Legal Definitions - corrupt-practices act

A corrupt-practices act is a law, enacted at either the federal or state level, designed to ensure fairness and transparency in political elections. These acts achieve this by setting rules for how much money individuals or organizations can donate to political campaigns (contributions), how much money campaigns can spend (expenditures), and requiring that all such financial activities be publicly reported (disclosure). The primary goal is to prevent undue influence or corruption in the electoral process by making campaign finance open and accountable.

Here are some examples of how a corrupt-practices act might apply:

• State-Level Contribution Limits: Imagine a state passes a law that limits how much an individual can donate to a candidate running for the state legislature to $2,500 per election cycle. This law would be an example of a corrupt-practices act because it directly regulates "campaign contributions" at the "state" level, aiming to prevent any single donor from having excessive financial influence over a candidate or election outcome.

• Federal Disclosure Requirements for Political Action Committees (PACs): A federal law mandates that all Political Action Committees (PACs) supporting candidates for federal office must publicly disclose the names of all donors who contribute more than $200, along with the exact amounts of their donations. This is a clear illustration of a corrupt-practices act, as it is a "federal statute" requiring the "disclosure" of "campaign contributions," thereby promoting transparency in federal elections and allowing the public to see who is funding political efforts.

• Local Ballot Initiative Expenditure Reporting: A city, operating under the authority of a state corrupt-practices act, enacts an ordinance requiring any group spending more than $1,000 to advocate for or against a local ballot measure (such as a proposal for a new public library) to report all their advertising and campaign expenses. This demonstrates how a corrupt-practices act can regulate "expenditures" related to electoral processes, even beyond individual candidate campaigns, by mandating their "disclosure" to ensure transparency in local public referendums.