Virginia Code 24.2-947.2: Campaign depositories; reimbursements of expenses; petty cash fund.
A. Upon meeting any of the requirements of subsection A of § 24.2-947.1, the candidate shall designate a campaign depository, which shall be maintained in a financial institution within the Commonwealth, in an account properly identifying the name of and the existence of the political candidacy.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 24.2-947.2
- Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Campaign committee: means the committee designated by a candidate to receive all contributions and make all expenditures for him or on his behalf in connection with his nomination or election. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
- Candidate: means "candidate" as defined in § Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
- Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
- Expenditure: means money and services of any amount, and any other thing of value, paid, loaned, provided, or in any other way disbursed by any candidate, campaign committee, political committee, or person for the purpose of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or by any inaugural committee for the purpose of defraying the costs of the inauguration of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
- Person: means any individual or corporation, partnership, business, labor organization, membership organization, association, cooperative, or other like entity. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
B. No candidate, campaign treasurer, or other individual shall pay any expense on behalf of a candidate, directly or indirectly, except by a check or electronic debit drawn on such designated depository identifying the name of the campaign committee and candidate. However, a candidate, treasurer, or other authorized member of the candidate’s campaign staff may be reimbursed, by a check or electronic debit drawn on the designated depository, or according to the provisions of subsection C, for the payment of expenses (i) paid by him by cash, check or electronic debit, or credit card, (ii) made on behalf of the campaign, and (iii) fully documented by complete records of the expenditure, maintained as required by this chapter, and including receipts identifying the nature of the expenses and the names and addresses of each person paid by the recipient of the reimbursement.
C. A campaign committee (i) may establish a petty cash fund to be utilized for the purpose of making expenditures or reimbursing verified credit card expenditures of less than $200 if complete records of such expenditures are maintained as required by this chapter and (ii) may transfer funds from the designated campaign depository to an account or instrument to earn interest on the funds so long as the transferred funds and earned interest are returned to the designated depository account, complete records are maintained, and all expenditures are made through the designated depository account.
D. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section pertaining to campaign committee depositories and accounts, the campaign committee’s treasurer may establish a separate federal compliance account in the candidate’s designated campaign depository for the purpose of complying with requirements of federal law including, without limitation, restrictions on sources and amounts of campaign contributions applicable to federal candidates and officeholders. The candidate and campaign treasurer shall report all contributions and expenditures for an account established pursuant to this subsection on a consolidated basis with the candidate’s campaign account established pursuant to this section in disclosure reports filed pursuant to this article. In addition, the treasurer may transfer funds from a federal compliance account created pursuant to this subsection to an account or instrument to earn interest on the funds so long as the transferred funds and earned interest are returned to the designated depository account created pursuant to subsection A, complete records are maintained, and all expenditures are made through the designated depository account.
2. A committee registered with the Federal Election Commission which is not otherwise required by this chapter to file with the State Board, shall not be deemed to have triggered such filing requirements solely by virtue of one or more contributions to one or more federal compliance accounts created pursuant to this subsection.
1970, c. 462, §§ 24.1-253, 24.1-254; 1971, Ex. Sess., c. 222; 1972, cc. 620, 622; 1975, c. 515; 1978, c. 778; 1983, c. 119; 1984, c. 480; 1993, c. 641, §§ 24.2-904, 24.2-905; 1996, cc. 217, 405; 2000, c. 326; 2001, c. 633; 2002, cc. 213, 232; 2003, cc. 248, 967, § 24.2-905.1; 2004, cc. 441, 457, 480; 2006, cc. 787, 892; 2020, c. 349.