Michigan Laws 15.525 – Statement of organization; filing; information; amended statement; late filing fee; failure to file statement; dissolution
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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 15.525
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Contribution: means a payment, gift, subscription, assessment, expenditure, contract, payment for services, dues, advance, forbearance, loan, or donation of money or anything of ascertainable monetary value, or a transfer of anything of ascertainable monetary value to a person, made for or allocated to the purpose of defending an elected official in a criminal, civil, or administrative action that arises directly out of the conduct of the elected official's governmental duties. See Michigan Laws 15.523
- Elected official: means an individual who holds an elective office in state or local government in this state. See Michigan Laws 15.523
- Financial institution: means a state or nationally chartered bank or a state or federally chartered savings and loan association, savings bank, or credit union whose deposits are insured by an agency of the United States government and that maintains a principal office or branch office located in this state under the laws of this state or the United States. See Michigan Laws 15.523
- Legal defense fund: means all contributions received, held, or expended for the legal defense of an elected official. See Michigan Laws 15.523
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
- Treasurer: means the individual designated as responsible for a legal defense fund's record keeping, report preparation, or report filing or, in the absence of such an individual, the elected official who is the beneficiary of the legal defense fund. See Michigan Laws 15.523
(1) An elected official who is the beneficiary of a legal defense fund shall file a statement of organization with the secretary of state within 10 days after the earlier of the date the legal defense fund first receives a contribution or first makes an expenditure of a contribution.
(2) A statement of organization required by this section shall include all of the following information:
(a) The name, street address, and telephone number of the legal defense fund. The name of the legal defense fund shall include the first and last names of the elected official who is the beneficiary of the legal defense fund and the words “legal defense fund”.
(b) The name, street address, and telephone number of the individual designated as the treasurer of the legal defense fund.
(c) The name and address of the financial institution in which money of the legal defense fund is or is intended to be deposited.
(d) The full name of and office held by the elected official who is the beneficiary of the legal defense fund.
(e) A description of the criminal, civil, or administrative action arising directly out of the conduct of the elected official’s duties for which a contribution to or expenditure from the legal defense fund was made.
(3) If any of the information required in a statement of organization under this section changes, the legal defense fund shall file an amended statement of organization when the next transaction report under section 7 is required to be filed.
(4) An elected official who fails to file a statement of organization as required by this section shall pay a late filing fee of $10.00 for each business day the statement remains unfiled. A late filing fee shall not exceed $300.00. An elected official who fails to file a statement of organization under this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or both.
(5) When a legal defense fund is dissolved, the elected official shall file a statement of dissolution with the secretary of state, in the form required by the secretary of state, and shall return any unexpended funds to the contributor of the funds or forward the unexpended funds to the state treasurer for deposit into the general fund of the state or to the state bar of Michigan for deposit into the state bar of Michigan client protection fund.