Campaign finance requirements in Nebraska
 in Nebraska |
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| Campaign finance |
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Federal campaign finance laws and regulations |
| Campaign finance reform |
| History of campaign finance reform |
| State by state comparison of campaign finance reporting requirements |
| Election policy |
| State information |
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Nebraska campaign finance requirements govern the following:
- how much money candidates may receive from individuals and organizations,
- how much and how often they must report those contributions, and
- how much individuals, organizations and political parties may contribute to campaigns.
In addition to direct campaign contributions, campaign finance laws also apply to third-party organizations and nonprofit organizations that seek to influence elections through independent expenditures or issue advocacy.
Background
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign election laws. The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits and prohibitions on contributions and overseeing public funding of presidential elections.[1] According to the FEC, an individual becomes a federal candidate and must begin reporting campaign finances once he or she has either raised or spent $5,000 in his or her campaign. Within fifteen days of this benchmark, the candidate must register with the FEC and designate an official campaign committee, which is responsible for the funds and expenditures of the campaign. This committee must have an official treasurer and cannot support any candidate but the one who registered it. Detailed financial reports are then made to the FEC every financial quarter after the individual is registered. Reports are also made before primaries and before the general election.[2]
The Supreme Court of the United States has issued a number of rulings pertaining to federal election campaign finance regulations. In the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited. The court's decision also overturned the ban on for-profit and not-for-profit corporations and unions broadcasting electioneering communications in the 30 days before a presidential primary and in the 60 days before a general election.[3] In the SpeechNOW.org v. Federal Election Commission decision, the first application of the Citizens United decision, the court held that contribution limits on what individuals could give to independent expenditure-only groups, and the amount these organizations could receive, were unconstitutional. Contribution limits on donations directly to candidates, however, remained unchanged.[4][5] In 2014's McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission decision, the court overturned biennial aggregate campaign contribution limits, and held that individuals may contribute to as many federal candidates as they want, but may only contribute up to the federal limit in each case.[6]
While the FEC governs federal election campaigns and contribution limits, individual states enforce their own regulation and reporting requirements. Regulations vary by state, as do limits on campaign contributions and third-party activities to influence elections.
Contribution limits
The table below details contribution limits as they applied to various types of individuals and groups in Nebraska as of May 2015. The uppermost row of the table indicates the contributor, while the leftmost column indicates the recipient.
| Nebraska contribution limits as of May 2015 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individuals | Single candidates committees | PACs | Political party | Super PACs | Corporations | Unions | |||
| Statewide Candidate (incl. Governor) | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | $0 | unlimited | unlimited | ||
| Senate | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | $0 | unlimited | unlimited | ||
| PAC | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | $0 | unlimited | unlimited | ||
| Party committees | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | $0 | unlimited | unlimited | ||
| Ballot measures | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | unlimited | $0 | unlimited | unlimited | ||
| Sources: CSG Midwest, "Campaign finance in the Midwest: Federal and state court rulings have led to big changes for candidates and contributors alike," accessed May 25, 2015 | |||||||||
Candidate requirements
See statutes: Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act (NPADA)
Once a candidate for state or local office raises, receives or spends $5,000 or more in a calendar year, he or she must register the candidate committee (which consists, at minimum, of the candidate) with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission by submitting a Statement of Organization and paying a $100 filing fee.[7][8]
When a candidate forms a committee, he or she must appoint a treasurer (the candidate may serve in this role) and establish an account in a Nebraska financial institution as an official depository for all contributions received. All expenditures to support the candidate's election must be made from this account.[9][10]
Candidates are required to submit regular finance reports during primary and general election campaigns. These statements must include the following information:[11]
- the committee's name, address and telephone number, as well as the full name, residential and business addresses and telephone numbers of the committee's treasurer
- under the heading "Receipts":
- the total amount of contributions received during the period covered by the statement
- under the heading "Expenditures":
- the total amount of expenditures made during the period covered by the statement
- the cumulative amount of these totals for the election period
- the balance of cash and equivalents on hand at the beginning and end of the period covered by the statement
- the full name, address, amount and date of contribution and cumulative contribution total for each individual whose contributions totaled more than $250 during the period covered by the report
- the full name and street address of each person to whom expenditures totaling more than $250 were made, as well as the date and amount of each separate expenditure to each such person during the period covered by the statement; purpose of expenditure must also be noted
Note: This is not an exhaustive list. For complete information, see Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act, Section 49-1455.
Generally, regular campaign finance reports include the following: a first primary statement, a second primary statement, a post-primary statement, a first general statement, a second general statement, and a post-general statement.[9]
Campaign finance legislation
The following is a list of recent campaign finance bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Nebraska state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.
Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.
Election and campaign ballot measures
Ballotpedia has tracked 35 statewide ballot measures relating to elections and campaigns.
- Nebraska Lieutenant Governor Election, Amendment 1 (2000)
- Nebraska Voting on Merging Governments, Amendment 10 (1896)
- Nebraska Voting Methods, Amendment 11 (1896)
- Nebraska Voting on Internal Improvement and Manufacturing Donations, Amendment 12 (1896)
- Nebraska Voting Requirements, Amendment 1 (1910)
- Nebraska Biennial Elections, Amendment 4 (1912)
- Nebraska Voting Requirements, Amendment 1 (1918)
- Nebraska Direct Primaries, Referendum 1 (1920)
- Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Elections, Amendment 17 (September 1920)
- Nebraska Soldier Suffrage, Amendment 19 (September 1920)
- Nebraska Election of University Regents, Amendment 22 (September 1920)
- Nebraska Direct Primaries, Referendum 3 (1922)
- Nebraska Voter Registration, Referendum 4 (1922)
- Nebraska Direct Primaries and Nonpartisan Elections, Amendment 1 (1924)
- Nebraska Publication of Constitutional Amendments, Amendment 6 (1952)
- Nebraska Elections of Executive Officers, Amendment 4 (1960)
- Nebraska Judicial Districts and Elections, Amendment 6 (1960)
- Nebraska Commissioner of Education, Amendment 9 (1960)
- Nebraska State Railway Commission, Amendment 2 (1962)
- Nebraska Commissioner of Education, Amendment 1 (1964)
- Nebraska Voting Age, Amendment 1 (1968)
- Nebraska Election Jurisdiction, Amendment 4 (1968)
- Nebraska Special Constitutional Amendment Elections, Amendment 5 (1968)
- Nebraska Voting Age, Amendment 1 (1970)
- Nebraska Joint Elections for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Amendment 13b (1970)
- Nebraska Voting Age, Amendment 8 (May 1972)
- Nebraska Elections of Senators, Amendment 10 (May 1972)
- Nebraska Resident Requirements for Voters, Amendment 15a (May 1972)
- Nebraska Military Duty on Election Day, Amendment 15b (May 1972)
- Nebraska Voting Methods, Amendment 15c (May 1972)
- Nebraska Signature Requirements for Initiatives, Amendment 3a (1988)
- Nebraska Voter Age Requirements, Amendment 3b (1988)
- Nebraska Rules Governing Initiative Signatures, Measure 410 (1996)
- Nebraska Judicial Elections, Amendment 3B (1998)
- Nebraska Two Votes to Amend Constitution, Amendment 3A (2000)
- See also: Campaign finance agencies in Nebraska and State election agencies
Candidates running for office may require some form of interaction with the following agency:
- Nebraska Secretary of State
- Why: This agency provides and processes candidate filing forms and statements of financial interests. This agency also accepts payment for the requisite filing fees.
- Physical address: State Capitol, Third Floor, 1445 K Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-2731
- Mailing address: P.O. Box 94608, Lincoln, NE 68509-4608
- Telephone: 402.471.2555
- Fax: 402.471.7834
- Email: [email protected]
- http://www.sos.ne.gov/
- Physical address: State Capitol, Third Floor, 1445 K Street, Lincoln, NE 68508-2731
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Nebraska campaign finance. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Campaign finance regulation
- Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Nebraska
- Nebraska
Footnotes
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "About the FEC," accessed June 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candidate Registration Brochure," accessed December 7, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit," January 21, 2010
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Speechnow.org v. FEC," April 7, 2014
- ↑ OpenSecrets, "Two Federal Court Rulings Could Change Campaign Finance Landscape," March 26, 2010
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Ongoing Litigation," accessed March 18, 2015
- ↑ Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, "Candidates - General Information for the Public," accessed December 9, 2013
- ↑ Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act, "Section 49-1445," accessed December 9, 2013
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, "2014 Candidate Brochure," accessed December 9, 2013
- ↑ Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act, "Section 49-1446," accessed December 9, 2013
- ↑ Nebraska Political Accountability and Disclosure Act, "Section 49-1455," accessed January 2, 2014
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