Whereas, elected officials are important members of political parties; and

Whereas, the activity of political parties is an ongoing process; and

Whereas, unless this legislation is enacted as an emergency measure, the law could be construed to ban attendance of all elected officials at any political party event; and

Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 1 MRSA §1015, sub-§3, śC-1 is enacted to read:

C-1.__This subsection does not prohibit the attendance of the Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer or the staff or agent of the Governor, a member of the Legislature or any constitutional officer at fund-raising events held by a municipal, county, state or national political party organized pursuant to Title 21-A, chapter 5, nor the advertisement of the expected presence of any such official at any such event, as long as any such official has no involvement in soliciting attendance at the event and all proceeds are paid directly to the political party organization hosting the event or a nonprofit charitable organization.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

This bill clarifies that the prohibitions against solicitation of campaign contributions do not prohibit elected officials or their agents to whom the prohibitions apply from attending a fund-raising event held by a political party and do not prohibit the advertisement of the expected presence of any such person at such an event as long as the person has no