Current through Register Vol. 18, September 20, 2024
(1) Except as
provided in (4), no goods, services, funds, property, or other contributions
received by a candidate or political committee may be used for the personal use
or expense of any candidate, immediate family of a candidate, or staff of a
candidate's campaign.
(2)
Expenditures for personal use are those that have no direct connection with, or
effect upon, expenditures to support or oppose candidates or issues, and those
that would exist irrespective of a candidate's campaign or an individual's
involvement in a candidate's campaign. Campaign expenditures are those that
serve to support or oppose a candidate or issue. An expenditure for personal
use or expense occurs when, for example, the expenditure:
(a) covers normal living needs of the
candidate, the candidate's immediate family, or any other individual;
(b) covers food or clothing that
are not specially required by or related to a campaign activity;
(c) covers the cost of travel, lodging, food,
and registration, including attendance at any conference or event, that does
not serve a campaign interest.
(3) A candidate or candidate's campaign may
purchase goods or services and lease personal and real property that provide a
mixed benefit to the candidate provided:
(a)
the amount attributed to an individual's personal use or expense shall be
determined in writing and reimbursed by the individual to the campaign, unless
the personal benefit is de minimis;
(b) a mixed benefit to the candidate means
use of goods, services, or property for personal use or expense as well as to
support or oppose candidates or issues; or
(c) the personal benefit is de minimis as
determined according to ARM
44.11.603.
(4) The prohibition of this rule
is not applicable to:
(a) reimbursements to a
candidate, or staff or volunteers of a candidate's campaign, for goods and
services purchased for campaign expenditures;
(b) expenses incurred by a candidate while
engaged in campaign activity for reasonable and necessary child-care
expenses;
(c) gifts or bonuses of
less than $250 in a calendar year to campaign staff; or
(d) expenditures expressly authorized
elsewhere in these rules.
(5) Prior to filing a closing report of a
candidate's campaign:
(a) any personal and
real property purchased with campaign funds that has a residual fair market
value of $50 or more may be disposed of by one of the following methods:
(i) sale of the property at fair market
value, in which case the proceeds shall be treated the same as other campaign
funds and disposed of according to ARM
44.11.702
regarding surplus campaign funds. If campaign property is sold to the
candidate, a member of the candidate's immediate family, or paid campaign
staff, the campaign must receive at least 75 percent of the original purchase
price or value of the in-kind contribution as determined per ARM
44.11.403;
or
(ii) donation of the property
under one of the options set out in ARM
44.11.702
pertaining to disposal of surplus campaign funds.
(b) the disposition of all campaign property
under this rule must be reported on the closing report required by ARM
44.11.306,
including the method of disposition (sale or donation), the complete date of
the disposition, the name and address of the purchaser or donee, and a
description of the property. If the property is sold, the information shall
include the sale price received; if the property is donated, the information
shall include the fair market value of the property at the time of the
transfer.
(c) for purposes of this
rule, the "residual" fair market value is based upon the value of the property
at the time it is sold or donated, accounting for items of similar description,
age, and condition. The sale of property through an online commercial auction
shall be considered as a favorable factor in determining that the sale price
received was the fair market value of the property sold.
(d) any personal or real property purchased
with campaign funds that is not disposed of under this rule, shall be disposed
of according to ARM 44.11.702.
(6) Whether an expenditure of campaign funds
is to be considered a personal use or expense, and therefore prohibited, is a
factual determination to be made by the commissioner.
AUTH:
13-37-114, MCA;
IMP:
13-1-101,
13-37-220,
13-37-229,
13-37-232,
MCA
