Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately allow candidates to designate additional financial institutions as depositories under the campaign finance law during current election campaigns, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Section 19 of chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1994 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (a) and inserting in place thereof the following subsection:-

(a) Candidates for nomination or election to the offices of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer and receiver general, auditor, governor's council, district attorney, clerk of court, register of probate, registrar of deeds, county commissioner, county treasurer, and sheriff, mayor or other citywide office, except for the office of school committee, in a city with a total population, as determined by the most recent decennial federal census, of one hundred thousand or more persons and the treasurer of each state committee referred to in section one of chapter fifty-two, and the treasurer of the nonelected political committee authorized by any of the aforesaid candidates shall forthwith, upon the organization of said political committee, or upon becoming a candidate in accordance with the provision of clauses (1) and (2) of the definition of candidate in section one, designate a financial institution as a depository for the campaign funds of such candidate or political committee. The financial institution so designated shall be a national bank, federal savings bank, federal savings and loan association or federal credit union, if such bank, association or credit union is authorized to transact business and has its main office or a branch office in the commonwealth; or a trust company, credit union, co-operative bank or savings bank, if such company, credit union or bank is organized and exists under the laws of the commonwealth or any other state of the United States or is otherwise authorized to transact business in the commonwealth and has its main office or a branch office in the commonwealth. Each such candidate, and the treasurer of each such political committee shall file with the director, no later than the third business day following the designation of such depository, a certificate of appointment containing the name of the financial institution so designated, and the name of the candidate or political committee, and shall authorize the financial institution so designated to submit the reports required by subsection (e).