State opens comment on political-party sales rule
The proposed campaign-finance rule would establish filing requirements for party committees that sell low-cost goods or services without identifying individual purchasers.
RALEIGH — North Carolina election officials opened a public-comment period Tuesday on a proposed campaign-finance rule governing sales conducted by political party committees.
State law allows party executive committees and affiliated party committees to sell qualifying goods or services without treating each purchaser’s payment as an individually reportable contribution.
The exemption applies only when the committee follows a written sales plan approved by the State Board of Elections’ executive director.
Under the proposed rule, a party committee treasurer would have to submit the plan at least 15 business days before sales begin. The filing would have to identify the sales dates, describe each item, list its fair-market value and sales price, estimate the number of items to be sold and estimate total receipts.
The treasurer would also have to certify that no purchaser may make more than $50 in total purchases and that all exempt sales conducted by the committee will raise no more than $20,000 during an election cycle.
State law does not require the committee to obtain or report individual purchasers’ names when the statutory requirements are satisfied. The proceeds remain subject to other campaign-finance requirements, including disclosure of the amount raised and the number of purchases.
The proposed rule would require treasurers to retain original signed forms for at least two years after the end of the applicable election cycle.
It would also direct the executive director to deny a plan that fails to comply with the law or the rule. A plan could also be denied if the committee has unresolved debts or liabilities involving anonymous contributions for which the board has assessed penalties or ordered forfeiture.
Public comments will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. Nov. 16. The board will hold an in-person hearing at 10 a.m. Oct. 5 at its Raleigh office.
After reviewing the comments, the State Board may revise or adopt the rule. An adopted rule would then go to the Rules Review Commission for final approval. The proposed effective date is Jan. 1, 2027.
Editor’s note:
This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.
