Georgia Administrative Code

The retention schedule for all documents received by the Commission shall be five years unless otherwise provided by law or written direction of the Commission.

Any interested person may petition the Commission in writing to request the promulgation, amendment or repeal of a rule. The petition shall contain the name, address and phone number of the petitioner, as well as a clear and concise statement as to the rule in question or the sub…

Any and all reports required to be filed with the Commission shall be filed by electronic means, unless otherwise accepted by way of Commission vote.

Except for city, county, and school board officials, each individual required to file reports or disclosure statements with the Commission shall provide a current e-mail address and shall advise the Commission of any change to such address within ten days of the change.

The following words and terms as used in these rules shall have the meaning hereinafter ascribed to them or as set forth in O.C.G.A. §21-5 et seq.: (1) "Advisory Opinion" an opinion issued by the Commission pursuant to its authority under O.C.G.A. § 21-5-6(b)(13). The provision o…

(1) Availability of Declaratory Ruling. Any person whose legal rights have been interfered with or impaired by the application of any statutory provision or any rule or order of the Commission may petition the Commission and request a declaratory ruling thereon. The Commission wi…

(1) Form of Complaint. All complaints to be considered by the Commission shall be filed in writing with the Commission and shall contain the following: (a) The name, address, and e-mail address of the person or persons who file the complaint. (b) The sworn verification and signat…

Commission staff, when it discovers or learns of evidence that a violation of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act or any other statute within the jurisdiction of the Commission may have occurred, may initiate, on reasonable belief that probable cause exis…

After the initial investigation and preliminary hearing have been completed, and if reasonable grounds to believe a violation of the Campaign Finance Act has occurred have been found, a matter becomes a contested case and shall be scheduled for hearing pursuant to the Administrat…

Regular meetings of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission shall be conducted, to the extent practicable, in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, which are hereby adopted as the Rules of Procedure for conducting such meeting. The Chairman of the C…

(1) Whenever Commission staff is informed by a local filing officer or determines independently that a candidate, public officer, or other person required to file a Personal Financial Disclosure Statement, Campaign Contribution Disclosure Report, or any other document under the j…

(1) After completion of appropriate proceedings, the Commission or its duly appointed officer may: (a) Dismiss the case if no violation is found. (b) Issue a Compliance Order. (c) Issue an Order, including a Consent Order, finding one or more violations of law under the jurisdict…

All civil penalties imposed by the Commission shall be made payable to the State Ethics Commission, and such funds shall be processed pursuant to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act.

The Commission shall assess reasonable and necessary attorney's fees and expenses of litigation in any administrative action pending before the Commission, upon the motion of the Respondent or the Commission itself, if it finds that a Complainant or the Complainant's counsel file…

The Commission may on its own motion or upon the request of any party may in its discretion conduct any and all proceedings which are authorized to be conducted by the Commission by telephone or video conference with the attorneys for all affected parties, and with the parties an…

In accordance with the Rules of the State Ethics Commission Rule 189-2-.08 (2), upon the issuance of an Initial Decision by a Hearing Officer, the State Ethics Commission Staff shall, within two (2) business days of issuance of an Initial Decision, provide the text of the Initial…

(1) Contributions. Contributions of more than $100.00, including contributions of lesser amounts when the aggregate amount from a contributor is more than $100.00 for the calendar year in which the report is filed, shall be listed on each report as follows: (a) For contributions …

When a person pays for or provides goods, services, a gift, subscription, membership, loan, forgiveness of debt, extension of credit, advance or deposit of money, or anything of value on behalf of a candidate or a campaign committee for the purpose of influencing an election, it …

(1) Payments by Credit Card. (a) If a candidate or campaign committee pays for goods or services directly or indirectly by using a credit card merely as a conduit through which funds are paid to an end-recipient, the expenditure must be itemized and shall be shown on the campaign…

(1) If a candidate or a campaign committee reimburses a person directly or indirectly for goods, services, or anything of value which was paid for on behalf of the candidate or campaign committee, it must be itemized and shall be reported as an expenditure on the campaign contrib…

Lobbyists must disclose the fair market value of the provision of noncommercial aircraft, as defined by 189-3-.06, to public officers or their staff members if the purpose of such provision is for lobbyist activities. Such disclosure must be in accordance with Rule 189-3-.06 and …

Local filing entities and their staff may render assistance to local filers if such assistance is ordinary and in the course of performing their regular duties. However, local filing entities and their staff shall not give advice or opinions in connection with any assistance prov…

Local candidates who file a Two Business Day Report via facsimile with their local filing entity must file within five (5) business days thereafter the Two Business Day Report electronically pursuant to the local filing entities' own rules.

Local filing entities must transmit a candidate's Declaration of Intention to the Commission within ten (10) days of it being filed with the local filing entity.

Anything that would qualify as a "lobbying expenditure" under O.C.G.A. § 21-5-70(4.1) if made by a lobbyist to or for a public official or public employee shall constitute a "lobbying expenditure" if made by a lobbyist to or for a family member of a public official or public empl…

(1) Unless otherwise exempted by the Act, any person who makes contributions to, accepts contributions for, or makes expenditures on behalf of (1) candidates seeking to be elected to municipal, county, or state office in Georgia, or (2) for the purpose of seeking or opposing the …

O.C.G.A. § 21-5-33 governs the proper disposition of campaign contributions. One of the specifically permitted uses for such funds is contained in O.C.G.A. § 21-5-33(b)(1)(B), which states "except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (D) of the paragraph, for transferal without …

At the conclusion of an election, contributions that are left over may be spent on subsequent elections in the same election cycle. If there are not remaining elections in the election cycle, or even if there are remaining elections but the candidate will not be on the ballot for…

If the candidate has accepted contributions which were separately accounted for and held pending the results of a preceding election, such contributions may be disposed of following the law governing the appropriate use of excess contributions or returned in full to the original …

Any refund which, for any reason, cannot be delivered to the original contributor due to a lack of forwarding address shall be treated as excess funds and only expended in a manner authorized for disposition of excess funds.

Candidates who have elected the option of separate accounting may not use contributions designated for a future election to pay debts from a prior election, unless and until the election for which the separately accounted for contributions were designated has been held, and campa…

If following a candidate's last election in an election cycle, the candidate's funds are insufficient to pay all campaign obligations incurred prior to the election, the candidate may accept contributions which will be aggregated with contributions previously received for the las…

Any person who will be on the general election ballot as a candidate in an election preceded by a primary election may accept contributions designated for such primary election even though such candidate does not appear on the primary ballot.

No political committee shall make, for any election, contributions to any candidate which, when aggregated with contributions to the same candidate for the same election from any affiliated political committees, exceed the per election contribution limits for such candidate as se…

Recipients of campaign contributions must specify on their campaign contribution disclosure reports which election for which a contribution has been accepted. If no election is specified or if the recipient has not chosen the option of separately accounting for contributions, any…

Contributions received for an election beyond the candidate's next upcoming election, may be placed in a separate campaign depository account and may not be spent or encumbered until the preceding election has been held and it is determined that the candidate will be on the ballo…