Frequently Asked Questions

Under the City’s Campaign Finance Law, City elective office consists of the offices of the Mayor, District Attorney, City Controller, Sheriff, City Commissioner, and City Council.

Under the City’s Campaign Finance Law, a candidate is defined as an individual who: (i) files nomination papers or petitions for City elective office; or (ii) publicly announces his or her candidacy for City elective office.

Once an individual becomes a candidate under the City’s Campaign Finance Law, he or she may not spend excess pre-candidacy contributions to influence his or her election. An “excess pre-candidacy contribution” is the portion of a pre-candidacy contribution to a political committee that, had it been made to a candidate for City elective office, would have been in excess of the contribution limits.

You can find more information about how to account for and handle excess pre-candidacy contributions in Subpart J of Board Regulation No. 1.

No. Note, however, that if a candidate contributes $250,000 or more of his or her own personal resources to his or her own campaign, the contribution limits for all candidates for that City elective office double. The limits do not double for contributions to a candidate’s litigation fund committee or transition and inauguration committee.

• Any direct contribution to a candidate for City elective office;

• Any expenditure that is coordinated with a candidate for City elective office and is therefore an in-kind contribution to the candidate;

• Any independent expenditure promoting or opposing a candidate for City elective office; or

• Any expenditure for a publicly-distributed electioneering communication, which is any broadcast, cable, radio, print, Internet, or satellite communication that: (a) promotes, attacks, supports, or opposes a candidate; or (b) within 50 days of a covered election, names, refers to, includes, or depicts a candidate in that covered election.

All filings with the Board of Ethics must be submitted electronically.

In order to file a report electronically with the Board of Ethics, a person must set up a filing account by going to this link: https://apps.phila.gov/campaign-finance/auth/.

You can use the system to simultaneously file with the Board and the City Commissioners. If you need to file with the Department of State, you can either print out a paper copy of the report or export the report into text files for electronic submission.

Filing a campaign finance report with the Board of Ethics does not satisfy the requirement under the Pennsylvania Election Code to file reports with the City Commissioners or the Pennsylvania Department of State. For questions about the Pennsylvania Election Code, please call either the City Commissioners at 215-686-3469 or the Department of State at 717-787-1512.

Yes. As a general rule, a candidate’s campaign may use no more than one political committee and one checking account for the City elective office the candidate is seeking. All contributions for that office must be deposited into the candidate political committee’s checking account. All expenditures for that office, including payments for debt incurred to influence a covered election, must be made from the candidate political committee’s checking account.

A candidate may establish a separate litigation fund committee to receive contributions and make expenditures to pay professional fees incurred in defense of a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding arising directly out of the conduct of the candidate’s campaign or the candidate’s participation in the election.

A candidate (or a former candidate) may establish a separate transition and inauguration committee to receive contributions and make expenditures to pay expenses for that candidate’s transition or inauguration into City elective office.

The Board of Ethics is authorized to enforce the City’s Campaign Finance Law by either filing an action in court or through an administrative adjudication. The maximum penalty for most violations of the Campaign Finance Law is $2,000.

The penalty for acceptance of an excess contribution is three times the excess portion or $2,000, whichever is less, but no penalty is assessed if the candidate returns the excess within 15 days of receipt and so notifies the Board of Ethics.

The penalty for the late filing of a campaign finance report is $250, and each day after the due date is a separate violation. The maximum penalty is $2,000 for the first 30 days late, plus $1,000 for each additional 30-day period or part thereof.