Use of Political Committees

Yes. You may use PayPal (or another Payment Service Provider) to accept campaign contributions, but those must be promptly transferred to your committee's checking account. You can also use a Payment Service Provider to make campaign expenditures so long as the funds are drawn directly from the committee’s checking account. This means you cannot leave contributions in your PayPal balance, even if you expect to use them later for campaign expenses. You must also ensure that the Payment Service Provider collects all of the information about donors required for reporting.

Yes, so long as:

1. it is reasonably necessary that such purchases are not made from the candidate committee's checking account;

2. the campaign reimburses you (or the campaign worker) within 45 days of the purchase;

3. the reimbursement is disclosed and accurately described in the required campaign finance report; and

4. the campaign keeps records of both the purchase and reimbursement.

Yes, so long as:

1. the vendor’s expenses are incidental to providing the agreed-upon services to the campaign;

2. the campaign promptly reimburses the vendor; and

3. the vendor promptly submits an invoice for those costs and the campaign makes prompt reimbursement.

Yes. As a candidate for City office, you may make expenditures through one additional committee (i.e. a political committee other than your campaign committee) if those expenditures are:

• for the printing and distribution of sample ballots AND

• the resulting ballots are distributed in your ward.

Note that sample ballot expenditures through another committee are permitted but not required. For further discussion of sample ballots, click here.

Contributions to litigation fund committees. A litigation fund committee can receive contributions. Those contributions are subject to the same dollar limits as contributions to a candidate committee, but the contributions are computed separately. For example, if an individual donor gave $3,100 to your candidate committee, they can still give up to $3,100 to your litigation committee. For more about contribution limits, click here.

Expenditures by litigation fund committees. A litigation fund committee can only spend money on professional fees and expenses that are part of the defense of a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding arising directly out of your campaign. You cannot transfer funds from your litigation fund to your candidate committee. You can, however, make payments from your candidate committee for litigation expenses. Within six months after the general election for which you sought election, you must terminate the committee and return all remaining funds to contributors.

As a candidate or former candidate for City office, any money raised for or spent on your transition or inauguration to office must be handled through a separate committee. You may transfer money from your candidate committee to your transition and inauguration committee. You cannot, however, transfer funds from the transition and inauguration committee to the candidate committee. Within six months of your inauguration to City office, you must terminate the committee and return any remaining funds to contributors.