4/17/23
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: EW
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 24 $ FY 25 $
Elections Enforcement
Commission
GF - Potential
Cost
See Below See Below
Elections Enforcement
Commission
GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
This bill results in both potential revenue and potential costs to the
State Elections Enforcement Commission through fines and penalties
imposed, and the additional requirements created by this bill. The
primary purpose of this bill codifies Independent Expenditure Political
Action Committees (IE-PAC) as a separate category of political action
committees (PAC) with different rules established. The bill makes
several changes regarding applicable expenses, as well as requiring
attribution for advertising over a certain level of funding and adding
additional reporting requirements for campaigns.
The bill formalizes the policy of eliminating aggregate contribution
limits for certain PAC's and the bill also criminalizes failure to return
surplus Citizens Election Program (CEP) grant funding to the state
within a certain timeframe. 2023SB-01225-R000630-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
The bill narrows the circumstances under which the State Elections
Enforcement Committee (SEEC) must dismiss a complaint within one
year. This could increase the existing costs for the SEEC depending on
the number of cases that would be held beyond one year as a result of
this bill.
Fines and Penalties
The bill may result in additional revenue to the SEEC by empowering
them to impose fines and penalties in line with the current structure for
failing to file an IE-PAC report to IE's that support referendums.
The bill also increases maximum penalties for failing to file an IE
report to (1) IE-PACs made or obligated 90 days or fewer before a
primary or general election from $20,000 to $20,000 or twice the
unreported mount whichever is greater. (2) Knowing and willful failure
to file increases penalties from $50,000 to $50,000 or 10 times the
unreported expenditure whichever is greater. The increased penalties
created by the bill could result in additional revenue for the SEEC
depending on the number and scale of violations.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to the number of violations and fines
imposed.