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S. 120

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Elliott and Knotts
Document Path: l:\council\bills\dka\3036ssp07.doc

Introduced in the Senate on January 9, 2007
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Campaign practices

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   12/6/2006  Senate  Prefiled
   12/6/2006  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary
    1/9/2007  Senate  Introduced and read first time SJ-78
    1/9/2007  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-78
   1/17/2007  Senate  Referred to Subcommittee: Moore (ch), Ford, Mescher, 
                        Rankin, Scott
   1/24/2008  Senate  Referred to Subcommittee: Ritchie (ch), Rankin, Lourie, 
                        Scott, Ceips

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/6/2006

TO AMEND SECTION 8-13-1300, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CAMPAIGN PRACTICES, SO AS TO REVISE THE DEFINITIONS OF "COMMITTEE" AND "INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF AN ELECTIVE OFFICE".

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 8-13-1300(6) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 76 of 2003, is further amended to read:

"(6)     'Committee' means an association, a club, an organization including for profit or not-for-profit, or a group of persons which, to influence the outcome of an elective office, receives contributions or makes expenditures in excess of five hundred dollars in the aggregate during an election cycle. It also means a person who, to influence the outcome of an elective office, makes:

(a)    contributions aggregating at least twenty-five thousand dollars during an election cycle to or at the request of a candidate or a committee, or a combination of them; or

(b)    independent expenditures aggregating five hundred dollars or more during an election cycle for the election or defeat of a candidate.

'Committee' includes a party committee, a legislative caucus committee, a noncandidate committee, or a committee that is not a campaign committee for a candidate but that is organized for the purpose of influencing an election."

SECTION    2.    Section 8-13-1300(31) of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 76 of 2003, is amended to read:

"(31)    'Influence the outcome of an elective office' means:

(a)    expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate using words including or substantially similar to 'vote for', 'elect', 'cast your ballot for', 'Smith for Governor', 'vote against', 'defeat', or 'reject';

(b)    communicating campaign slogans or individual words that, taken in context, have no other reasonable meaning other than to urge the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate including or substantially similar to slogans or words such as 'Smith's the One', 'Jones 2000', 'Smith/Jones', 'Jones!', or 'Smith-A man for the People!'; or

(c)    any communication made, not more than forty-five days before an election, which promotes or supports a candidate or attacks or opposes a candidate, regardless of whether the communication expressly advocates a vote for or against a candidate. A communication which is made pursuant to this subitem and concurrently supports or opposes a legislative issue pending in the General Assembly is considered to be a communication to influence the outcome of an elective office. For purposes of this paragraph subitem, 'communication' means (i) any paid advertisement or purchased program time broadcast over television or radio; (ii) any paid message conveyed through telephone banks, direct mail, or electronic mail; or (iii) any paid advertisement that costs more than five thousand dollars that is conveyed through a communication medium other than those set forth in subsections subsubitem (i) or (ii) of this paragraph subitem. 'Communication' does not include news, commentary, or editorial programming or article, or communication to an organization's own members."

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

This web page was last updated on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 1:26 P.M.