MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Apportionment and Elections

By: Representative Horne

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-811, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT A PERSON HOLDING ELECTIVE OFFICE IN THIS STATE FROM RECEIVING OR SOLICITING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS DURING HIS CURRENT TERM OF OFFICE UNTIL THAT PERSON HAS AGAIN QUALIFIED AS A CANDIDATE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.  

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-811, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-811. (a) Any candidate or any other person who shall wilfully and deliberately violate the provisions and prohibitions of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine in a sum not to exceed Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00).

(b) In addition to the penalties provided in paragraph (a) of this section, any candidate or political committee which is required to file a statement or report which fails to file such statement or report on the date in which it is due may be compelled to file such statement or report by an action in the nature of a mandamus.

(c) No candidate shall be certified as nominated for election or as elected to office unless and until he files all reports required by this article due as of the date of certification.

(d) No candidate who is elected to office shall receive any salary or other remuneration for the office unless and until he files all reports required by this article due as of the date such salary or remuneration is payable.

(e) In the event that a candidate fails to timely file any report required pursuant to this article but subsequently files a report or reports containing all of the information required to be reported by him as of the date on which the sanctions of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section would be applied to him, such candidate shall not be subject to the sanctions of said paragraphs (c) and (d).

(f) No person who holds any elective office in this state other than a federal elective office shall receive or solicit, or permit any political committee, affiliated organization or other person to receive or solicit, contributions for the purpose of obtaining financial support for that person as a candidate for reelection to the office he holds or for election to some other office in this state during the period beginning on the date that his current term of office begins and continuing until such time as the person has met the qualifications for and has legally qualified as a candidate for the office to which he seeks election or reelection.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.