ASSEMBLY, No. 2446
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED OCTOBER 21, 1996
By Assemblyman BARNES
An Act limiting campaign expenditures by or in direct support of legislative candidates and supplementing P.L.1973, c.83 (C.19:44A-1 et seq.)
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. in 1976, the United States Supreme Court held in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1(1976), that provisions of federal law which limited campaign spending by candidates for federal office violated rights protected by the First Amendment;
b. the court found that the infringement on candidates' speech and associational freedoms was not justified by a sufficiently compelling government interest;
c. although the Buckley decision has been widely regarded as precluding the imposition of expenditure limits (except where public financing is provided), many reputable scholars have argued that this issue was wrongly decided because the court did not consider all of the relevant justifications for campaign spending limits;
d. it has been asserted that spending limits can be justified by the State's interest in preventing excessive fund-raising from interfering with the ability of officeholders to perform their official duties and that the extraordinary power of private wealth to affect the outcome of elections violates the principle of one man-one vote;
e. in addition, campaign finance has changed dramatically in the 20 years since Buckley was decided, with spending on campaigns for public office increasing exponentially;
f. what has been called the "tyranny of private wealth" is a corrupting, unfair influence on the democratic process which undermines equality in campaigns;
g. the need of candidates to raise and spend enormous sums has bred cynicism and distrust among the public and created an electoral system which is perversely dominated by special interests;
h. there exists, therefore, a compelling need for the State to address these problems by imposing limits on amounts which may be spent by candidates in State legislative elections.
2. a. A candidate for nomination for election, or for election, to the New Jersey Senate or General Assembly shall not expend in aid of the candidate's candidacy in the primary election or in the general election, respectively, more than the amount determined by multiplying $1 by the number of persons registered to vote in the candidate's legislative district as of the most recent general election day.
b. (1) If a candidate has established a candidate committee only, the committee's expenditures shall not exceed the limit established by subsection a. of this section.
(2) If a candidate participates in a joint candidates committee, but has not also established a candidate committee, that portion of the joint candidates committee's expenditures attributable to the candidate, determined by dividing the committee's expenditures by the number of candidates in the committee, shall not exceed the limit established by subsection a. of this section.
(3) If a candidate participates in a joint candidates committee and has also established a candidate committee, the total of that portion of the joint candidates committee's expenditures attributable to the candidate, determined by dividing the committee's expenditures by the number of candidates in the committee, and the expenditures of the candidate committee, shall not exceed the limit established by subsection a. of this section.
c. Amounts expended by a State political party committee, a county political party committee, a municipal political party committee, or a legislative leadership committee in direct support of a candidate shall be counted toward the limit established by subsection a. of this section.
3. The Election Law Enforcement Commission shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to effectuate the purposes of this act.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would limit campaign expenditures by legislative candidates. It provides that a candidate for the Legislature shall not expend in the primary election or in the general election, respectively, more than the amount determined by multiplying $1 by the number of registered voters in the legislative district. Expenditures by a joint candidates committee would be attributed to the candidates participating in the committee on a pro rata basis. Amounts expended by a State political party committee, a county political party committee, a municipal political party committee, or a legislative leadership committee in direct support of a candidate shall be counted toward the limit established for the candidate.
The purpose of the bill is to eliminate the need for legislative candidates to raise and spend increasingly larger amounts of money. Excessive fund- raising has contributed to the public's perception that the decisions of elected officials may be influenced by campaign contributors and has fueled a growing public cynicism about government and politics. In addition, the amount of time an elected official must devote to raising campaign funds may interfere with the official's ability to perform public duties. Furthermore, because incumbents are generally able to raise vastly larger amounts than challengers, unlimited campaign spending may discriminate against candidates who are not incumbent officeholders. These factors constitute compelling reasons for the State to limit campaign expenditures by or in direct support of legislative candidates and more than justify any possible infringement on candidates' associational rights.
Enactment of this bill would mean that, as a practical matter, all campaigns for State elective office would be subject to spending limits since gubernatorial candidates who accept public funding are already subject to a spending cap.
Limits campaign expenditures by or in direct support of legislative candidates.