Subdivision 1.Scope.

An expenditure described in this section that expressly advocates for the election of the candidate or the defeat of the candidate’s opponent is a coordinated expenditure and is not independent under section 10A.01, subdivision 18.

Subd. 2.Fundraising.

Terms Used In Minnesota Statutes 10A.176

  • Association: means a group of two or more persons, who are not all members of an immediate family, acting in concert. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Candidate: means an individual who seeks nomination or election as a state constitutional officer, legislator, or judge. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Election: means a primary, special primary, general, or special election. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • expenditure: includes the dollar value of a donation in kind. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • General treasury money: means money that an association other than a principal campaign committee, party unit, or political committee accumulates through membership dues and fees, donations to the association for its general purposes, and income from the operation of a business. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Independent expenditure: means an expenditure expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or local candidate, if the expenditure is made without the express or implied consent, authorization, or cooperation of, and not in concert with or at the request or suggestion of, any candidate or any candidate's principal campaign committee or agent or any local candidate or local candidate's agent. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Independent expenditure political fund: means a political fund that makes only independent expenditures and disbursements permitted under section 10A. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • party unit: means the state committee, the party organization within a house of the legislature, or any other party organization designated by the chair of the political party in an annual certification of party units provided to the board. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Political committee: means an association whose major purpose is to influence the nomination or election of one or more candidates or local candidates or to promote or defeat a ballot question, other than a principal campaign committee, local candidate, or a political party unit. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01
  • Political fund: means an accumulation of dues or voluntary contributions by an association other than a political committee, principal campaign committee, or party unit, if the accumulation is collected or expended to influence the nomination or election of one or more candidates or local candidates or to promote or defeat a ballot question. See Minnesota Statutes 10A.01

(a) An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made on or after January 1 of the year the office will appear on the ballot by a spender for which the candidate, on or after January 1 of the year the office will appear on the ballot, has engaged in fundraising of money that is not general treasury money, as defined in section 10A.01, subdivision 17c, of the spender.

(b) For purposes of this subdivision, candidate fundraising includes:

(1) soliciting or collecting money for or to the spender that is not general treasury money; and

(2) appearing for the spender as a speaker at an event raising money that is not general treasury money.

(c) This subdivision does not apply to a candidate’s fundraising on behalf of a party unit.

Subd. 3.Relationship with spender.

An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made on or after January 1 of the year the office will appear on the ballot by a spender that:

(1) is not a party unit; and

(2) is an association, political committee, political fund, independent expenditure political committee, or independent expenditure political fund, in which the candidate was a chairperson, deputy chairperson, treasurer, or deputy treasurer on or after January 1 of the year the office will appear on the ballot.

Subd. 4.Consulting services.

(a) An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made during an election segment for consulting services from a consultant who has also provided consulting services to the candidate or the candidate’s opponent during that same election segment.

(b) This subdivision does not apply when the following conditions are met:

(1) the consultant assigns separate personnel to the spender and the candidate;

(2) the consultant has a written policy that describes the measures that the consultant has taken to prohibit the flow of information between the personnel providing services to the spender and the personnel providing services to the candidate;

(3) the written policy has been distributed to all personnel and clients covered by the policy, including the candidate and the spender;

(4) the consultant has implemented the measures described in the written policy; and

(5) no information has been shared between the spender and the personnel that provided services to the spender and the candidate and the personnel providing services to the candidate.

Subd. 5.Receiving information not publicly available.

An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made after the spender receives from the candidate information that is not publicly available regarding the candidate’s campaign plans, strategy, or needs.

Subd. 6.Spender-provided information.

An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made when:

(1) the spender provides information to the candidate regarding the expenditure’s contents, intended audience, timing, location or mode, volume, or frequency; and

(2) the information is provided to the candidate before the expenditure is communicated to the public.

Subd. 7.Candidate’s participation.

An expenditure is a coordinated expenditure if the expenditure is made with the candidate’s participation in the following:

(1) any of the processes required for the creation and development of the expenditure, including budgeting decisions, media design, acquisition of graphics and text, production, and distribution of the final product; or

(2) any decision regarding the content, timing, location, intended audience, volume of distribution, or frequency of the expenditure.