(a)  No contribution shall be made or received, and no expenditures shall be directly made or incurred, to support or defeat a candidate except through:

(1)  The candidate or duly appointed campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer of the candidate;

(2)  The duly appointed campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer of a political party committee;

(3)  The duly appointed campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer of a political action committee.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-10

  • Candidate: means any individual who undertakes any action, whether preliminary or final, which is necessary under the law to qualify for nomination for election or election to public office, and/or any individual who receives a contribution or makes an expenditure, or gives his or her consent for any other person to receive a contribution or make an expenditure, with a view to bringing about his or her nomination or election to any public office, whether or not the specific public office for which he or she will seek nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is received or the expenditure is made and whether or not he or she has announced his or her candidacy or filed a declaration of candidacy at that time. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • donor: means a person, business entity, or political action committee that makes a donation. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3
  • 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
  • expenditures: include all transfers of money, credit or debit card transactions, on-line or electronic payment systems such as "pay pal" paid personal services, or other thing of value to or by any candidate, committee of a political party, or political action committee or ballot question advocate. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, committee, association, corporation, union, charity, and/or any other organization. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3
  • Political action committee: means any group of two (2) or more persons that accepts any contributions to be used for advocating the election or defeat of any candidate or candidates. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3
  • State: means state of Rhode Island. See Rhode Island General Laws 17-25-3

(b)  It shall be lawful for any person, not otherwise prohibited by law and not acting in concert with any other person or group, to expend personally from that person’s own funds a sum that is not to be repaid to him or her for any purpose not prohibited by law to support or defeat a candidate; provided, that any person making the expenditure shall be required to report all of his or her expenditures and expenses, if the total of the money so expended exceeds one hundred dollars ($100) within a calendar year, to the board of elections within seven (7) days of making the expenditure and to the campaign treasurer of the candidate or political party committee on whose behalf the expenditure or contribution was made, or to his or her deputy, within seven (7) days of making the expenditure. The treasurer or his or her deputy shall cause the expenditures and expenses to be included in his or her reports to the board of elections. Whether a person is “acting in concert with any other person or group” for the purposes of this subsection shall be determined by application of the standards set forth in § 17-25-23.

(c)  Any anonymous contribution received by a candidate, campaign treasurer, or deputy campaign treasurer shall not be used or expended, but shall be returned to the donor, if the donor‘s identity can be ascertained; if not, the contribution shall escheat to the state.

History of Section.
P.L. 1974, ch. 298, § 1; P.L. 1981, ch. 188, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 2, § 1; P.L. 1992, ch. 21, § 1; P.L. 2006, ch. 174, § 1; P.L. 2006, ch. 292, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 20, § 2; P.L. 2015, ch. 23, § 2; P.L. 2016, ch. 511, art. 1, § 9.