AN ACT RELATIVE TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION LIMITS FOR CERTAIN CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR OFFICE IN A STATE ELECTION
Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to provide forthwith for candidates who run in a special election and a regularly scheduled election in the same year to collect the maximum contribution from donors for each contest, 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:
Subsection (a) of section 7A of chapter 55 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out paragraph (1) and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-
(1) An individual may make campaign contributions to candidates or candidates’ committees. The aggregate of all such contributions for the benefit of any 1 candidate and that candidate’s committee shall not exceed the sum of $1,000 in a calendar year; provided, however, that the aggregate of contributions by an individual for the benefit of any 1 candidate and the candidate’s committee seeking election to the office of state senator or state representative in a state election who previously, in the same calendar year, sought election to the office of state senator or state representative in a special election, shall not exceed the sum of $1,000 during the period beginning on the first day of January and ending on the day of the special election and an additional $1,000 during the period that begins on the day after the special election and ends on the last day of December following the special election.
Approved, July 22, 2016.