Sen. Don Harmon

Filed: 5/26/2011

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 1717

2    AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 1717 by replacing
3everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4    "Section 5. The State Officials and Employees Ethics Act is
5amended by adding Section 5-57 as follows:
 
6    (5 ILCS 430/5-57 new)
7    Sec. 5-57. Divesting and freezing of election funds of
8board and commission members.
9    (a) This Section applies to an appointed member of a board
10or commission (i) whose appointment requires the advice and
11consent of the Senate, (ii) who is confirmed by the Senate, who
12holds office by a temporary appointment under Section 9 of
13Article V of the Illinois Constitution, or who is appointed by
14the Governor pursuant to any statute to serve as an acting
15member of a board or commission, and (iii) who receives a
16salary from the State for serving on that board or commission.

 

 

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1    (b) A member who maintains or controls a candidate
2political committee must divest or freeze the funds in his or
3her candidate political committee as provided in Section 9-8.7
4of the Election Code.
5    (c) A member may not establish a candidate political
6committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or
7commission.
8    (d) For purposes of this Section, "salary" means
9compensation other than reimbursement for reasonable expenses
10related to travel and attendance at meetings.
 
11    Section 10. The Election Code is amended by adding Section
129-8.7 as follows:
 
13    (10 ILCS 5/9-8.7 new)
14    Sec. 9-8.7. Divesting or freezing of campaign funds
15controlled by State board and commission members.
16    (a) This Section applies to an appointed member of a board
17or commission (i) whose appointment requires the advice and
18consent of the Senate, (ii) who is confirmed by the Senate, who
19holds office by a temporary appointment made under Section 9 of
20Article V of the Illinois Constitution, or who is appointed by
21the Governor pursuant to any statute to serve as an acting
22member of a board or commission, and (iii) who receives a
23salary from the State for serving on that board or commission.
24    (b) A member who maintains or controls a candidate

 

 

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1political committee must divest or freeze the funds in his or
2her candidate political committee.
3    (c) A member may not establish a candidate political
4committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or
5commission.
6    (d) A member must:
7        (1) divest himself or herself of any funds in the
8    candidate political committee by (A) a direct return of
9    funds to contributors in amounts not to exceed his or her
10    individual contributions; (B) a transfer of funds to a
11    charitable organization or organizations; or (C) a
12    combination of items (A) and (B); or
13        (2) freeze the funds in the candidate political
14    committee by placing the funds in an account that is frozen
15    for the duration of his or her term as a member of the
16    board or commission; for the purposes of this paragraph
17    (2), an account is deemed frozen if the only activity in
18    the account is related to covering the reasonable costs of
19    maintaining the account or preparing reports required by
20    this Code; "reasonable costs" shall be defined by the Board
21    by rule.
22    If the member's committee has outstanding debt, then the
23member may maintain his or her committee for the purpose of
24paying any debt owed by that member's committee only if the
25debt was incurred by the committee prior to the member's
26appointment. During the member's term on the board or

 

 

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1commission, the committee may make payments on the committee's
2outstanding debt, may pay reasonable costs of maintaining the
3account or preparing reports required by this Code, and may
4accept contributions from the member and the member's spouse,
5parent, sibling, or child as provided by this Code. "Reasonable
6costs" shall be defined by the Board by rule.
7    A member whose term of office begins on or after the
8effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General
9Assembly must divest or freeze those funds within 15 days after
10he or she is confirmed by the Senate or, if the member holds
11office by a temporary appointment or as an acting member,
12within 15 days after he or she is appointed. A member who is
13serving on a board or commission on the effective date of this
14amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must divest or
15freeze those funds within 60 days after the effective date of
16this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.
17    (e) A member who maintains or controls a candidate
18political committee must submit an affidavit to the State Board
19of Elections that states that the member maintains or controls
20a candidate political committee, that the candidate political
21committee has been divested or frozen, and that the member will
22not establish a candidate political committee for the duration
23of his or her term on the board or commission. Each other
24member must submit an affidavit to the State Board of Elections
25that states that the member does not maintain or control a
26candidate political committee and will not establish such a

 

 

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1committee for the duration of his or her term on the board or
2commission. A member whose term of office begins on or after
3the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General
4Assembly must submit an affidavit under this subsection (e)
5within 15 days after he or she is confirmed by the Senate or,
6if the member holds office by a temporary appointment or as an
7acting member, within 15 days after he or she is appointed. A
8member who is serving on a board or commission on the effective
9date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly must
10submit an affidavit under this subsection (e) within 60 days
11after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th
12General Assembly.
13    (f) Failure to divest or freeze an account in accordance
14with this Section shall result in forfeiture of all funds
15maintained in the candidate political committee account.
16Forfeited funds shall be deposited into the General Revenue
17Fund. A member who establishes a candidate political committee
18during his or her term on the board or commission is subject to
19a $5,000 fine.
20    (g) Nothing in this Section prevents the spouse or
21immediate family members of a member from seeking elected
22office or establishing or maintaining a candidate political
23committee.
 
24    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
25becoming law.".