2020 Georgia Code
Title 21 - Elections
Chapter 5 - Ethics in Government
Article 2 - Campaign Contributions
§ 21-5-30. Contributions Made to Candidate or Campaign Committee or for Recall of a Public Officer

1. Except as provided in subsection (e) of Code Section 21-5-34, no contributions to bring about the nomination or election of a candidate for any office shall be made or accepted except directly to or by a candidate or such candidate's campaign committee which is organized for the purpose of bringing about the nomination or election of any such candidate; and no contributions to bring about the recall of a public officer or to oppose the recall of a public officer or to bring about the approval or rejection by the voters of a proposed constitutional amendment, state-wide referendum, or proposed question at the state, municipal, or county level shall be made or accepted except directly to or by a campaign committee organized for that purpose.
2. Each candidate shall maintain records and file reports as required by this chapter or shall have a campaign committee for the purposes of maintaining records and filing reports as required by this chapter. Every campaign committee shall have a chairperson and a treasurer, except that the candidate may serve as the chairperson and treasurer. Before a campaign committee accepts contributions, the name and address of the chairperson and treasurer shall be filed with the commission. When a candidate has been elected to public office, the registration of that candidate's campaign committee with the commission shall remain in effect so long as the candidate remains in office until and unless the registration is canceled by the campaign committee or the candidate. The same person may serve as chairperson and treasurer. No contributions shall be accepted by or on behalf of the campaign committee at a time when there is a vacancy in the office of chairperson or treasurer of the campaign committee.
3. Contributions of money received pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section shall be deposited in a campaign depository account opened and maintained by the candidate or the campaign committee. The account may be an interest-bearing account; provided, however, that any interest earned on such account shall be reported and may only be used for the purposes allowed for contributions under this chapter. Those who elect the separate accounting option as provided in Code Section 21-5-43 may also open, but are not required to open, a separate campaign depository account for each election for which contributions are accepted and allocated beyond their next upcoming election.
4. Unless otherwise reported individually, where separate contributions of less than $100.00 are knowingly received from a common source, such contributions shall be aggregated for reporting purposes. For purposes of fulfilling such aggregation requirement, members of the family, members of the same firm or partnership, or employees of the same person, as defined in paragraph (19) of Code Section 21-5-3, shall be considered to be a common source; provided, however, that the purchase of tickets for not more than $25.00 each and for or attendance at a fundraising event by members of the family, members of the same firm or partnership, or employees of the same person shall not be considered to be contributions from a common source except to the extent that tickets are purchased as a block.
5. The making and acceptance of anonymous contributions are prohibited. Any anonymous contributions received by a candidate or campaign committee shall be transmitted to the state treasurer for deposit in the state treasury, and the fact of such contribution and transmittal shall be reported to the commission.
6. 1. For purposes of this subsection, the term:
      1. "Public utility corporation regulated by the Public Service Commission" includes, but is not limited to, an electric membership corporation.
      2. "Electric membership corporation" means a public utility corporation regulated by the Public Service Commission operating as an electric membership corporation under the provisions of Article 4 of Chapter 3 of Title 46.
   2. Except as limited by Code Section 21-5-30.1 or this subsection, a public utility corporation regulated by the Public Service Commission shall be allowed to make contributions to political campaigns. Any contributions made by a public utility corporation regulated by the Public Service Commission to a political campaign shall not be included as recoverable costs in any rate-making or rate-setting proceedings before the Public Service Commission. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Code section or any other provision of law to the contrary, no electric membership corporation and no nonprofit corporation, group, or association, the membership of which consists of electric membership corporations, shall be authorized to make any contribution to a political campaign. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in this Code section shall be construed to prohibit a nonprofit corporation, group, or association, the membership of which consists of electric membership corporations, from establishing, administering, and soliciting contributions for a political action committee from officers, directors, employees, agents, contractors, and members of such entities so long as such actions and contributions do not otherwise violate the provisions of this chapter.
7. Neither a candidate who is not a public officer nor his or her campaign committee may lawfully accept a campaign contribution until the candidate has filed with the commission a declaration of intention to accept campaign contributions which shall include the name and address of the candidate and the names and addresses of his or her campaign committee officers, if any; provided, however, that a candidate, as defined in subparagraphs (F) and (G) of paragraph (22) of Code Section 21-5-3, shall make filings of the same kind and in the same manner as provided in this subsection for other public officers except that filings under this subsection shall be made with the election superintendent of the county in the case of public officers as defined in subparagraph (F) of paragraph (22) of Code Section 21-5-3 and shall be made with the municipal clerk in the municipality of election or, if there is no clerk, with the chief executive officer of the municipality in the case of public officers as defined in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (22) of Code Section 21-5-3. The election superintendent, municipal clerk, or chief executive officer, as applicable, shall transmit electronically by eFiling or eFax a copy of each such declaration of intention to the commission not later than ten days after the close of the reporting period.

(Code 1981, §21-5-30, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 957, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 297, § 9; Ga. L. 1987, p. 458, § 2; Ga. L. 1988, p. 603, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 922, § 2; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1075, § 4; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1402, § 18; Ga. L. 1994, p. 258, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1092, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 10/HB 48; Ga. L. 2006, p. 69, § 1/SB 467; Ga. L. 2010, p. 863, § 3/SB 296; Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 10/SB 17; Ga. L. 2011, p. 569, § 1/SB 160; Ga. L. 2014, p. 9, § 1/SB 297.)

- Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 28/HB 48, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall not apply to any violation occurring prior to January 9, 2006.

Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 1/SB 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act of 2010.'"

Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 30/SB 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that the amendment to this Code section applies to all reports filed on and after January 10, 2011.

- For article, "Georgia Campaign Finance and Disclosure Law," see 27 Ga. St. B. J. 175 (1991). For article on the 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2005). For note on the 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 247 (1992).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions decided under Ga. L. 1974, p. 155 and the former chapter are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Subsection (e) is not unconstitutional, as it does not take private property without compensation. An anonymous contribution never becomes the property of the candidate or the candidate's committee. Fortson v. Weeks, 232 Ga. 472, 208 S.E.2d 68 (1974) (decided under provisions of Ga. L. 1974, p. 155 similar to subsection (e) of this Code section).

- Candidate charged with failure to report certain "common source" contributions, as defined by O.C.G.A. § 21-5-30, could not be penalized for such failure, even though the candidate knew the contributions were from a common source, where it was the candidate's campaign treasurer who was unaware of the common source of the contributions and who filed the campaign report as authorized by O.C.G.A. § 21-5-34(a)(3). State Ethics Comm'r v. Moore, 214 Ga. App. 236, 447 S.E.2d 687 (1994).

- Attorney who delivered an anonymous campaign contribution on behalf of a client was improperly held in contempt for failing to disclose the client's name to the State Ethics Commission; the attorney invoked the self-incrimination privilege, and the trial court found the attorney in contempt without first determining whether the Commission's proposed questions might have been incriminating. Begner v. State Ethics Comm'n, 250 Ga. App. 327, 552 S.E.2d 431 (2001).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Public Utility Corporations

General Consideration

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions decided under the former chapter and former Code Section 21-5-10 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- The prohibition against for-hire motor carriers regulated by the Public Service Commission from contributing to a political campaign is still applicable despite the partial preemption provisions contained in the Federal Aviation Administration Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-305, § 601. 1996 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 96-1.

- Campaign committees must register with the Secretary of State at the time the committee is formed, regardless of the amount of money to be raised or expended. 1985 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 85-51 (decided under the former chapter).

- Assuming campaign contributions are made by state banks, there is no dollar amount that must be disclosed to the State Campaign and Financial Disclosure Commission (now the State Ethics Commission). 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-109 (decided under the former chapter).

Private carriers are not included within the purview of the Public Service Commission's general supervision, and are not subject to the prohibition against political contributions set forth in O.C.G.A. § 21-5-30(f). 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-32.

Public Utility Corporations

Constitutionality.

- Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62, as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127 does not unconstitutionally infringe guarantees of freedom of speech and association. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-56 (decided under Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127).

Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62, as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127 does not unconstitutionally deny equal protection to common carriers. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-56 (decided under Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127).

The differential treatment between regulated and nonregulated corporations imposed by Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62, as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120-1127 can be justified on the ground that in granting and protecting the monopolies of public utilities, the state has the duty also to see that the power so granted is not abused and does not even appear to have a corrupting influence on the political process. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-56 (decided under Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127).

- "Public utility" is a business organization which regularly supplies the public with some commodity or service; "regulated" is defined in former Code 1933, § 93-307 (see now O.C.G.A. § 46-2-20). 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 76-53.

- An electric membership corporation falls within the definition of a "public utility corporation, regulated by the Public Service Commission." 1985 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U85-35.

"Common carrier of persons or property" is a "public utility". 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-56 (decided under Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127).

- Public utility corporations regulated by the Public Service Commission are prohibited under the Campaign and Financial Disclosure Act, O.C.G.A. T. 21, Ch. 5, from rendering logistical assistance, including utility-compensated employee services of any kind, to a political campaign. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-1.

Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127 is a strict prohibition of any person acting on behalf of a regulated utility from making any contribution to any political campaign. 1982 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 82-56 (decided under Ga. L. 1974, pp. 155-62 as amended by Ga. L. 1975, pp. 1120, 1127).

- The value of any services performed by employees of a regulated public utility corporation on behalf of a campaign would constitute prohibited contributions, if those employees are performing such services on company time, while they are on duty, drawing or eligible for their salary or hourly pay. This would include a situation in which a regulated public utility employee collects personal contributions from other employees and forwards those contributions to a political campaign, if this activity is being done on company time. It would also apply to secretarial or any other services performed toward this end. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-1.

Attorneys who represent regulated public utilities are prohibited from making contributions to political campaigns on behalf of the regulated public utility, but are not prohibited from contributing to political campaigns in their personal capacity. 1986 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U86-34.

- Former § 21-5-10 did not prohibit political action committees, formed and operated pursuant to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, and funded by voluntary personal contributions from employees and persons affiliated with public utility corporations regulated by the Public Service Commission, which do not receive any assistance whatsoever from the regulated public utility corporation, from making political contributions to state and local political campaigns in Georgia; however, each situation must be determined on its own factual basis. 1986 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 86-2.

- Former Code 1933, § 40-3808.2 does not prohibit a public utility regulated by the Public Service Commission from contributing to efforts to publicize views with respect to a referendum on the imposition of a county sales tax. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-54 (decided under former Code 1933, § 40-3808.2).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 26 Am. Jur. 2d, Elections, § 459 et seq.

- 29 C.J.S., Elections §§ 372 et seq., 587 et seq.

- Solicitation or receipt of funds by public officer or employee for political campaign expenses or similar purposes as bribery, 55 A.L.R.2d 1137.

Constitutional validity of state or local regulation of contributions by or to political action committees, 24 A.L.R.6th 179.

Construction and application of Supreme Court's holding in Citizens United v. Federal Election Com'n, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2961, 159 Lab. Cas. (CCH) P 10166 (2010), that government may not prohibit independent and indirect corporate expenditures on political speech, 65 A.L.R.6th 503.