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 Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies (Last Updated: June 14,2023)
 Title9 Elections
 SubTitle9-706-1_9-706-3. Citizen’s Election Program

  SubTitle9-706-1_9-706-3. Citizen’s Election Program  

Sec. 9-706-1. Participating candidate use of campaign funds—general requirements
Latest version.

(a) All funds in the depository account of the participating candidate's qualified candidate committee, including grants and other matching funds distributed from the Citizens' Election Fund, qualifying contributions and personal funds, shall be used only for campaign-related expenditures made to directly further the participating candidate's nomination for election or election to the office specified in the participating candidate's affidavit certifying the candidate's intent to abide by Citizens' Election Program requirements.

(b) The absence of contemporaneous detailed documentation indicating that an expenditure was made to directly further the participating candidate's nomination for election or election shall mean that the expenditure was not made to directly further the participating candidate's nomination for election or election, and thus was an impermissible expenditure. Contemporaneous detailed documentation shall mean documentation which was created at the time of the transaction demonstrating that the expenditure of the qualified candidate committee was a campaign-related expenditure made to directly further the participating candidate's nomination for election or election to the office specified in the participating candidate's affidavit certifying the candidate's intent to abide by Citizens' Election Program requirements. Contemporaneous detailed documentation shall include but not be limited to the documentation described in section 9-607(f) of the Connecticut General Statutes.

(Adopted effective June 28, 2007)
Sec. 9-706-2. Participating candidate use of campaign funds
Latest version.

(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.

(Adopted effective June 28, 2007; Amended December 20, 2007; Amended June 15, 2022)

Sec. 9-706-3. Payment of funds does not constitute a final determination
Latest version.

A payment from the Citizens' Election Fund does not constitute the Commission's final determination of eligibility or the final amount of funds for which such participant may qualify. Eligibility and payment determinations are subject to audit and readjustment by the Commission. Any Commission final payment determination shall be made no later than four years from the date of the last report required to be filed under section 9-608 of the Connecticut General Statutes unless the Commission receives information indicating that the candidate, treasurer or any other agent of the campaign, may have engaged in willful misrepresentation, willful nondisclosure or criminal fraud related to campaign finance information required to be reported or substantiated pursuant to Chapters 155 or 157 of the Connecticut General Statutes or any regulations promulgated thereto.

(Adopted effective December 20, 2007)