SSB 1160

_____ The bill limits the reporting requirement to gifts and bequests with a value of $50 or more. The bill requires the recipient reports to the board to be filed electronically within days of receiving the gift or bequest using the board’s internet reporting system. The bill eliminates the filing requirement with the general assembly’s standing committees on government oversight. Under Code chapter 68A (campaign finance), published material designed to expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate for public office or the passage or defeat of a ballot issue is required to include an attribution statement indicating who is responsible for the published material. The bill adds automated telephone calls and text messages to the definition of “published material”. The bill also requires published material that is published by a political party to state that it is published on behalf of that party’s candidate for an office if the published material expressly advocates the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate for that office. A person who violates a provision of Code chapter 68A is subject to civil penalties imposed by the Iowa ethics and campaign disclosure board, including remedial action, a reprimand, and a civil penalty of up to $2,000. In addition, a person who willfully violates a provision of Code chapter 68A is guilty of a serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $315 but not more than $1,875.