Campaign finance requirements for Georgia ballot measures

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Campaign finance for ballot measures
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Federal campaign finance laws and regulations
Ballot measures
State campaign finance agencies
State information
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Note: This page is not intended to serve as a manual. Individuals who are interested in establishing a committee to support or oppose a ballot measure should contact their state election agencies for more information about specific filing processes and requirements.

Groups and individuals involved in ballot measure campaigns in Georgia must adhere to the state's campaign finance laws. These laws regulate the amounts and sources of money given or received for political purposes; in addition, campaign finance laws stipulate disclosure requirements for political contributions and expenditures.

Proponents of more stringent regulations and disclosure requirements, such as the Brennan Center for Justice, claim that current laws do not go far enough to mitigate corruption and the influence of undisclosed special interests. Others, such as the Institute for Free Speech, argue that strict disclosure requirements and contribution limits impinge upon the rights to privacy and free expression.[1][2]

In Georgia, "any campaign committee which accepts contributions or makes expenditures designed to influence the passage of any statewide referendum, constitutional amendment or ballot question" is considered a ballot committee. For all contributions exceeding $100, a ballot committee must report the name, address, occupation and employer of the donor.

The laws and regulations that apply to ballot measure campaigns may differ from those that apply to candidates for political office. To learn more about campaign finance requirements for candidates, see this article.

Georgia ballot measures

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See also: Ballot measure

A ballot measure is any question or issue that appears on an election ballot to be approved or rejected by voters. In 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., citizens may use the initiative and referendum process, which permits citizens to petition to place measures on the ballot and usually involves a signature collection process of some kind. Even in states without initiative and referendum processes, however, ballot measures exist. In all states, citizens may be asked to approve legislatively referred constitutional amendments, state statutes, bond issues or tax proposals.

In Georgia, ballot measures come in only one form: legislatively referred constitutional amendments.

Organizational requirements

In Georgia, "any campaign committee which accepts contributions or makes expenditures designed to influence the passage of any statewide referendum, constitutional amendment or ballot question" is considered a ballot committee. A ballot committee is required to register with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission "upon having raised or spent $500 or more."[3][4][5]

DocumentIcon.jpg See form: Form RO: Registration Form

Contribution limits

Generally speaking, ballot committees in Georgia can accept unlimited contributions from legal sources.[6]

Reporting requirements

In Georgia, a ballot committee that has raised or spent $500 or more must file regular campaign finance disclosure reports. These reports must be filed electronically using the state's campaign finance reporting system. For all contributions exceeding $100, the committee must report the name, address, occupation and employer of the donor. For all expenditures exceeding $100, the name, address, occupation and employer of the recipient, as well as the purpose of the expenditure.[7]

Reports must be filed according to the following schedule:[4]

  1. 15 days prior to the election
  2. December 31 (final report of the election year)

Year-specific reporting dates

2016

The table below lists relevant campaign finance report filing deadlines in Georgia in 2016.

Campaign finance reporting deadlines in Georgia, 2016
Report Filing deadline
15-day pre-election report (election on March 1, 2016) February 22, 2016
15-day pre-election report (election on May 24, 2016 May 16, 2016
15-day pre-election report (election on November 8, 2016) October 31, 2016
Final report January 9, 2017
Source: Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, "Filing Schedules," accessed December 10, 2015

State agencies

See also: Campaign finance agencies in Georgia

In Georgia, there is one primary agency involved in campaign finance regulation: the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. The commission oversees campaign finance reporting processes for state-level candidates and political committees. The commission, which is also charged with enforcing Georgia's campaign finance laws, can impose civil penalties against individuals and entities that violate the law.[8]

Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
200 Piedmont Avenue, SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Telephone: 404-463-1980
Fax: 404-463-1988

Campaign finance legislation

The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Georgia state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Georgia campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

External links

Footnotes