James_Sept-Oct_2025_web - Flipbook - Page 44
One interesting issue on this
is that the Act already contains
a registration requirement for all
persons and entities that make
contributions to candidates, but
that provision includes an exemption for those that do not contribute
more than $25,000 to candidates in
a calendar year. The Commission
staff has informally advised that it
intends to apply that exemption to
the new registration provision. It
remains to be seen how that will be
applied and enforced in practice,
because one provision requires
immediate registration before
engaging in financial activity, but
the other contains an exemption
for PACs contributing less than
$25,000 annually.
Training. Starting in 2026, candi-
dates for county and municipal
office will be required make an
affirmation in their qualifying paperwork that they are aware of the
44
existing requirements for training
on government administration and
operations.
Personal Financial Disclosures for
Statewide Candidates in Partisan
Elections. The law has long re-
quired that statewide candidates
in partisan elections submit an
additional financial statement
with significantly more detail. The
law on that has been revised in
two ways.
First, the financial statement
no longer needs to cover both the
previous calendar year and the first
quarter of the year in which the
election is held; it will just cover
the previous calendar year. Second, the reporting requirement has
been significantly cut back. The
new law states that the additional
statement merely needs to disclose
“the source and type of income” received in the previous year, with a
general range on the dollar amount.
JAMES SEPTE M B E R /O C TO B E R 2 0 2 5
Complaints Filed Shortly Before
Elections. Under the new law, the
Commission may not accept, reject,
nor issue a complaint against any
candidate in the 60 days immediately prior to an election in which
the candidate is running. A Commission rule had previously included a 30-day requirement; that rule
is now moot. The purpose of the
rule, and presumably the new statute, was to prevent candidates and
third parties from using the filing
of complaints with the Commission as a political tool designed to
influence the outcome of elections,
rather than seeking to enforce violations of the Act. The Commission
staff has informally advised that it
will process any such complaints,
but only after the election.
Attorneys Douglas Chalmers Jr. and Heather
Wagner are, respectively, the managing member
and member of the Chalmers, Adams, Backer and
Kaufman firm in Johns Creek.
