West Virginia Code 3-8-5 – Detailed accounts and verified financial statements required
(a) Record-keeping requirements. —
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 3-8-5
- Candidate: means an individual who:
(A) Has filed a certificate of announcement under §. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Election: means any primary, general, or special election conducted under the provisions of this code or under the charter of any municipality at which the voters nominate or elect candidates for public office. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Electioneering communication: means any paid communication made by broadcast, cable or satellite signal, mass mailing, telephone bank, billboard advertisement, or publication in any newspaper, magazine, or other periodical that:
(i) Refers to a clearly identified candidate for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Commissioner of Agriculture, Supreme Court of Appeals, or the Legislature. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Financial transactions: means all contributions or loans received and all repayments of loans or expenditures made to promote the candidacy of any person by any candidate or any organization advocating or opposing the nomination, election, or defeat of any candidate to be voted on. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Independent expenditure: means an expenditure by a person:
(A) Expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, including supporting or opposing the candidates of a political party. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
- Local: refers to the election of candidates to a city, county, or municipal office and any issue to be voted on by only the residents of a particular political subdivision. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Office: shall be construed to mean "public office" which shall include (1) any elective office provided for by the Constitution or laws of the United States or of this state to which a salary or other compensation attaches, and (2) membership in a Constitutional convention. See West Virginia Code 3-1-2
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, committee, association, and any other organization or group of individuals. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Political committee: means any candidate committee, political action committee, or political party committee. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- Political purposes: means supporting or opposing the nomination, election, or defeat of one or more candidates or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue, supporting the retirement of the debt of a candidate or political committee or the administration or activities of an established political party or an organization which has declared itself a political party, and determining the advisability of becoming a candidate under the pre-candidacy financing provisions of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 3-8-1a
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(1) Except for candidates for party committeeman and committeewoman, all candidates for nomination or election to state or local offices and all persons supporting, aiding, or opposing the nomination, election, or defeat of any such candidate shall keep, for a period of two years, records of receipts and expenditures which are made for political purposes.
(2) Every candidate or treasurer of every political committee shall keep detailed accounts of every sum of money or other thing of value received by him or her, including all loans of money or things of value and of all expenditures and disbursements made, or liabilities incurred, by the candidate or political committee.
(3) A person that is not a political committee and makes independent expenditures or electioneering communications must keep detailed accounts of every sum of money or other thing of value received by him or her for the purpose of furthering any independent expenditure or electioneering communication and of all disbursements made for independent expenditures or electioneering communications.
(b) Financial reporting requirements. —
(1) Every person required to keep detailed accounts under subsection (a) of this section shall file a detailed, itemized sworn statement, as prescribed in §3-8-5a and § 3-8-5b of this code, according to the following schedule:
(A) On April 1 of each year, the person shall file a statement of all financial transactions dating from January 1 to March 31 of the same year, to be filed within six days thereafter;
(B) On July 1 of each year, the person shall file a statement of all financial transactions dating from April 1 to June 30 of the same year, to be filed within six days thereafter;
(C) On October 1 of each year, the person shall file a statement of all financial transactions dating from July 1 to September 30 of the same year, to be filed within six days thereafter; and
(D) On January 1 of each year, the person shall file a statement of all financial transactions dating from October 1 to December 31 of the previous year, to be filed within six days thereafter.
(2) In addition to the statements required in subdivision (1) of this subsection, a candidate or candidate’s committee shall file detailed itemized sworn statements, as prescribed in §3-8-5a and § 3-8-5b of this code, according to the following schedule:
(A) On the 15th day preceding the primary election in which a candidate is on the ballot, the candidate or committee shall file a statement of all financial transactions subsequent to the previous statement, if any, to be filed within four business days after the 15th day; and
(B) On the 15th day preceding the general election in which a candidate, including an official write-in candidate, is on the ballot, the candidate or committee shall file a statement of all financial transactions subsequent to the previous statement, if any, to be filed within four business days after the 15th day.
(c) A person required to file reports pursuant to 52 U.S.C. § 30104 is exempt from the requirements of subsection (b) of this section but is not exempt from the state-level electioneering communication reports requirements in § 3-8-2b of this code or the independent expenditure reporting requirements in § 3-8-2 of this code.
(d) Every person who is qualified as an official write-in candidate for any elective office shall individually, or by candidate committee, comply with all of the applicable requirements of this section.
(e) Candidates for the office of conservation district supervisor elected pursuant to the provisions of § 19-21A-1 et seq. of this code are required to file only the report required by paragraph (A), subdivision (2), subsection (b) of this section immediately prior to the applicable general election that is held concurrently with the state’s primary election.