2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 2 - Public Officers and Employees
CHAPTER 68A - CAMPAIGN FINANCE
68A.102 - DEFINITIONS.

        68A.102  DEFINITIONS.
         As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
         1.  "Ballot issue" means a question, other than the nomination
      or election of a candidate to a public office, which has been
      approved by a political subdivision or the general assembly or is
      required by law to be placed before the voters of the political
      subdivision by a commissioner of elections, or to be placed before
      the voters by the state commissioner of elections.
         2.  "Board" means the Iowa ethics and campaign disclosure
      board established under section 68B.32.
         3.  "Campaign function" means any meeting related to a
      candidate's campaign for election.
         4.  "Candidate" means any individual who has taken affirmative
      action to seek nomination or election to a public office and shall
      also include any judge standing for retention in a judicial election.

         5.  "Candidate's committee" means the committee designated by
      the candidate for a state, county, city, or school office to receive
      contributions in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the
      aggregate, expend funds in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in
      the aggregate, or incur indebtedness on behalf of the candidate in
      excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate in any
      calendar year.
         6.  "Clearly identified" means that a communication contains
      an unambiguous reference to a particular candidate or ballot issue,
      including but not limited to one or more of the following:
         a.  Use of the name of the candidate or ballot issue.
         b.  Use of a photograph or drawing of the candidate, or the
      use of a particular symbol associated with a specific ballot issue.
         c.  Use of a candidate's initials, nickname, office, or status
      as a candidate, or use of acronym, popular name, or characterization
      of a ballot issue.
         7.  "Commissioner" means the county auditor of each county,
      who is designated as the county commissioner of elections pursuant to
      section 47.2.
         8.  "Committee" includes a political committee and a
      candidate's committee.
         9.  "Consultant" means a person who provides or procures
      services including but not limited to consulting, public relations,
      advertising, fundraising, polling, managing or organizing services.
         10. a.  "Contribution" means:
         (1)  A gift, loan, advance, deposit, rebate, refund, or transfer
      of money or a gift in kind.
         (2)  The payment, by any person other than a candidate or
      political committee, of compensation for the personal services of
      another person which are rendered to a candidate or political
      committee for any such purpose.
         b.  "Contribution" shall not include:
         (1)  Services provided without compensation by individuals
      volunteering their time on behalf of a candidate's committee or
      political committee or a state or county statutory political
      committee except when organized or provided on a collective basis by
      a business, trade association, labor union, or any other organized
      group or association.
         (2)  Refreshments served at a campaign function so long as such
      refreshments do not exceed fifty dollars in value or transportation
      provided to a candidate so long as its value computed at the current
      rate of reimbursement allowed under the standard mileage rate method
      for computation of business expenses pursuant to the Internal Revenue
      Code does not exceed one hundred dollars in value in any one
      reporting period.
         (3)  Something provided to a candidate for the candidate's
      personal consumption or use and not intended for or on behalf of the
      candidate's committee.
         11.  "County office" includes the office of drainage district
      trustee.
         12.  "County statutory political committee" means a committee
      as described in section 43.100 that accepts contributions in excess
      of seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate, makes expenditures
      in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate, or incurs
      indebtedness in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the
      aggregate in any one calendar year to expressly advocate the
      nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate for public office.
         13.  "Disclosure report" means a statement of contributions
      received, expenditures made, and indebtedness incurred on forms
      prescribed by rules adopted by the board in accordance with chapter
      17A.
         14.  "Express advocacy" or to "expressly advocate" means
      communication that can be characterized according to at least one of
      the following descriptions:
         a.  The communication is political speech made in the form of
      a contribution.
         b.  In advocating the election or defeat of one or more
      clearly identified candidates or the passage or defeat of one or more
      clearly identified ballot issues, the communication includes explicit
      words that unambiguously indicate that the communication is
      recommending or supporting a particular outcome in the election with
      regard to any clearly identified candidate or ballot issue.
         15.  "Fundraising event" means any campaign function to which
      admission is charged or at which goods or services are sold.
         16.  "National political party" means a party which meets the
      definition of a political party established for this state by section
      43.2, and which also meets the statutory definition of the term
      "political party" or a term of like import in at least twenty-five
      other states of the United States.
         17.  "Person" means, without limitation, any individual,
      corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency,
      business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, labor
      union, or any other legal entity.
         18.  "Political committee" means either of the following:
         a.  A committee, but not a candidate's committee, that accepts
      contributions in excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the
      aggregate, makes expenditures in excess of seven hundred fifty
      dollars in the aggregate, or incurs indebtedness in excess of seven
      hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate in any one calendar year to
      expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate
      for public office, or to expressly advocate the passage or defeat of
      a ballot issue.
         b.  An association, lodge, society, cooperative, union,
      fraternity, sorority, educational institution, civic organization,
      labor organization, religious organization, or professional
      organization that accepts contributions in excess of seven hundred
      fifty dollars in the aggregate, makes expenditures in excess of seven
      hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate, or incurs indebtedness in
      excess of seven hundred fifty dollars in the aggregate in any one
      calendar year to expressly advocate the nomination, election, or
      defeat of a candidate for public office, or to expressly advocate the
      passage or defeat of a ballot issue.
         19.  "Political purpose" or "political purposes" means the
      express advocacy of a candidate or ballot issue.
         20.  "Public office" means any state, county, city, or school
      office filled by election.
         21.  "State income tax liability" means the state individual
      income tax imposed under section 422.5, less the amounts of
      nonrefundable credits allowed under chapter 422, division II.
         22.  "State statutory political committee" means a committee
      as defined in section 43.111.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C75, 77, 79, 81, § 56.2; 81 Acts, ch 35, § 1, 2] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         83 Acts, ch 139, § 2, 14; 86 Acts, ch 1023, § 1; 87 Acts, ch 112,
      § 1, 2; 91 Acts, ch 226, § 1; 92 Acts, ch 1228, § 22--24; 93 Acts, ch
      142, § 1--3; 93 Acts, ch 163, § 28--30, 38; 94 Acts, ch 1023, §80; 94
      Acts, ch 1180, §31, 32; 95 Acts, ch 198, §1, 2; 99 Acts, ch 136, §1,
      2, 17; 2002 Acts, ch 1073, §1, 2, 11; 2002 Acts, ch 1119, §124; 2003
      Acts, ch 40, § 9
         CS2003, § 68A.102
         2005 Acts, ch 72, §3, 4; 2006 Acts, ch 1158, §2; 2007 Acts, ch 14,
      §1; 2008 Acts, ch 1031, § 84
         Referred to in § 43.18, 43.67, 44.3, 45.3, 68A.201, 68A.402,
      99B.7, 99F.6
         "State commissioner" defined, § 39.3