West Virginia Code 3-8-5c – Contribution limitations
(a)(1) A person, political party, or political action committee may not, in an election cycle:
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 3-8-5c
- Candidate: means an individual who:
(A) Has filed a certificate of announcement under §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
- Caucus campaign committee: means a West Virginia House of Delegates or Senate political party caucus campaign committee that receives contributions and makes expenditures to support or oppose one or more specific candidates or slates of candidates for nomination, election, or committee membership. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Contribution: means a gift, subscription, loan, assessment, payment for services, dues, advance, donation, pledge, contract, agreement, forbearance, promise of money, or other tangible thing of value, whether conditional or legally enforceable, or a transfer of money or other tangible thing of value to a person, made for the purpose of influencing the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Election: means any primary, general, or special election conducted under the provisions of this code or under the charter of any municipality at which the voters nominate or elect candidates for public office. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Local: refers to the election of candidates to a city, county, or municipal office and any issue to be voted on by only the residents of a particular political subdivision. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, committee, association, and any other organization or group of individuals. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Political action committee: means a committee organized by one or more persons, the primary purpose of which is to support or oppose the nomination or election of one or more candidates. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Political party: means a political party as that term is defined by §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
(A) Contribute more than $2,800, directly or indirectly, to a candidate’s committee for a candidate seeking nomination, including by making contributions to the candidate’s committee; or
(B) Contribute more than $2,800, directly or indirectly, to a candidate’s committee for a candidate seeking election, including by making contributions to the candidate’s committee: Provided, That a candidate may receive contributions for the general election prior to nomination, however, such funds may not be expended until after the date of the nomination is declared.
(2) The contribution limits of this section apply only to elections to be held after the effective date of this section and do not apply to candidate committees that were created for elections held prior to the effective date of this section.
(b) A person, except candidate committees and caucus campaign committees, may not, directly or indirectly, make contributions to a state party executive committee, or any subsidiary, branch, or local unit thereof, or a caucus campaign committee which, in the aggregate, exceed $10,000 in any calendar year: Provided, That a person may not earmark or otherwise designate any portion of a contribution made pursuant to this subsection to be used to support or oppose the election of a particular candidate: Provided, however, That any such designation or earmark that accompanies a contribution made pursuant to this subsection may not be binding on the entity that receives the contribution.
(c) A person may not, directly or indirectly, make contributions to a political action committee, related to a particular election, which, in the aggregate, exceed $5,000.
(d) Candidate committees and caucus campaign committees may make contributions to their affiliated state party executive committees, or any subsidiary, branch, or local unit thereof, or a caucus campaign committee up to $75,000.
(e) The amendments to this section enacted during the regular session of the Legislature, 2022, shall not be effective until November 9, 2022.