Campaign Finance

By Florida law, campaigns, committees, and electioneering communications organizations are required to disclose detailed financial records of campaign contributions and expenditures. Chapter 106, Florida Statutes, regulates campaign financing for all candidates, including judicial candidates, political committees, electioneering communications organizations, affiliated party committees, and political parties. It does not regulate campaign financing for candidates for federal office.

The laws governing campaign finance reporting and campaign financing limitations are complex. For more detail, please refer to Chapter 106, Florida Statutes, and the candidate and committee handbooks.

Who must file reports?

Candidates, committees, and electioneering communications organizations must file campaign finance reports. Candidates for President, U.S. Senator, and U.S. Representative report campaign finance activity to the Federal Election Commission, not to the Division of Elections. For access to the FEC’s Campaign Finance Data, please refer to the following webpage: fec.gov/data

A "candidate" is any person who seeks to be elected to or retained in public office.

A "committee" is generally a combination of two or more individuals or an organization who:

Contributes more than $500 in the aggregate in a calendar year to any candidate or political party, or which accepts contributions during a calendar year in an aggregate amount in excess of $500; or
Expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate or issue and makes expenditures of more than $500 in the aggregate during a calendar year; or
The sponsor of a proposed constitutional amendment by initiative who intends to seek the signatures of registered electors.

An “electioneering communications organization” is any group, other than a political party, affiliated party committee, or political committee whose election-related activities:

Are limited to making expenditures for electioneering communications or accepting contributions for the purpose of making electioneering communications; and
Would not otherwise require the group to register as a political party or political committee under this chapter.

What must be disclosed?

Candidates and committees must report all contributions, loans, expenditures, distributions, and transfers, regardless of the amount. They must report the full name and address of each person making the contribution or receiving the expenditure and, for contributions over $100, the occupation.

Are there any limits?

Except for political parties or affiliated party committees, no person or political committee may make contributions in excess of:

$3,000 to a candidate for statewide office or for retention as a justice of the Supreme Court or to a political committee that is the sponsor of or is in opposition to a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative. However, the limitation on contributions to such political committees no longer applies once the Secretary of State has issued a certificate of ballot position and a designating number for the proposed amendment that the political committee is sponsoring or opposing. Candidates for the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor on the same ticket are considered a single candidate for the purpose of this section; and
$1,000 to a candidate for retention as a judge of a district court of appeal; a candidate for legislative office; a candidate for multicounty office; a candidate for countywide office or in any election conducted on less than a countywide basis; or a candidate for county court judge or circuit judge. The primary and general elections are separate elections.

Note: A county, a municipality, or any other local governmental entity is expressly preempted from imposing contribution limits different from state law and any limitations on expenditures for electioneering communications or independent expenditures.

See the specific language in section 1 of chapter 2021-16, Laws of Florida, which recently amended Section 106.08(1), Florida Statutes.

A "person" is an individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate or other combination of individuals having collective capacity. The term includes a political party, affiliated party committee, or political committee (see Section 106.011(14), F.S.).

Loans are considered contributions; however, loans made by candidates to their own campaigns are not subject to contribution limitations. (Sections 106.011, 106.07 and 106.075, F.S.)

In-kind contributions are subject to the same contribution limitations as money. An in-kind contribution is anything of value except money made for the purpose of influencing the results of an election. (Sections 106.011 and 106.055, F.S.; Division of Elections Opinions 04-06 and 09-08.)