N.J.S.A. 19:44A-22 — Violations; civil penalties; forfeiture.

19:44A-22 Violations; civil penalties; forfeiture. 22. a. (1) Except as provided in subsection e. or f., any person, including any candidate, treasurer, candidate committee or joint candidates committee, political committee, continuing political committee, political party committee or legislative leadership committee, charged with the responsibility under the terms of this act for the preparation, certification, filing or retention of any reports, records, notices or other documents, who fails, neglects or omits to prepare, certify, file or retain any such report, record, notice or document at the time or during the time period, as the case may be, and in the manner prescribed by law, or who omits or incorrectly states or certifies any of the information required by law to be included in such report, record, notice or document, any person who proposes to undertake or undertakes a public solicitation, testimonial affair or other activity relating to contributions or expenditures in any way regulated by the provisions of this act who fails to comply with those regulatory provisions, and any other person who in any way violates any of the provisions of this act shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be liable to a penalty of not more than $6,000 for the first offense and not more than $12,000 for the second and each subsequent offense. (2) No person shall willfully and intentionally agree with another person to make a contribution to a candidate, candidate committee, joint candidates committee, political committee, continuing political committee, political party committee, or legislative leadership committee with the intent, or upon the condition, understanding or belief, that the recipient candidate or committee shall make or have made a contribution to another such candidate or committee, but this paragraph shall not be construed to prohibit a county or municipal committee of a political party from making a contribution or contributions to any candidate, candidate committee, joint candidates committee, political committee, continuing political committee, political party committee, or legislative leadership committee. A finding of a violation of this paragraph shall be made only upon clear and convincing evidence. A person who violates the provisions of this paragraph shall be liable to a penalty equal to four times the amount of the contribution which that person agreed to make to the recipient candidate or committee. b. Upon receiving evidence of any violation of this section, the Election Law Enforcement Commission shall have power to hold, or to cause to be held under the provisions of subsection d. of this section, hearings upon such violation and, upon finding any person to have committed such a violation, to assess such penalty, within the limits prescribed in subsection a. of this section, as it deems proper under the circumstances, which penalty shall be paid forthwith into the State Treasury for the general purposes of the State. c. In assessing any penalty under this section, the Election Law Enforcement Commission may provide for the remission of all or any part of such penalty conditioned upon the prompt correction of any failure, neglect, error or omission constituting the violation for which said penalty was assessed. d. The commission may designate a hearing officer to hear complaints of violations of this act. Such hearing officer shall take testimony, compile a record and make factual findings, and shall submit the same to the commission, which shall have power to assess penalties within the limits and under the conditions prescribed in subsections b. and c. of this section. The commission shall review the record and findings of the hearing officer, but it may also seek such additional testimony as it deems necessary. The commission's determination shall be by majority vote of the entire authorized membership thereof. e. Any person who willfully and intentionally makes or accepts any contribution in violation of section 4 of P.L.1974, c.26 (C.19:44A-29) or section 18, 19 or 20 of P.L.1993, c.65 (C.19:44A-11.3, C.19:44A-11.4 or C.19:44A-11.5), shall be liable to a penalty of: (1) Not more than $10,000 if the cumulative total amount of those contributions is less than or equal to $5,000.00; (2) Not more than $150,000 if the cumulative total amount of those contributions was more than $5,000.00 but less than $75,000; and (3) Not more than $200,000 if the cumulative total amount of those contributions is equal to or more than $75,000.00. f. In addition to any penalty imposed pursuant to subsection e. of this section, a person holding any elective public office shall forfeit that public office if the Election Law Enforcement Commission determines that the cumulative total amount of the illegal contributions was more than $50,000.00 and that the violation had a significant impact on the outcome of the election. g. Any penalty prescribed in this section shall be enforced in a summary proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). L.1973,c.83,s.22; amended 1983, c.579, s.20; 1993, c.65, s.13; 2004, c.19, s.14; 2004, c.32, s.1. 19:44A-22.1. Summary action by candidate, injunctive relief 24. If a political committee or continuing political committee, having been established or consisting of members or having received contributions in violation of this act, shall have made any contribution or expenditure in opposition to, or in furtherance of the defeat of, a candidate, that candidate may, in a summary action in the Superior Court, apply for an order directing that political committee or continuing political committee to show cause why the court should not grant such injunctive relief as the candidate may seek. The court shall decide the application within 48 hours of the filing thereof and, upon a proper demonstration of the candidate's entitlement thereto, shall grant appropriate injunctive relief against that political committee or continuing political committee. In addition, the court may order that contributions previously received by the committee shall be deemed to be contributions to the candidate committee or joint candidates committee, as appropriate, of the candidate's opponent in the election for all purposes of section 18 of P.L.1993, c.65 (C.19:44A-11.3), and shall so advise the Election Law Enforcement Commission. The court may also order that, to the extent that the amounts of such contributions so attributed are, together with other amounts contributed by the same contributors directly to the candidate committee or joint candidates committee, in excess of the amounts of contributions which that candidate committee or joint candidates committee could legally have received directly from those contributors under that section 18, the candidate committee or joint candidates committee of the aggrieved candidate may receive contributions in excess of the amounts of contributions which that candidate committee or joint candidates committee could legally receive under section 18 of that P.L.1993, c.65 (C.19:44A-11.3). If the court determines that an application for injunctive relief under this section is frivolous, the court may award costs, including any attorney's fees, to the political committee or continuing committee against which such relief was sought. L.1993,c.65,s.24. 19:44A-22.2. Findings, declarations relative to campaign advertisements 1. The Legislature finds and declares that: a. in McIntyre v. Ohio, 63 U.S.L.W. 4279 (U.S. April 19, 1995) (No. 93-986), the United States Supreme Court invalidated, on First Amendment grounds, an Ohio statute prohibiting the distribution of campaign materials which did not bear the issuer's name and address; b. nevertheless, this decision recognized that there may be circumstances in which a state's enforcement interest justifies a more limited identification requirement; c. the court noted that in the area of campaign finance, in particular, a more narrowly drawn statute may be permitted; d. prior decisions of the United States Supreme Court have established that regulation of campaign finance may be justified by a state's interest in preventing actual or perceived corruption; and e. because the McIntyre decision calls into question the validity of certain New Jersey statutes requiring disclosures on campaign advertising, there is a need to revise the law so that it is narrowly-tailored to help effectuate the State's compelling interest in preventing corruption in connection with the financing of campaigns for public office. L.1995,c.391,s.1.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 19:44A-22, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.