Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 24.2 > Chapter 9.3 - Campaign Finance Disclosure Act of 2006

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Authorization: means express approval or express consent by the candidate, the candidate's campaign committee, or an agent of the candidate or his campaign committee after coordination. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the State Board of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Campaign committee: means the committee designated by a candidate to receive all contributions and make all expenditures for him or on his behalf in connection with his nomination or election. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Candidate: means "candidate" as defined in § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Capital components: means those items, whether or not a part of the common elements, for which the unit owners' association has the obligation for repair, replacement, or restoration and for which the executive board determines funding is necessary. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
• Common elements: means all portions of the condominium other than the units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Common expenses: means all expenditures lawfully made or incurred by or on behalf of the unit owners' association, together with all funds lawfully assessed for the creation or maintenance of reserves pursuant to the provisions of the condominium instruments. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Common interest community manager: means the same as that term is defined in § 54. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Condominium: means real property, and any incidents to or interests in such real property, lawfully subject to this chapter by the recordation of condominium instruments pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Condominium instruments: means , collectively, the declaration, bylaws, and plats and plans recorded pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Condominium unit: means a unit together with the undivided interest in the common elements appertaining to that unit. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Contractable condominium: means a condominium from which one or more portions of the submitted land may be withdrawn in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Contribution: includes money, services, or things of value in any way provided by a candidate to his own campaign and the payment by the candidate of a filing fee for any party nomination method. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Conversion condominium: means a condominium containing structures that before the recording of the declaration were wholly or partially occupied by persons other than those who have contracted for the purchase of condominium units and those who occupy with the consent of such purchasers. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Convertible land: means a portion of the common elements within which additional units or limited common elements may be created in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Convertible space: means a portion of a structure within the condominium that a declarant may convert into one or more units or common elements, including limited common elements, in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• coordination: refers to an expenditure that is made (i) at the express request or suggestion of a candidate, a candidate's campaign committee, or an agent of the candidate or his campaign committee or (ii) with material involvement of the candidate, a candidate's campaign committee, or an agent of the candidate or his campaign committee in devising the strategy, content, means of dissemination, or timing of the expenditure. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Declarant: means any person, or group of persons acting in concert, that (i) offers to dispose of its interest in a condominium unit not previously disposed of, including an institutional lender that may not have succeeded to or accepted any special declarant rights pursuant to § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the state agency headed by the Commissioner of Elections. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Designated contribution: means a contribution that is designated specifically and in writing for a particular candidate or candidates and that is made using a political committee solely as a conduit. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• disposition: refers to any voluntary transfer of a legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit to a purchaser, but does not include the transfer or release of security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Election: means a general, primary, or special election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Election district: means the territory designated by proper authority or by law which is represented by an official elected by the people, including the Commonwealth, a congressional district, a General Assembly district, or a district for the election of an official of a county, city, town, or other governmental unit. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Electronic means: means any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient of such communication. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Executive board: means an executive and administrative entity, by whatever name denominated, designated in the condominium instruments as the governing body of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Expandable condominium: means a condominium to which additional land may be added in accordance with the provisions of the declaration and this chapter. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Expenditure: means money and services of any amount, and any other thing of value, paid, loaned, provided, or in any other way disbursed by any candidate, campaign committee, political committee, or person for the purpose of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or by any inaugural committee for the purpose of defraying the costs of the inauguration of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal political action committee: means any political action committee registered with the Federal Election Commission that makes contributions to candidates or political committees registered in Virginia. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General election: means an election held in the Commonwealth on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November or on the first Tuesday in May for the purpose of filling offices regularly scheduled by law to be filled at those times. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• General registrar: means the person appointed by the electoral board of a county or city pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• In-kind contribution: means the donation of goods, services, property, or other thing of value, other than money, including an expenditure controlled by, coordinated with, or made upon the authorization of a candidate, his campaign committee, or an agent of the candidate or his campaign committee, that is provided for free or less than the usual and normal charge. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Inaugural committee: means any organization, person, or group of persons that anticipates receiving contributions or making expenditures, from other than publicly appropriated funds, for the inauguration of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General and related activities. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Independent expenditure: includes an expenditure made by a candidate campaign committee (i) that is not related to the candidate's own campaign and (ii) that is not made to, controlled by, coordinated with, or made with the authorization of a different candidate, his campaign committee, or an agent of that candidate or his campaign committee. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Institutional lender: means one or more commercial or savings banks, savings and loan associations, trust companies, credit unions, industrial loan associations, insurance companies, pension funds, or business trusts, including real estate investment trusts, any other lender regularly engaged in financing the purchase, construction, or improvement of real estate, or any assignee of loans made by such a lender, or any combination of any of the foregoing entities. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Land: is a three-dimensional concept and includes parcels with upper or lower boundaries, or both upper and lower boundaries, as well as parcels extending ab solo usque ad coelum. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Limited common element: means a portion of the common elements reserved for the exclusive use of those entitled to the use of one or more, but less than all, of the units. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• local electoral board: means a board appointed pursuant to § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Nonbinding reservation agreement: means an agreement between the declarant and a prospective purchaser that is in no way binding on the prospective purchaser and that may be canceled without penalty at the sole discretion of the prospective purchaser. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Notary: means notary public. See Virginia Code 1-226
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Virginia Code 1-228
• Offer: means any inducement, solicitation, or attempt to encourage any person to acquire any legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit, except as security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Officer: means any member of the executive board or official of the unit owners' association. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Out-of-state political committee: means an entity covered by § 527 of the United States Internal Revenue Code that is not registered as a political committee or candidate campaign committee in Virginia and that does not have as its primary purpose expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: means any individual or corporation, partnership, business, labor organization, membership organization, association, cooperative, or other like entity. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, partnership, association, trust, or other entity capable of holding title to real property, or any combination thereof. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Political action committee: means any organization, person, or group of persons, established or maintained to receive and expend contributions for the primary purpose of expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Political committee: means and includes any political action committee, political party committee, referendum committee, or inaugural committee. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• political party: means an organization of citizens of the Commonwealth which, at either of the two preceding statewide general elections, received at least 10 percent of the total vote cast for any statewide office filled in that election. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Political party committee: means any state political party committee, congressional district political party committee, county or city political party committee, other election district political party committee, or organized political party group of elected officials. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Primary purpose: means that 50% or more of the committee's expenditures made in the form of contributions shall be made to candidate campaign committees or political committees registered in Virginia. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Purchaser: means any person, other than a declarant, that acquires by means of a voluntary transfer a legal or equitable interest in a condominium unit, other than (i) a leasehold interest, including renewal options, of less than 20 years or (ii) as security for a debt. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Referendum: means any election held pursuant to law to submit a question to the voters for approval or rejection. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Referendum committee: means any organization, person, group of persons, or committee, that makes expenditures in a calendar year in excess of (i) $10,000 to advocate the passage or defeat of a statewide referendum, (ii) $5,000 to advocate the passage or defeat of a referendum being held in two or more counties and cities, or (iii) $1,000 to advocate the passage or defeat of a referendum held in a single county or city. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Registered voter: means any person who is maintained on the Virginia voter registration system. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Residence: means "residence" or "resident" as defined in § 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Size: means the number of cubic feet, or the number of square feet of ground or floor space, within each unit as computed by reference to the plat and plans and rounded to the nearest whole number. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Special declarant rights: means any right reserved for the benefit of a declarant, or of a person or group of persons that becomes a declarant, to (i) expand an expandable condominium; (ii) contract a contractable condominium; (iii) convert convertible land or convertible space or both; (iv) appoint or remove any officers of the unit owners' association or the executive board pursuant to subsection A of § 55. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Special election: means any election that is held pursuant to law to fill a vacancy in office or to hold a referendum. See Virginia Code 24.2-101
• Statewide office: means the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, or Attorney General. See Virginia Code 24.2-945.1
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unit: means a portion of the condominium designed and intended for individual ownership and use. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• Unit owner: includes any purchaser of a condominium unit at a foreclosure sale, regardless of whether the deed is recorded in the land records where the unit is located. See Virginia Code 55.1-1900
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• voter registration system: means the automated central record-keeping system for all voters registered within the Commonwealth that is maintained as provided in Article 2 (§ 24. See Virginia Code 24.2-101