(A)(1) No campaign committee of a statewide candidate shall fail to file a complete and accurate
statement required under division (A)(1) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(2) No campaign committee of a statewide candidate shall fail to file a complete and accurate
monthly statement, and no campaign committee of a statewide candidate or a candidate for the office
of chief justice or justice of the supreme court shall fail to file a complete and accurate two-business-
day statement, as required under section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
As used in this division, "statewide candidate" has the same meaning as in division (F)(2) of section
3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(B) No campaign committee shall fail to file a complete and accurate statement required under
division (A)(1) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(C) No campaign committee shall fail to file a complete and accurate statement required under
division (A)(2) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(D) No campaign committee shall fail to file a complete and accurate statement required under
division (A)(3) or (4) of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(E) No person other than a campaign committee shall knowingly fail to file a statement required
under section 3517.10 or 3517.107 of the Revised Code.
(F) No person shall make cash contributions to any person totaling more than one hundred dollars in
each primary, special, or general election.
(G)(1) No person shall knowingly conceal or misrepresent contributions given or received,
expenditures made, or any other information required to be reported by a provision in sections
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3517.08 to 3517.13 of the Revised Code.
(2)(a) No person shall make a contribution to a campaign committee, political action committee,
political contributing entity, legislative campaign fund, political party, or person making
disbursements to pay the direct costs of producing or airing electioneering communications in the
name of another person.
(b) A person does not make a contribution in the name of another when either of the following
applies:
(i) An individual makes a contribution from a partnership or other unincorporated business account,
if the contribution is reported by listing both the name of the partnership or other unincorporated
business and the name of the partner or owner making the contribution as required under division (I)
of section 3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(ii) A person makes a contribution in that person's spouse's name or in both of their names.
(H) No person within this state, publishing a newspaper or other periodical, shall charge a campaign
committee for political advertising a rate in excess of the rate such person would charge if the
campaign committee were a general rate advertiser whose advertising was directed to promoting its
business within the same area as that encompassed by the particular office that the candidate of the
campaign committee is seeking. The rate shall take into account the amount of space used, as well as
the type of advertising copy submitted by or on behalf of the campaign committee. All discount
privileges otherwise offered by a newspaper or periodical to general rate advertisers shall be
available upon equal terms to all campaign committees.
No person within this state, operating a radio or television station or network of stations in this state,
shall charge a campaign committee for political broadcasts a rate that exceeds:
(1) During the forty-five days preceding the date of a primary election and during the sixty days
preceding the date of a general or special election in which the candidate of the campaign committee
is seeking office, the lowest unit charge of the station for the same class and amount of time for the
same period;
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(2) At any other time, the charges made for comparable use of that station by its other users.
(I) Subject to divisions (K), (L), (M), and (N) of this section, no agency or department of this state or
any political subdivision shall award any contract, other than one let by competitive bidding or a
contract incidental to such contract or which is by force account, for the purchase of goods costing
more than five hundred dollars or services costing more than five hundred dollars to any individual,
partnership, association, including, without limitation, a professional association organized under
Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code, estate, or trust if the individual has made or the individual's
spouse has made, or any partner, shareholder, administrator, executor, or trustee or the spouse of any
of them has made, as an individual, within the two previous calendar years, one or more
contributions totaling in excess of one thousand dollars to the holder of the public office having
ultimate responsibility for the award of the contract or to the public officer's campaign committee.
(J) Subject to divisions (K), (L), (M), and (N) of this section, no agency or department of this state or
any political subdivision shall award any contract, other than one let by competitive bidding or a
contract incidental to such contract or which is by force account, for the purchase of goods costing
more than five hundred dollars or services costing more than five hundred dollars to a corporation or
business trust, except a professional association organized under Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code,
if an owner of more than twenty per cent of the corporation or business trust or the spouse of that
person has made, as an individual, within the two previous calendar years, taking into consideration
only owners for all of that period, one or more contributions totaling in excess of one thousand
dollars to the holder of a public office having ultimate responsibility for the award of the contract or
to the public officer's campaign committee.
(K) For purposes of divisions (I) and (J) of this section, if a public officer who is responsible for the
award of a contract is appointed by the governor, whether or not the appointment is subject to the
advice and consent of the senate, excluding members of boards, commissions, committees,
authorities, councils, boards of trustees, task forces, and other such entities appointed by the
governor, the office of the governor is considered to have ultimate responsibility for the award of the
contract.
(L) For purposes of divisions (I) and (J) of this section, if a public officer who is responsible for the
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award of a contract is appointed by the elected chief executive officer of a municipal corporation, or
appointed by the elected chief executive officer of a county operating under an alternative form of
county government or county charter, excluding members of boards, commissions, committees,
authorities, councils, boards of trustees, task forces, and other such entities appointed by the chief
executive officer, the office of the chief executive officer is considered to have ultimate
responsibility for the award of the contract.
(M)(1) Divisions (I) and (J) of this section do not apply to contracts awarded by the board of
commissioners of the sinking fund, municipal legislative authorities, boards of education, boards of
county commissioners, boards of township trustees, or other boards, commissions, committees,
authorities, councils, boards of trustees, task forces, and other such entities created by law, by the
supreme court or courts of appeals, by county courts consisting of more than one judge, courts of
common pleas consisting of more than one judge, or municipal courts consisting of more than one
judge, or by a division of any court if the division consists of more than one judge. This division
shall apply to the specified entity only if the members of the entity act collectively in the award of a
contract for goods or services.
(2) Divisions (I) and (J) of this section do not apply to actions of the controlling board.
(N)(1) Divisions (I) and (J) of this section apply to contributions made to the holder of a public
office having ultimate responsibility for the award of a contract, or to the public officer's campaign
committee, during the time the person holds the office and during any time such person was a
candidate for the office. Those divisions do not apply to contributions made to, or to the campaign
committee of, a candidate for or holder of the office other than the holder of the office at the time of
the award of the contract.
(2) Divisions (I) and (J) of this section do not apply to contributions of a partner, shareholder,
administrator, executor, trustee, or owner of more than twenty per cent of a corporation or business
trust made before the person held any of those positions or after the person ceased to hold any of
those positions in the partnership, association, estate, trust, corporation, or business trust whose
eligibility to be awarded a contract is being determined, nor to contributions of the person's spouse
made before the person held any of those positions, after the person ceased to hold any of those
positions, before the two were married, after the granting of a decree of divorce, dissolution of
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marriage, or annulment, or after the granting of an order in an action brought solely for legal
separation. Those divisions do not apply to contributions of the spouse of an individual whose
eligibility to be awarded a contract is being determined made before the two were married, after the
granting of a decree of divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment, or after the granting of an
order in an action brought solely for legal separation.
(O) No beneficiary of a campaign fund or other person shall convert for personal use, and no person
shall knowingly give to a beneficiary of a campaign fund or any other person, for the beneficiary's or
any other person's personal use, anything of value from the beneficiary's campaign fund, including,
without limitation, payments to a beneficiary for services the beneficiary personally performs, except
as reimbursement for any of the following:
(1) Legitimate and verifiable prior campaign expenses incurred by the beneficiary;
(2) Legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary prior expenses incurred by the beneficiary in
connection with duties as the holder of a public office, including, without limitation, expenses
incurred through participation in nonpartisan or bipartisan events if the participation of the holder of
a public office would normally be expected;
(3) Legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary prior expenses incurred by the beneficiary while
doing any of the following:
(a) Engaging in activities in support of or opposition to a candidate other than the beneficiary,
political party, or ballot issue;
(b) Raising funds for a political party, political action committee, political contributing entity,
legislative campaign fund, campaign committee, or other candidate;
(c) Participating in the activities of a political party, political action committee, political contributing
entity, legislative campaign fund, or campaign committee;
(d) Attending a political party convention or other political meeting.
Page 5
For purposes of this division, an expense is incurred whenever a beneficiary has either made
payment or is obligated to make payment, as by the use of a credit card or other credit procedure or
by the use of goods or services received on account.
(P) No beneficiary of a campaign fund shall knowingly accept, and no person shall knowingly give
to the beneficiary of a campaign fund, reimbursement for an expense under division (O) of this
section to the extent that the expense previously was reimbursed or paid from another source of
funds. If an expense is reimbursed under division (O) of this section and is later paid or reimbursed,
wholly or in part, from another source of funds, the beneficiary shall repay the reimbursement
received under division (O) of this section to the extent of the payment made or reimbursement
received from the other source.
(Q) No candidate or public official or employee shall accept for personal or business use anything of
value from a political party, political action committee, political contributing entity, legislative
campaign fund, or campaign committee other than the candidate's or public official's or employee's
own campaign committee, and no person shall knowingly give to a candidate or public official or
employee anything of value from a political party, political action committee, political contributing
entity, legislative campaign fund, or such a campaign committee, except for the following:
(1) Reimbursement for legitimate and verifiable ordinary and necessary prior expenses not otherwise
prohibited by law incurred by the candidate or public official or employee while engaged in any
legitimate activity of the political party, political action committee, political contributing entity,
legislative campaign fund, or such campaign committee. Without limitation, reimbursable expenses
under this division include those incurred while doing any of the following:
(a) Engaging in activities in support of or opposition to another candidate, political party, or ballot
issue;
(b) Raising funds for a political party, legislative campaign fund, campaign committee, or another
candidate;
(c) Attending a political party convention or other political meeting.
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(2) Compensation not otherwise prohibited by law for actual and valuable personal services rendered
under a written contract to the political party, political action committee, political contributing entity,
legislative campaign fund, or such campaign committee for any legitimate activity of the political
party, political action committee, political contributing entity, legislative campaign fund, or such
campaign committee.
Reimbursable expenses under this division do not include, and it is a violation of this division for a
candidate or public official or employee to accept, or for any person to knowingly give to a candidate
or public official or employee from a political party, political action committee, political contributing
entity, legislative campaign fund, or campaign committee other than the candidate's or public
official's or employee's own campaign committee, anything of value for activities primarily related to
the candidate's or public official's or employee's own campaign for election, except for contributions
to the candidate's or public official's or employee's campaign committee.
For purposes of this division, an expense is incurred whenever a candidate or public official or
employee has either made payment or is obligated to make payment, as by the use of a credit card or
other credit procedure, or by the use of goods or services on account.
(R)(1) Division (O) or (P) of this section does not prohibit a campaign committee from making direct
advance or post payment from contributions to vendors for goods and services for which
reimbursement is permitted under division (O) of this section, except that no campaign committee
shall pay its candidate or other beneficiary for services personally performed by the candidate or
other beneficiary.
(2) If any expense that may be reimbursed under division (O), (P), or (Q) of this section is part of
other expenses that may not be paid or reimbursed, the separation of the two types of expenses for
the purpose of allocating for payment or reimbursement those expenses that may be paid or
reimbursed may be by any reasonable accounting method, considering all of the surrounding
circumstances.
(3) For purposes of divisions (O), (P), and (Q) of this section, mileage allowance at a rate not greater
than that allowed by the internal revenue service at the time the travel occurs may be paid instead of
reimbursement for actual travel expenses allowable.
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(S)(1) As used in division (S) of this section:
(a) "State elective office" has the same meaning as in section 3517.092 of the Revised Code.
(b) "Federal office" means a federal office as defined in the Federal Election Campaign Act.
(c) "Federal campaign committee" means a principal campaign committee or authorized committee
as defined in the Federal Election Campaign Act.
(2) No person who is a candidate for state elective office and who previously sought nomination or
election to a federal office shall transfer any funds or assets from that person's federal campaign
committee for nomination or election to the federal office to that person's campaign committee as a
candidate for state elective office.
(3) No campaign committee of a person who is a candidate for state elective office and who
previously sought nomination or election to a federal office shall accept any funds or assets from that
person's federal campaign committee for that person's nomination or election to the federal office.
(T)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(6)(c) of section 3517.102 of the Revised Code, a
state or county political party shall not disburse moneys from any account other than a state
candidate fund to make contributions to any of the following:
(a) A state candidate fund;
(b) A legislative campaign fund;
(c) A campaign committee of a candidate for the office of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of
state, auditor of state, treasurer of state, attorney general, or member of the general assembly.
(2) No state candidate fund, legislative campaign fund, or campaign committee of a candidate for
any office described in division (T)(1)(c) of this section shall knowingly accept a contribution in
violation of division (T)(1) of this section.
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(U) No person shall fail to file a statement required under section 3517.12 of the Revised Code.
(V) No campaign committee shall fail to file a statement required under division (K)(3) of section
3517.10 of the Revised Code.
(W)(1) No foreign national shall, directly or indirectly through any other person or entity, make a
contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure or promise, either expressly or implicitly, to
make a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure in support of or opposition to a
candidate for any elective office in this state, including an office of a political party.
(2) No candidate, campaign committee, political action committee, political contributing entity,
legislative campaign fund, state candidate fund, political party, or separate segregated fund shall
solicit or accept a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure from a foreign national. The
secretary of state may direct any candidate, committee, entity, fund, or party that accepts a
contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure in violation of this division to return the
contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure or, if it is not possible to return the
contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure, then to return instead the value of it, to the
contributor.
(3) As used in division (W) of this section, "foreign national" has the same meaning as in section
441e(b) of the Federal Election Campaign Act.
(X)(1) No state or county political party shall transfer any moneys from its restricted fund to any
account of the political party into which contributions may be made or from which contributions or
expenditures may be made.
(2)(a) No state or county political party shall deposit a contribution or contributions that it receives
into its restricted fund.
(b) No state or county political party shall make a contribution or an expenditure from its restricted
fund.
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(3)(a) No corporation or labor organization shall make a gift or gifts from the corporation's or labor
organization's money or property aggregating more than ten thousand dollars to any one state or
county political party for the party's restricted fund in a calendar year.
(b) No state or county political party shall accept a gift or gifts for the party's restricted fund
aggregating more than ten thousand dollars from any one corporation or labor organization in a
calendar year.
(4) No state or county political party shall transfer any moneys in the party's restricted fund to any
other state or county political party.
(5) No state or county political party shall knowingly fail to file a statement required under section
3517.1012 of the Revised Code.
(Y) The administrator of workers' compensation and the employees of the bureau of workers'
compensation shall not conduct any business with or award any contract, other than one awarded by
competitive bidding, for the purchase of goods costing more than five hundred dollars or services
costing more than five hundred dollars to any individual, partnership, association, including, without
limitation, a professional association organized under Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code, estate, or
trust, if the individual has made, or the individual's spouse has made, or any partner, shareholder,
administrator, executor, or trustee, or the spouses of any of those individuals has made, as an
individual, within the two previous calendar years, one or more contributions totaling in excess of
one thousand dollars to the campaign committee of the governor or lieutenant governor or to the
campaign committee of any candidate for the office of governor or lieutenant governor.
(Z) The administrator of workers' compensation and the employees of the bureau of workers'
compensation shall not conduct business with or award any contract, other than one awarded by
competitive bidding, for the purchase of goods costing more than five hundred dollars or services
costing more than five hundred dollars to a corporation or business trust, except a professional
association organized under Chapter 1785. of the Revised Code, if an owner of more than twenty per
cent of the corporation or business trust, or the spouse of the owner, has made, as an individual,
within the two previous calendar years, taking into consideration only owners for all of such period,
one or more contributions totaling in excess of one thousand dollars to the campaign committee of
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the governor or lieutenant governor or to the campaign committee of any candidate for the office of
governor or lieutenant governor.
Page 11§ 3517.13Failure to file statements
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