Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1505.5 – Civil penalties; violations of Chapter
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1505.5
- Candidate: means a person who seeks nomination or election to public office, except the office of president or vice president of the United States, presidential elector, delegate to a political party convention, United States senator, United States congressman, or political party office. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- Chairman: means the principal executive officer of a political committee regardless of his title. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- committee: means two or more persons, other than a husband and wife, and any legal entity organized for the primary purpose of supporting or opposing one or more candidates, propositions, recalls of a public officer, or political parties, which accepts contributions in the name of the committee, or makes expenditures from committee funds or in the name of the committee, or makes a transfer of funds to or receives a transfer of funds from another committee, or receives or makes loans in an aggregate amount in excess of five hundred dollars within any calendar year. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- District office: means the following offices but shall not include any major office:
(a) The office of a member of the Louisiana Legislature. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- Major office: means the following offices: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, commissioner of agriculture, commissioner of insurance, the superintendent of education, public service commissioner, justice of the supreme court, court of appeal judge, district court judge in a judicial district comprised of a single parish with a population in excess of four hundred fifty thousand persons as determined by the most recently published decennial federal census where the election district is parishwide, as long as these offices are elective offices, and any candidate for office with an election district containing a population in excess of two hundred fifty thousand persons as determined by the most recently published decennial federal census. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- Person: means any individual, partnership, limited liability company or corporation, association, labor union, political committee, corporation, or other legal entity, including their subsidiaries. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- Principal campaign committee: means a political committee designated by a candidate pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
- Subsidiary committee: means a political committee other than a principal campaign committee, designated by a candidate or by a principal campaign committee pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statutes 18:1483
A. Except as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 18:1505.4, any person who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of La. Rev. Stat. 18:1505.2 or La. Rev. Stat. 18:1505.3 or any other provision of this Chapter shall be assessed a civil penalty for each violation. “Knowingly and willfully”, for purposes of this Subsection, means conduct which could have been avoided through the exercise of due diligence.
B. The amount of such penalty shall be:
(1) Not in excess of five hundred dollars for each candidate for a major office and any treasurer or chairman of any political committee designated as a principal campaign committee or subsidiary committee of such a candidate.
(2) Not in excess of three hundred dollars for any candidate for district office and any treasurer or chairman of any political committee designated as a principal campaign committee or subsidiary committee of such a candidate.
(3) Not in excess of one hundred dollars for any candidate for all other offices and any treasurer or chairman of any political committee designated as a principal campaign committee or subsidiary committee of such a candidate.
(4) Not in excess of one hundred dollars for any person or any treasurer or chairman of any political committee, not supporting or opposing a candidate, but only supporting or opposing any proposition or question submitted to the voters or any recall of a public officer.
(5) Not in excess of one thousand dollars for the treasurer or chairman of any political committee supporting or opposing a candidate, other than a candidate’s principal or subsidiary campaign committee.
C.(1)(a) If a person, other than a political committee, required to file is supporting or opposing a candidate or candidates, the penalty applicable to such candidate or candidates as provided in Paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of Subsection B of this Section shall apply.
(b) If a person, other than a political committee, required to file is supporting or opposing candidates with different penalty levels, the penalty shall be the highest penalty for any such candidates.
(2) Each day of violation, if applicable, shall constitute a separate offense. Maximum civil penalties imposed under this Section shall be as provided in La. Rev. Stat. 18:1505.4(A).
Acts 1980, No. 786, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1982, No. 266, §1, eff. July 18, 1982; Acts 1995, No. 1046, §1, eff. June 29, 1995; Acts 1997, No. 352, §1.