(1) For the purpose of meeting the filing and reporting requirements of this article 45:

(a) The following shall file with the secretary of state:

(I) Candidates for statewide office, the general assembly, district attorney, district court judge, school district director, or any office representing more than one county; the candidate committees for such candidates; political committees in support of or in opposition to such candidates; issue committees in support of or in opposition to an issue on the ballot in more than one county; small donor committees making contributions to such candidates; and persons expending one thousand dollars or more per calendar year on electioneering communications.

(II) Candidates in special district elections; the candidate committees of such candidates; political committees in support of or in opposition to such candidates; issue committees supporting or opposing a special district ballot issue; and small donor committees making contributions to such candidates.

(b) Candidates in municipal elections, their candidate committees, any political committee in support of or in opposition to such candidate, an issue committee supporting or opposing a municipal ballot issue, and small donor committees making contributions to such candidates shall file with the municipal clerk.

(c) All other candidates, candidate committees, issue committees, political committees, and small donor committees shall file with the secretary of state.

(2) (a) Reports required to be filed by this article 45 are timely if received by the appropriate officer not later than the close of business on the due date.

(b) A person upon whom a penalty has been imposed for failure to file a statement or other information required to be filed pursuant to section 5, 6, or 7 of article XXVIII of the state constitution or section 1-45-108, this section, or section 1-45-110 by the due date may appeal the penalty by filing a written appeal with the appropriate officer no later than thirty days after the date on which notification of the imposition of the penalty was mailed to the person's last-known address. Upon receipt of an appeal pursuant to this paragraph (b), the appropriate officer shall set aside or reduce the penalty upon a showing of good cause.

(3) In addition to any other reporting requirements of this article, every incumbent in public office and every candidate elected to public office is subject to the reporting requirements of section 24-6-203, C.R.S.

(4) (a) All reports required to be filed by this article 45 are public records and are open to inspection by the public during regular business hours. A copy of the report must be kept by the appropriate officer and a copy shall be made available immediately in a file for public inspection. When the secretary of state is the appropriate officer, the secretary shall make reports viewable on the secretaryof state's official website.

(b) Any report that is deemed incomplete by the appropriate officer must be accepted and the committee must be notified of the deficiency. If an e-mail address is on file with the secretary of state, the secretary of state may provide such notification by e-mail. The committee has thirty calendar days from the date such notice is sent, whether electronically or by United States mail, to file an addendum that cures the deficiencies.

(c)

(I) Upon receipt of a complaint brought under section 9 (2)(a) of article XXVIII of the state constitution alleging a failure to file other information required to be filed or disclosed pursuant to article XXVIII of the state constitution or this article 45, the secretary of state shall give notice to the committee by e-mail, or by regular mail if an e-mail address is not known, of the deficiencies alleged in the complaint. Service of the notice does not toll or otherwise affect the three-day period during which the secretary of state is required to refer a complaint to an administrative law judge pursuant to section 9 (2)(a) of article XXVIII of the state constitution. Upon receipt of the notice from the secretary of state, the committee may request from the appropriate officer a postponement of the hearing brought under section 9 (2)(a) of article XXVIII of the state constitution and, if such request is timely submitted, has fifteen business days from the date of the notice to file an addendum to the relevant report that cures any such deficiencies in the disclosure specified in the notice. The committee shall also provide the complainant notice of the entity's intent to cure and a copy of the addendum on the same day that the addendum is filed with the secretary of state. Where the committee files an addendum that cures all deficiencies alleged in the complaint before the expiration of the fifteen-day period specified in this subsection (4)(c)(I), the appropriate officer shall not assess a penalty against the committee that otherwise would have been assessed for the deficiencies for the period from the first date of the alleged violation through the expiration of the cure period.

(II) Upon filing an addendum to the relevant report by the committee that cures all such deficiencies in accordance with subsection (4)(c)(I) of this section, the appropriate officer shall set a hearing within thirty days of the notice to determine whether all issues raised by the complaint have been resolved. If the committee fails to cure any such deficiency, any penalty imposed for the deficiency continues to accrue until further resolution of the matter. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, subsection (4)(c)(I) of this section only applies in the case of a good faith effort by a committee to make a timely disclosure in accordance with article XXVIII of the state constitution or this article 45 or where the disclosure made by the committee is in substantial compliance with such legal requirements. The committee has the burden of demonstrating good faith or substantial compliance under this subsection (4)(c)(II) by a preponderance of the evidence in the hearing held by the appropriate officer under section 9 (2)(a) of article XXVIII of the state constitution. Where the committee fails to satisfy its burden of demonstrating either good faith or substantial compliance, the administrative law judge shall enter or impose a civil penalty in accordance with the following:

(A) If the amount of the penalty that has accrued to that point in time is less than five thousand dollars, the administrative law judge shall impose a penalty in the amount of the penalty that has accrued to that point in time.

(B) If the amount of the civil penalty that has accrued to that point in time is five thousand or more dollars, the administrative law judge shall impose a penalty, in his or her discretion, in an amount that is not less than five thousand dollars.

(5) (a) The secretary of state shall operate and maintain a website so as to allow any person who wishes to review reports filed with the secretary of state's office pursuant to this article electronic read-only access to such reports free of charge.

(b) All reports required to be filed by this article that are electronically filed pursuant to subsection (6) of this section shall be made available immediately on the website.

(c) The website shall enable a user to produce summary reports based on search criteria that shall include, but not be limited to the reporting period, date, name of the person making a contribution or expenditure, candidate, and committee.

(d) At the earliest practicable date, the secretary of state shall develop and implement improvements to the website's design and structure to improve the public's ability to navigate, search, browse, download, and analyze information. Such improvements shall include but need not be limited to:

(I) Enhanced searching and summary reporting, including additional search fields such as zip code, employer, and vendor, the ability to search across multiple committees and all filers, the ability to filter or limit searches, such as by election cycle or candidate, the inclusion of smart-search features such as "name sounds like" or "name contains", and numerical totaling of amounts shown on search results;

(II) Features that facilitate the ability to download raw data and search results in one or more common formats to enable offline sorting and analyzing;

(III) Detailed, technical instructions for users;

(IV) Information to help users determine the scope of candidates' and committees' reports and campaign data available online, including explanations of which types of reports are available, the period covered by the online data, and which specific reports can be viewed for each campaign committee; and

(V) Resources that give the public comparative context when viewing campaign finance data, such as compilations of the total amounts of money raised and spent by individual candidates, lists of total amounts raised and spent by all statewide and legislative candidates, and compilations of fundraising and spending across candidates and election cycles.

(e) The secretary of state may promulgate rules necessary for the implementation of this subsection (5). Such rules shall be promulgated in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S.

(6) (a) The secretary of state shall establish, operate, and maintain a system that enables electronic filing using the internet of the reports required by this article to be filed with the secretary of state's office. In accordance with the provisions of section 24-21-111 (1), C.R.S., the secretary may require any filing under this section to be made by electronic means as determined by the secretary. The rules for use of the electronic filing system shall be promulgated by the secretary in accordance with article 4 of title 24, C.R.S.

(b) Any person required to file with the secretary of state's office shall use the electronic filing system described in paragraph (a) of this subsection (6) in order to meet the filing requirements of this article, if so required by the secretary in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection (6), except insofar as an alternate method of filing may be permitted by the secretary. Where a person uses such electronic filing system to meet the filing requirements of this article, the secretary of state shall acknowledge by electronic means the receipt of such filing.

(7) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296, § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(8) (a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296, § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(b) (I) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296, § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(II) and (III) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (HB 09-1357), ch. 361, p. 1872, § 2, effective July 1, 2009.)

(c)

(I) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1296, § 1, effective July 1, 2007.)

(II) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2009, (HB 09-1357), ch. 361, p. 1872, § 2, effective July 1, 2009.)

(9) Subsection (1) of this section shall not be construed to require the secretary of state to review reports electronically filed by persons beyond the duties specified in section 9 of article XXVIII of the state constitution.

(10) Repealed.

(11) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, during the period commencing May 25, 2010, and continuing through December 31, 2010, any report, statement, or other document required to be filed under section 1-45-107.5 that is to be filed electronically with the secretary of state's office pursuant to this section may be filed manually or by means of a portable document format file acceptable to the secretary.

(12) For purposes of subsection (4)(c) of this section, "appropriate officer" means a hearing officer or an administrative law judge.