2014 campaign reporting schedule:
Money received (C-3 reports)
- Campaigns should report each Monday contributions deposited in the previous week.
- June 10 – deadline to report any contributions deposited in May not already disclosed
- Contributions must be deposited within five business days of receipt.
Money spent (C-4 reports – these reports also disclose in-kind contributions)
June 10 – campaigns will report expenditures made through the end of May.
July 15 – June 1 through July 14 expenditures are disclosed.
July 29 – July 15 through July 28 expenditures are disclosed.
Sept 10 – July 29 – August 31 expenditures are disclosed.
Oct 14 – September 1 – October 13 expenditures are disclosed
Oct 28 – October 14 – October 27 expenditures are disclosed
Dec 10 – October 28 – November 30 expenditures are disclosed
Independent spending
- $1,000 or more – spender reports within 24 hours of when the public sees the ad
- $100 to $999.99 – spender reports within 5 days of spending
- Less than $100 – no disclosure
Most reports will be electronically filed, which means there is little lag time between when the data shows up in the PDC’s searchable database and when the filer submits it. Reports can be electronically filed 24/7 – a report is timely filed so long as it is submitted before midnight on the filing deadline.
Contribution Limits
- All judicial races = $1,900 per election
- Legislature & county races = $950 per election (a bona fide party or caucus campaign committee may give more – see the PDC’s online chart for actual amounts)
- Money and in-kind contributions count against the contributor’s limit.
- Money raised for one campaign may be moved to another, provided the contributor gives written authorization. State representatives, for example, are allowed to move money from a 2014 House campaign to a 2014 Senate campaign upon receiving approval. If the contribution is moved from one 2014 campaign to another, as in my example, it counts against the contributor’s limit for the new campaign. Money raised for past campaigns that has been kept segregated in a surplus account may be moved to the new campaign without contributor attribution.
- “Per election” means that the candidate’s name is on the ballot or the candidate has filed a write-in declaration.
Mini reporting allows a candidate to raise and spend up to $5,000 without filing contribution and expenditure reports, so long as each contributor gives no more than $500. The candidate may give more than $500, but his/her contribution counts against the overall $5,000 cap. A candidate opts in to mini reporting by checking a particular box on the registration (C-1). The PDC’s searchable database will not show detailed contributions or expenditures for the candidates who select mini reporting. There are deadlines to meet if a candidate selects mini reporting and then wants to switch to full reporting, June 23 is the last day to change before the primary election. August 31 is the last day to change reporting options for the candidate who goes through the primary election as a mini reporter and then wants to change. Changing reporting options can be a lot of work and rightly so. Candidates who select mini reporting are expected to stick with it, but can be accommodated should unforeseen events occur.
Tracking particular campaigns
Consider setting up an RSS subscription that will update you when reports are filed by the candidates you are monitoring. More information about subscribing and receiving updates is in thePDC’s Database Help Guide. The Help Guide also explains how to search the database and decipher the results.
