ECIElection Campaign-Finance Index

§ 13-37-216 codifies the contribution-limit framework — aggregate per-election limits of $1,000 (governor/lieutenant governor jointly), $700 (statewide office) and $400 (other public office), with statutory inflation adjustment.

“aggregate contributions for each election in a campaign by a political committee or by an individual”

Montana codifies independent-expenditure rules — § 13-37-232 requires incidental committees (the vehicle for independent expenditures, above a $250 threshold) to disclose their contributions and expenditures, and § 13-35-225 requires 'paid for by' attribution on every independent expenditure.

“that makes less than $250 in expenditures does not form a political committee and is not required to file as an incidental committee”

§ 13-37-217 bars contributions made in any name other than that of the true source of the funds, and bars knowingly receiving or recording such a contribution — a straw-donor / undisclosed-principal prohibition; § 13-35-237 additionally requires an 'anonymous sources' disclaimer where a committee claims a disclosure exemption.

“in any other name than that of the person who in truth supplies the money”

Montana sets contribution-disclosure thresholds in statute — reports itemize each contributor of $50 or more for candidates and committees (§ 13-37-229) and $35 or more for minor-party petition reporting (§ 13-37-605).

“each person who has made aggregate contributions of $35 or more”

§ 13-37-226 codifies an enumerated filing schedule for campaign-finance reports — quarterly reports with specified due dates plus pre-election and post-election reports.

“quarterly, due on the 5th day following a calendar quarter”

§ 13-37-229 requires each campaign-finance report to itemize every contributor of $50 or more by full name, mailing address, occupation and employer — full contributor identification including occupation and employer. Level 2.

“the full name, mailing address, occupation, and employer, if any, of each person who has made aggregate contributions”

§ 13-37-132 requires written responses to campaign-finance complaints to be posted on the Commissioner of Political Practices's website, and campaign-finance reports filed with the Commissioner are public records; a specific statutory online-publication mandate for the filings themselves is not in the surfaced sections.

Montana codifies a graduated penalty schedule for campaign-finance violations — civil penalties under § 13-37-128, criminal misdemeanor penalties under § 13-35-103, the § 13-35-225 attribution-violation penalty, and § 13-35-106 ineligibility to hold office on conviction.

“All election communications, electioneering communications, and independent expenditures must clearly and conspicuously include the attribution”

Montana's campaign-finance enforcer — the Commissioner of Political Practices — is statutorily independent: § 13-37-111 vests investigation and enforcement powers with recusal safeguards, and § 13-37-102/103 give the commissioner a fixed six-year term, multi-branch nomination and for-cause removal.

“the commissioner is responsible for investigating all of the alleged violations of the election laws”

§ 13-37-130 establishes that the civil action under § 13-37-128/129 is the exclusive remedy for campaign-finance violations; § 13-37-124 lets a private citizen bring that action if the Commissioner and county attorney decline — a limited private right of action, not a general one.

§ 13-37-502 prohibits foreign nationals from funding candidate elections and § 13-37-505 from funding statewide ballot issues, and bars any person from soliciting, accepting or using foreign-national funds for those purposes.

“It is unlawful for a foreign national, directly or through an intermediary, to make a disbursement for an electioneering communication, a contribution, or an expenditure”

Montana closes indirect channels — § 13-37-211 bars a joint fundraising committee from acting as an intermediary for otherwise-prohibited contributions, § 13-37-217 bars contributions in the name of an undisclosed principal, and § 13-37-502 reaches foreign funding made 'through an intermediary'.

“A joint fundraising committee may not act as an intermediary for contributions or expenditures by any entity, including participants, that is otherwise prohibited”

§ 13-37-505 codifies a source-verification step — on receiving a ballot-issue contribution, the committee treasurer must obtain a donor affirmation that the donor is not a foreign national, and retain the affirmation in the treasurer's records.

“the committee treasurer shall obtain from the donor an affirmation that the donor is not a foreign national”

§ 13-37-208 requires the campaign treasurer of each candidate and committee to keep detailed accounts of all contributions and expenditures — current within 10 days — with a statutory retention period for the accounts.

“the campaign treasurer of each candidate, each political committee, and each joint fundraising committee shall keep detailed accounts of all contributions received and all expenditures made”

No matching sections in corpus (FTS returned 0 candidates) — concept not codified in this jurisdiction's election statute.