Connecticut Administrative Code
Title 9 - Elections
706 - Citizen's Election Program
Section 9-706-2 - Participating candidate use of campaign funds
Universal Citation: CT Reg of State Agencies 9-706-2
Current through September 9, 2024
(a) In addition to the requirements set out in section 9-706-1 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, participating candidates and the treasurers of participating candidates shall comply with the following citizens' election program requirements. Permissible campaign-related expenditures shall include but are not limited to expenditures for the following:
1. Purchase of political campaign
advertising services from any communications medium, including but not limited
to newspaper, television, radio, billboard or internet;
2. Political campaign advertising expenses,
including but not limited to printing, photography, or graphic arts related to
flyers, brochures, palm cards, stationery, signs, stickers, shirts, hats,
buttons, or other similar campaign communication materials;
3. Postage and other commercial delivery
services for political campaign advertising;
4. Campaign personnel and professional
services;
5. Campaign promotional
events, including but not limited to expenditures for food, space rental, staff
and entertainment at such events;
6. Campaign office rent, office supplies and
other office expenses, including but not limited to office utilities and office
insurance expenses;
7. Campaign
office services, including but not limited to internet services, phone
services, photocopying and mailing;
8. Purchase or lease of campaign office
furniture and equipment, including but not limited to computer hardware and
software;
9. Campaign travel
expenses, including but not limited to vehicle rental and vehicle
lease;
10. Campaign mileage and
fuel expenses at a rate that is no greater than the standard mileage rate
provided by the internal revenue service for the calculation of the deductible
cost of operating an automobile for business purposes;
11. Food and beverage expenditures for
campaign staff, volunteers and other campaign personnel, provided that the
expenditure does not exceed $15 per person per occasion for breakfast,
inclusive of tax and gratuity, $20 per person per occasion for lunch, inclusive
of tax and gratuity, or $30 per person per occasion for dinner, inclusive of
tax and gratuity;
12. Conducting
polling or get-out-the-vote activities;
13. No more than the following amounts for
post-primary or post-election thank you notes or other advertising to thank
campaign staff, contributors, volunteers, or supporters: $7,500 for a candidate
for the office of governor; $3,500 for a candidate for the office of lieutenant
governor, attorney general, state comptroller, secretary of state, or state
treasurer; $1,000 for a candidate for the office of state senator; $500 for a
candidate for the office of state representative; $750 for a special election
candidate for the office of state senator; and $250 for a special election
candidate for the office of state representative; and
14. Child care services as provided in
sections 9-601 and 9-706 of the Connecticut General Statutes and substantiated
through documentation submitted by the candidate providing the information
required for the treasurer to authorize and disclose the associated
expenditure.
(b) In addition to the requirements set out in section 9-706-1 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, participating candidates and the treasurers of such participating candidates shall comply with the following citizens' election program requirements. Participating candidates and the treasurers of such participating candidates shall not spend funds in the participating candidate's depository account for the following:
1. Personal use, as described in section
9-607(g)(4)
of the Connecticut General Statutes;
2. The participating candidate's personal
support or expenses, such as for personal appearance or the candidate's
household day-to-day food items, supplies, merchandise, mortgage, rent,
utilities, clothing or attire, even if such personal items (such as the
participating candidate's residence, or business suits) are used for campaign
related purposes;
3. Payments to
the participating candidate or the participating candidate's family members,
including: a participating candidate's spouse, civil union partner, sibling,
child, grandchild, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle; or the participating
candidate's spouse's or civil union partner's sibling, child, grandchild,
parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle; or the spouse, civil union partner, or child
of any such individuals related to the participating candidate or his/her
spouse or civil union partner, except payment(s) to the participating candidate
or the participating candidate's committee worker or the participating
candidate's family member serving as a committee worker if such individual is
seeking reimbursement for a permissible expenditure for which he/she received
authorization from the campaign treasurer to make such expenditure, and such
participating candidate or committee worker provides the campaign treasurer
with a written receipt or other documentary evidence from the vendor proving
payment of the expenditure, as required by section
9-607(j)
of the Connecticut General Statutes;
4. Payments to any entity in which the
participating candidate or the participating candidate's family members, as
listed in section 9-706-2(b)(3) of the Regulations of Connecticut State
Agencies, has a 5% or greater ownership interest;
5. Individual cash expenditures in excess of
$50, provided such candidate committee's petty cash fund shall not exceed $100
at any time and further provided that such petty cash fund shall not be
replenished more than twice in a seven day period;
6. Payments in excess of the usual and normal
charge for the goods or services received;
7. Gifts of any kind if the value exceeds $5
to any one recipient, including but not limited to the gifts described in
section
9-607(g)(2)(T)
of the Connecticut General Statutes;
8. Contributions, loans or expenditures to or
for the benefit of another candidate, political committee or party
committee;
9. Purchase of a
vehicle;
10. Any expenditure made
in conjunction with another candidate for which the participating candidate
does not pay his or her proportionate share of the cost of the joint
expenditure;
11. Post-election
bonus payments, including but not limited to bonus payments to campaign staff
or volunteers;
12. Donations to a
charity or community organization, except as the admission fee of no greater
than $100 to an event attended by the candidate for campaign purposes prior to
the applicable primary or election;
13. Independent expenditures to benefit
another candidate;
14. Expenditures
in violation of any federal, state or local law;
15. Penalties or fines;
16. Expenditures incurred but not paid for
which payment of any portion of the outstanding liability is made contingent on
the participating candidate committee's receipt of a grant from the citizens'
election fund; and
17. Any payment
that is not made from the depository account disclosed by the participating
candidate's committee.
(c) For elections held in 2012, and thereafter, the permissible amounts for food and beverage expenditures in section 9-706-2(a)(11) of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies shall be reviewed by the State Elections Enforcement Commission not later than February 1, 2012, February 1, 2014, and quadrennially thereafter, in accordance with any change in the consumer price index for all urban consumers as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, during the period beginning on January 1, 2010, and ending on December thirty-first in the year preceding the year in which said adjustment is to be made, and adjusted if deemed necessary by the commission.
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