3011 LIMITATIONS ON CONTRIBUTIONS

3011.1 No person, including a business contributor and its affiliated entities, may make any contribution, and no person may receive any contribution, which, when totaled with all other contributions from the same person, pertaining to an individual's campaign for nomination as a candidate or election to public office, including both the primary and general elections, or special elections, exceeds the limitations enumerated for each office set forth in § 3011.2.

3011.2 Contributions in support of either individual candidates or their authorized committees, or for the recall of an incumbent, shall be limited to the following:

(a) Mayor, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative to Congress – two thousand dollars ($2,000);

(b) Chairman of the Council and the Attorney General – one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500);

(c) At-large Member of the Council – one thousand dollars ($1,000);

(d) Ward Member of the Council and At-large Member of the State Board of Education– five hundred dollars ($500);

(e) Ward Member of the State Board of Education – two hundred dollars ($200);

(f) Official of a Political Party – two hundred dollars ($200);

(g) Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner – twenty-five dollars ($25); and

(h) Political Action Committee – five thousand dollars ($5,000).

3011.3 No person may make contributions to any one political committee or political action committee in any one (1) election that in the aggregate exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000).

3011.4 No person or business contributor and its affiliated entities shall receive or make a contribution in the form of cash or money order which exceeds one hundred dollars ($100).

3011.5 For the purposes of the contribution limitations of this section, expenditures for candidates for office shall not be considered contributions or expenditures by or on behalf of a candidate when derived from:

(a) Personal funds belonging to candidates; and

(b) Funds from any person, political action committee, or independent expenditure committee advocating the election or defeat of any candidate for office; provided, that the contributions it has received and the expenditures it has made were not controlled by or coordinated with any public official or candidate, anyone acting on their behalf, or by any political committee authorized by the candidate.

3011.6 Each loan or advance from a candidate or member of the immediate family of a candidate shall be evidenced by a written instruction that fully discloses:

(a) The terms of the loan or advance;

(b) The conditions of the loan or advance;

(c) The parties to the loan or advance; and

(d) Documentation regarding the source of the funds when the loan or advance is from the candidate.

3011.7 The amount of each loan or advance from a member of the candidate's immediate family shall be included in computing and applying the limitations on contributions under § 3011, upon receipt by the authorized political committee of the loan or advance from an immediate family member; provided, that the standards for repayment are consistent with the repayment policies of lending institutions in the District of Columbia.

3011.8 Contributions to a candidate, political committee, political action committee, or an independent expenditure committee shall be attributed to the person actually making the contribution.

3011.9 Contributions from minor children (under eighteen (18) years old) shall be attributed to their parents or legal guardians unless:

(a) The decision to contribute is made knowingly and voluntarily by the minor child; and

(b) The funds, goods, or services contributed are owned or controlled exclusively by the minor child.

3011.10 A connected organization, under § 3000.8, and each committee established, financed, maintained, or controlled by the connected organization share a single contribution limitation.

3011.11 A Bitcoin contribution may be accepted if the value of the Bitcoin contribution at the time of transfer does not exceed the contribution limits established by § 3011.3011.12 A Bitcoin contribution received during the initial transfer shall be rejected and returned to the contributor if it exceeds the contribution limits established by § 3011.3011.13 A Bitcoin contribution that does not exceed the contribution limits at the time of transfer shall, within five (5) days of receipt, be liquidated and converted into U.S. dollars on a high volume public Bitcoin exchange website that is open to transactions in the United States.3011.14 Each committee that receives a Bitcoin contribution shall be responsible for verifying both the accuracy of the contributor information provided and the Bitcoin value determinations as part of the committee's recordkeeping obligations under § 3400.3011.15 Each committee that accepts Bitcoin contributions shall require the contributor to affirm on forms soliciting Bitcoin contributions:- (a) That the contributor is a United States citizen or legal permanent resident;

- (b) That the contributor's personal funds were used to purchase the Bitcoin contributed; and

- (c) That the contributor is the actual lawful owner of the Bitcoin contributed.3011.16 No person, including a business contributor, shall make a bundled or cause to make a bundling of contributions from different donors for the purpose of making a single contribution, directly or indirectly, to a candidate or political committee.3011.17 No candidate or political committee shall accept, directly or indirectly a bundling of contributions from different donors for the purpose of making a single contribution in support of a candidate for public office.3011.18 Each political committee shall disclose in a separate sub-schedule of Schedule A, to be prescribed by the Director, of the R&E Report, where two (2) or more contributions are forwarded from one or more persons, by a person who is not acting with actual authority as an agent or principal of a committee, the following information:- (a) The name, address, occupation and employer of each person reasonably known by the committee to have bundled in excess of five thousand

dollars ($5,000) in contributions during the reporting period;

(b) The identity of each instance in which multiple checks or money orders dated on or around the same date were received from contributors who share the same employer; and

(c) For each person, the total amount of the bundling.

3011.19 Limitations on bundled contributions under §§ 3011.16 and 3011.17, shall not apply to hosting a fundraiser, by itself.

3011.20 Any business entity, as that term is defined in § 29-101.02 of the District of Columbia Official Code, may make contributions in the District of Columbia.

3011.21 A corporation, its affiliated entities, including its subsidiaries, and each committee established, financed, maintained, or controlled by the corporation and its affiliated entities share a single contribution limitation.

3011.22 Each business entity is deemed to be a separate entity; provided, that a business entity, which is established, financed, maintained, or controlled (51% or more) by another entity, or shares a controller, whether the controller is another entity or an individual, is considered, for the purposes of the contribution limitations, an affiliated entity of the other business entity.

3011.23 All contributions by a partnership shall be subject to each contributing partner's individual contribution limitations, under § 3011.

3011.24 Contributions by a partnership shall be attributed to each partner either by:

(a) Instructions from the partnership to the committee or the candidate; or

(b) Agreement of the partners; provided, that the profits of non-contributing partners are not affected.

3011.25 No portion of any contribution under § 3011.22 shall derive from the profits of a corporation that is a partner.

3011.26 Each business entity, as that term is defined in § 29-101.02 of the District of Columbia Official Code, is subject to the limitations on contributions set forth in § 3011.

3011.27 A business contributor consists of:

(a) A business entity that makes a contribution; and

(b) Each of that business entity's affiliated entities.

3011.28 A business contributor shall certify on a form prescribed by the Director and submitted to the committee for each contribution that it makes that none of its affiliated entities have contributed an amount that, when aggregated with the business contributor's contribution to that committee, would exceed the limits imposed by the Campaign Finance Act.

3011.29 A business contributor to a political committee, political action committee, or an independent expenditure committee shall provide the committee with the identities of the contributor's affiliated entities that have also contributed to the committee, the date and amount of each contribution and expenditure made.

3011.30 [REPEALED].

3011.31 Limitations on contributions under § 3011 shall not apply to initiative or referendum measures.

3011.32 With the exception of contributions received to retire debt, a political committee or a candidate shall not receive or accept contributions after the election or defeat of the candidate for office, or after the candidate notifies the Office of Campaign Finance of the intent to terminate the candidacy.

3011.33 [REPEALED].

3011.34 Limitations on contributions under § 3011 shall not apply to candidates seeking certification and participating candidates of the Fair Elections Program, who are subject to the limitations on contributions under § 4205.

3011.35 Limitations on contributions under this section shall apply to political action committees during nonelection years.

3011.36 The contribution limits in this section shall not apply to independent expenditure committees.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 45 DCR 3161 (May 22, 1998); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 47 DCR 2171 (March 24, 2000); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 49 DCR 2731 (March 22, 2002); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 53 DCR 3226 (April 21, 2006); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 57 DCR 2229, 2241 (March 19, 2010); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 60 DCR 1402 (February 8, 2013); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 60 DCR 11864 (August 16, 2013); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 62 DCR 3025 (March 13, 2015); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 64 DCR 10306 (October 13, 2017); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 66 DCR 8118 (July 12, 2019); as amended by Final Rulemaking published at 66 DCR 15416 (November 22, 2019).