Terms Used In Missouri Laws > Chapter 130 - Campaign Finance Disclosure Law

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Campaign committee: a committee, other than a candidate committee, which shall be formed by an individual or group of individuals to receive contributions or make expenditures and whose sole purpose is to support or oppose the qualification and passage of one or more particular ballot measures in an election or the retention of judges under the nonpartisan court plan, such committee shall be formed no later than thirty days prior to the election for which the committee receives contributions or makes expenditures, and which shall terminate the later of either thirty days after the general election or upon the satisfaction of all committee debt after the general election, except that no committee retiring debt shall engage in any other activities in support of a measure for which the committee was formed. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• candidate: includes an elected officeholder who is the subject of a recall election, an individual who seeks nomination by the individual's political party for election to public office, an individual standing for retention in an election to an office to which the individual was previously appointed, an individual who seeks nomination or election whether or not the specific elective public office to be sought has been finally determined by such individual at the time the individual meets the conditions described in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision, and an individual who is a write-in candidate as defined in subdivision (28) of this section. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Candidate committee: a committee which shall be formed by a candidate to receive contributions or make expenditures in behalf of the person's candidacy and which shall continue in existence for use by an elected candidate or which shall terminate the later of either thirty days after the general election for a candidate who was not elected or upon the satisfaction of all committee debt after the election, except that no committee retiring debt shall engage in any other activities in support of the candidate for which the committee was formed. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Cash: currency, coin, United States postage stamps, or any negotiable instrument which can be transferred from one person to another person without the signature or endorsement of the transferor. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• 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.
• Check: a check drawn on a state or federal bank, or a draft on a negotiable order of withdrawal account in a savings and loan association or a share draft account in a credit union. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Closing date: the date through which a statement or report is required to be complete. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• committee: includes , but is not limited to, each of the following committees: campaign committee, candidate committee, continuing committee and political party committee. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Connected organization: any organization such as a corporation, a labor organization, a membership organization, a cooperative, or trade or professional association which expends funds or provides services or facilities to establish, administer or maintain a committee or to solicit contributions to a committee from its members, officers, directors, employees or security holders. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Continuing committee: includes , but is not limited to, any committee organized or sponsored by a business entity, a labor organization, a professional association, a trade or business association, a club or other organization and whose primary purpose is to solicit, accept and use contributions from the members, employees or stockholders of such entity and any individual or group of individuals who accept and use contributions to influence or attempt to influence the action of voters. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contribution: includes , but is not limited to:

  (a) A candidate's own money or property used in support of the person's candidacy other than expense of the candidate's food, lodging, travel, and payment of any fee necessary to the filing for public office. See Missouri Laws 130.011

• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: any one of the several counties of this state or the city of St. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Disclosure report: an itemized report of receipts, expenditures and incurred indebtedness which is prepared on forms approved by the Missouri ethics commission and filed at the times and places prescribed. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Election: any primary, general or special election held to nominate or elect an individual to public office, to retain or recall an elected officeholder or to submit a ballot measure to the voters, and any caucus or other meeting of a political party or a political party committee at which that party's candidate or candidates for public office are officially selected. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Expenditure: includes , but is not limited to:

  (a) Payment by anyone other than a committee for services of another person rendered to such committee. See Missouri Laws 130.011

• Exploratory committees: a committee which shall be formed by an individual to receive contributions and make expenditures on behalf of this individual in determining whether or not the individual seeks elective office. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Fund-raising event: an event such as a dinner, luncheon, reception, coffee, testimonial, rally, auction or similar affair through which contributions are solicited or received by such means as the purchase of tickets, payment of attendance fees, donations for prizes or through the purchase of goods, services or political merchandise. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• General election: means the election required to be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, biennially. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• in-kind expenditure: a contribution or expenditure in a form other than money. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Labor organization: any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Loan: a transfer of money, property or anything of ascertainable monetary value in exchange for an obligation, conditional or not, to repay in whole or in part and which was contracted, used, or intended for use in an election campaign, or which was made or received by a committee or which was contracted, used, or intended to pay previously incurred campaign debts or obligations of a candidate or the debts or obligations of a committee. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• measure: any proposal submitted or intended to be submitted to qualified voters for their approval or rejection, including any proposal submitted by initiative petition, referendum petition, or by the general assembly or any local governmental body having authority to refer proposals to the voter. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• office: any state, judicial, county, municipal, school or other district, ward, township, or other political subdivision office or any political party office which is filled by a vote of registered voters. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: an individual, group of individuals, corporation, partnership, committee, proprietorship, joint venture, any department, agency, board, institution or other entity of the state or any of its political subdivisions, union, labor organization, trade or professional or business association, association, political party or any executive committee thereof, or any other club or organization however constituted or any officer or employee of such entity acting in the person's official capacity. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Place of residence: means the place where the family of any person permanently resides in this state, and the place where any person having no family generally lodges. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Political merchandise: goods such as bumper stickers, pins, hats, ties, jewelry, literature, or other items sold or distributed at a fund-raising event or to the general public for publicity or for the purpose of raising funds to be used in supporting or opposing a candidate for nomination or election or in supporting or opposing the qualification, passage or defeat of a ballot measure. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Political party: a political party which has the right under law to have the names of its candidates listed on the ballot in a general election. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Political party committee: a state, district, county, city, or area committee of a political party, as defined in section 115. See Missouri Laws 130.011
• Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• United States: includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• voter: is used in the laws of this state it shall mean registered voter, or legal voter. See Missouri Laws 1.035
• Ward: if used in a section in a context relating to the property rights and obligations of a person, means a protectee as defined in chapter 475. See Missouri Laws 1.020