§1491.4. Campaign treasurers; campaign depositories; expenditures; petty cash fund

A. The chairman of each political committee shall be the campaign treasurer of the political committee, unless the political committee appoints a campaign treasurer. Political committees also may appoint one or more deputy campaign treasurers. The names and addresses of any campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer so appointed shall be filed with the supervisory committee in the statement of organization required by R.S. 18:1491.1, or if appointed after the statement of organization is filed, the names and addresses of any campaign treasurer or deputy campaign treasurer shall be reported to the supervisory committee within ten days following appointment.

B.(1) Any person may solicit contributions for or on behalf of the political committee, or sell political paraphernalia, including such items as buttons, flags and literature, or tickets to a testimonial or other fund-raising event, provided that all contribution(s) or proceeds are transmitted directly to the chairman of the political committee or its designated treasurer or a designated deputy treasurer of the committee together with such information as may be required by this Chapter. No chairman of a political committee or designated treasurer or deputy treasurer shall accept such funds without such information and they shall be responsible under the provisions of this Chapter for any errors and omissions in records or reports of such funds. Any contributions or transfer of funds received by a political committee which has appointed a campaign treasurer shall be transferred to the campaign treasurer.

(2) When any person who is not the campaign treasurer or a deputy treasurer of a political committee makes any expenditure for the committee, he shall transmit directly to the campaign treasurer or a deputy treasurer all information concerning the expenditure required by this Chapter. The campaign treasurer of the committee shall be responsible under the provisions of this Chapter for any errors or omissions in the records or reports of such expenditures.

(3) For purposes of all reports required by this Chapter, all contributions received by or transferred to a campaign treasurer or a deputy treasurer of a political committee, and all expenditures made by a campaign treasurer or a deputy treasurer of a political committee or by any other person on behalf of the committee, shall be considered contributions or expenditures of the political committee.

C. Deputy campaign treasurers of a committee may exercise any of the powers and duties of a campaign treasurer as set forth in this Chapter when specifically authorized to do so by the campaign treasurer and the chairman of the political committee.

D.(1) The chairman of each political committee shall designate one or more national or state banks or state or federally chartered savings and loan associations or savings banks, or state or federally chartered credit unions, as the campaign depositories of the committee and may invest in a money market mutual fund and designate such fund as a campaign depository. The committee chairman, the committee campaign treasurer, and any deputy treasurers shall deposit any contributions received by them into an account or accounts maintained at such depository or depositories. No expenditure shall be made by any committee chairman, committee campaign treasurer, deputy treasurer, or any other person on behalf of the committee, except by check drawn on such account or accounts, except as specifically provided in Paragraph (2) of this Subsection and Subsection E of this Section. Each check drawn on any such account shall be made payable to a specific person, except a check made payable to petty cash. Each check drawn on such an account shall indicate the objects or services for which such check is drawn and such check shall be maintained as part of the records required by R.S. 18:1491.5. The name and address of such campaign depository so designated shall be filed with the supervisory committee in the statement of organization required by R.S. 18:1491.1. If any additional depositories are designated, they shall be reported within ten days following such designation as required by R.S. 18:1491.1.

(2) An expenditure may be made by a committee chairman, committee campaign treasurer, deputy treasurer, or other authorized person on behalf of the committee by electronic funds transfer provided that the transfer of funds is to a specific person and that records are maintained as to the objects or services for which such transfer of funds was made. Detailed records of each electronic fund transfer shall be maintained as part of the records required by R.S. 18:1491.5.

(3) A political committee, which is not the principal campaign committee or designated subsidiary committee of a candidate, that makes a contribution to a candidate or to the principal campaign committee or designated subsidiary committee of a candidate shall clearly indicate to the candidate or the principal campaign committee or designated subsidiary committee of the candidate that the contribution is from a political committee either by a designation on the check or by a separate notification attached to the contribution.

E. A political committee may maintain a petty cash fund or funds. A petty cash fund shall be maintained on an imprest system, that is, expenditures may be made in cash from the fund and the fund shall from time to time be restored to its original amount by a transfer of funds from other committee funds of a sum equal to the aggregate of the sums expended from the fund. No expenditure in excess of one hundred dollars shall be made from the petty cash fund and no expenditure shall be made from the petty cash fund for any personal services, except for gratuities paid for the serving of food or drink. No expenditure shall be made from the petty cash fund in violation of R.S. 18:1531. A complete record of petty cash expenditures shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 18:1491.5(D).

Acts 1980, No. 786, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1981; Acts 1985, No. 550, §1, eff. July 12, 1985; Acts 1993, No. 199, §1, eff. June 1, 1993; Acts 1997, No. 863, §1; Acts 2010, No. 577, §1, eff. June 25, 2010; Acts 2014, No. 244, §1.