Citizens Clean Elections Commission
Agency Contact Information
Citizens Clean Elections Commission
Authority
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission was established by the Citizens Clean Elections Act (Proposition 200), an initiative measure that was approved in the 1998 General Election. Statutory authority is found at A.R.S. §§ 16-940 to 16-961.
Function
The Commission is responsible for adopting rules to carry out the Act’s provisions and to govern its procedures. The Citizens Clean Elections Act formed a system of public funding of election campaigns for candidates running for statewide and state legislative offices. A candidate my choose to participate in the public funding system or choose to raise funds in the traditional manner. The Act established campaign contribution limits, spending limits, reporting requirements, and debate requirements for participating candidates.
(2018 Legislative Council ballot analysis for Proposition 306 can be found at www.azsos.gov)
History
Background
The Citizens Clean Elections Act (Act) was approved by voters in November 1998. The Act established a campaign financing system to provide public funding to qualified candidates running for legislative and state-wide offices and created the Citizens Clean Elections Commission to enforce the Act’s provisions.
The Commission consists of five members, each serving a five-year term. No more than two commission members may be from the same political party.
The Commission is responsible for providing public funding to qualified candidates, publishing voter education pamphlets, sponsoring debates, administering the Fund and enforcing campaign finance laws established by the Act. The Act established campaign contribution limits, spending limits, reporting requirements, and debate requirements for participating candidates. It also established campaign contribution limits and reporting requirements for candidates who elect not to receive public funding for their campaigns. These candidates are referred to as nonparticipating candidates.
Session Laws
Note: Amendments to voter-approved measures require the affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the Legislature. Wording to that effect is found in each of the following enactments.
Laws 2002, Chapter 212 transferred the responsibility for mailing voter education information from a county board of supervisors to the Commission. The measure included specific guidelines on the process and outlined a schedule to mail information for the primary and general elections.
Statute requires a participating candidate to submit a list of the names of persons who have made qualifying contributions. The information is used by the Secretary of State to determine funding eligibility. Laws 2006, Chapter 154 modified reporting, sampling and verification requirements conducted by the county recorder and Secretary of State.
Laws 2007, Chapter 277 modified several sections of clean elections law relating to: qualification for funding; contribution and spending limits; return of monies to the Citizens Clean Elections Fund; structure of the Commission; administrative rulemaking requirements; voter education and enforcement; reporting requirements; and defined terms. A series of court actions, including a trial court decision that found the lobbyist fee to be unconstitutional, led to repeal of A.R.S. §16-944. For more information, see discussion in “Background” in May v. McNally, 203 Ariz. 425 (2002).
Laws 2009, Chapter 114 made extensive revisions to elections law and Secretary of State responsibilities. The measure also included conforming changes to the Citizens Clean Election Act relating to contribution limitations.
Laws 2012, Chapter 257 made numerous clean elections law revisions, and included provisions relating to certification of candidates, use of the Clean Elections Fund, sampling requirements and qualifying contributions.
A second measure enacted in 2012 eliminated matching fund reporting requirements for nonparticipating candidates. See Laws 2012, Chapter 290.
Laws 2013, Chapter 254 prohibited a Clean Elections candidate from using Clean Elections monies to purchase goods or services in which the candidate has a controlling interest. The measure deemed using such goods or services as an unlawful, in-kind contribution.
In 2018, H.C.R. 2007 was referred to the ballot. The measure proposed to prohibit payment of Clean Elections campaign monies to political parties and certain tax-exempt organizations. The measure also included language to require the Commission to follow the rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (outlined in A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6, Article 3). Proposition 306 was submitted to the voters at the November, 2018 general election and passed.
Sources
- Arizona Revised Statutes §§ 16-940 to 16-961
- Session Laws
- Laws 2002, Chapter 212
- Laws 2006, Chapter 154
- Laws 2007, Chapter 277
- Laws 2009, Chapter 114
- Laws 2012, Chapter 257 and Chapter 290
- Laws 2013, Chapter 254
- 2018, House Concurrent Resolution 2007
Proposition 200, 1998 (page 60 of PDF).
Citizens Clean Elections Commission website
Citizes Clean Elections Commission annual reports
Related Collections at Arizona State Archives
- Record Group 221- Citizens Clean Elections Commission
