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Fair and Clean Elections Bill Summary HF 567, SF 388 as of January 2002 (with rationales) Clean Elections Candidates Qualifying contributions & Seed Money To qualify for a public subsidy, a candidate must raise at least the following number of contributions. in amounts between $5 and $50, from people eligible to vote in Minnesota.. At least 1/2 of the qualifying contributions must come from their district. A candidate may accept contributions from out-of-state residents and Political Action Committees (PACs) of up to $50, but may not count these contributions towards the number they need to collect to qualify. Participating candidates are allowed to contribute up to (p times the regular contribution limit to their own campaign($500). # Needed Minimum S Private Funds SDendin a Limit ( I )Governor 4500 $221500 $50,000 (2) AG, SoS or SA 2500 $12.500 $25)000 (3) Senate 300 S I SOU $41000 (4) House 150 $750 $2,000 Candidates can begin collecting their qualifying contributions as early as January 1st of the year prior to the election and have until the filing date to complete their collection. This proposal combines what we currently have in Minnesota with the Clean Elections laws in other states. It is important that the site oj'the qualifting contribution remain low so that evei-yone can participate in the process of helping a candidate yucdify for the public subsidy. The maximum amount of'private money that candidates are allowed to spend on campaign expenditures is set at a number at which the candidates should have enough funds to raise the yucllififhtg contributions that 1{tee' deed. It is also set at a level at which candidates will be able to ask,fnr some smaller contributions. (If ail they collected were $50 contributions, then they would collect significcrntiv more than they are allowed to spend before they qualified. Otherwise candidates mig{tt,feel a need to do all of their solicitations and doorknocking umong,folkr that could afford the /ctr,qer contributions) Candidates are allowed to get some support from PACs and out-of -state residents, but have to have in-state support from individuals in order to qualify for the public funds. Candidates have to be� able to show that they have some support in their district. but do not have to collect all of their qualifying contributions there, because that often hurts candidates of color and women candidates We decided to raise the number oj'yucilifi,ing contributions that candidates must raise in order to be eligible to participate in the system. The gubernatorial fgure is approx. .I% of the state population. The other statewide o�cers are set at approximately 1!2 of that (.OS%). The threshold for legislative candidates is appror. .S% of the residents of their district. Candidates can raise as much as they'd like in contributions of up to $50, but have a limit on Itotiv much private money they can spend on campaign expenditures. As long as a candidate keeps to these limits between Junucrn• 1st of the near after the last general election and when tlteti' are certified as a Clean Elections candidate. � they will remain eligible to participate in the Clean Election system come the following election. I