Title
Ordinance amending and supplementing the City Code at Title One: Administrative, Article XI: Human Resources, Chapter 198: Campaign Finance Regulations at Sections 198.02 Contribution Limitations and 198.05: Public Database and Reporting, in order to coordinate City and County processes to enhance notification of these requirements to new candidates.
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The Council of the City of Pittsburgh hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The City Code is hereby amended at Title One: Administrative, Article XI: Human Resources, Chapter 198: Campaign Finance Regulations, at Section 198.05 as follows:
§ 198.05 - PUBLIC DATABASE AND REPORTING.
(1) Candidates for City elected office and candidate committees shall, on the first business day of each of the [five (5)] three (3) months prior to election day, provide a campaign finance report, for all candidate committees associated with the candidate for any office sought, in the form mandated by the regular Allegheny County Board of Elections pre-primary reporting forms and procedures to the City's Ethics Hearing Board. In the case of special elections, these reports shall be due on the lesser of either (1) the first business day of each month between when the special election is called and election day or (2) on the first business day of each of the [five (5)] three (3) months prior to election day. Included with these reports shall be an additional schedule that details the name of each contributor and the total contribution made by each contributor to the candidate committee both in the then current election cycle in a form to be promulgated by the City of Pittsburgh and made available via the City of Pittsburgh website.
(2) The Ethics Hearing Board shall maintain an online database of all campaign finance reports required by this Chapter for City elected office. This database shall be searchable by candidate committee name, candidate name, and by covered election year.
Section 2. The City Code is hereby amended at Title One: Administrative, Article XI: Human Resources, Chapter 198: Campaign Finance Regulations, at Section 198.02 as follows:
§ 198.02 - CONTRIBUTION LIMITATIONS.
(1) No person, except the candidate, shall make political contributions to a candidate or candidate committee per covered election for the office that the committee has been established to seek, that exceeds the limitations that are in effect and published by the Federal Election Commission as of the first day of that same calendar year. In instances where the donation limits increase in the middle of an election cycle, a candidate or candidate committee may seek donations equal to the difference between the total contribution made by a person to their candidate committee during that election cycle and the newly adopted campaign finance limits. Political contribution limits for donations made by a person to a candidate committee shall be the same as the federal contribution limit for "individuals" who make contributions to "candidate committees."
(2) No political committee or candidate committee shall make political contributions to a candidate or candidate committee per covered election that exceeds the limitations that are in effect and published by the Federal Election Commission as of the first day of that same calendar year. Political contribution limits for donations made by a political committee to a candidate committee shall be the same as the federal contribution limit for "PAC-Multicandidate" that makes contributions to "candidate committees."
(3) The limitations imposed by this Section shall not apply to volunteer labor hours.
(4) No candidate for City elected office and no political committee shall accept any political contribution which exceeds the contribution limits set forth in this Chapter.
(5) For reporting purposes, the date of a political contribution shall be the date that the contribution is received by the campaign. The act of pledging a political contribution or depositing a political contribution into the bank account associated with a candidate committee, or expending campaign funds that a political contribution may have been earmarked or otherwise planned for shall not be a sufficient act to indicate the date of a contribution. Similarly, "stacking" contributions, whereby a candidate accepts a contribution for the primary election and the general election at the same time or during the same election cycle, is prohibited.