§ 9003.2 - Candidate certifications.

§ 9003.2 Candidate certifications.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 219, Jan. 2, 2024.

(a) Major party candidates. To be eligible to receive payments under 11 CFR part 9005, each Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate of a major party shall, under penalty of perjury, certify to the Commission:

(1) That the candidate and his or her authorized committee(s) have not incurred and will not incur qualified campaign expenses in excess of the aggregate payments to which they will be entitled under 11 CFR part 9004.

(2) That no contributions have been or will be accepted by the candidate or his or her authorized committee(s); except as contributions specifically solicited for, and deposited to, the candidate's legal and accounting compliance fund established under 11 CFR 9003.3(a); or except to the extent necessary to make up any deficiency in payments received from the Fund due to the application of 11 CFR 9005.2(b).

(b) Minor and new party candidates. To be eligible to receive any payments under 11 CFR part 9005, each Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate of a minor or new party shall, under penalty of perjury, certify to the Commission:

(1) That the candidate and his or her authorized committee(s) have not incurred and will not incur qualified campaign expenses in excess of the aggregate payments to which the eligible candidates of a major party are entitled under 11 CFR 9004.1.

(2) That no contributions to defray qualified campaign expenses have been or will be accepted by the candidate or his or her authorized committee(s) except to the extent that the qualified campaign expenses incurred exceed the aggregate payments received by such candidate from the Fund under 11 CFR 9004.2.

(c) All candidates. To be eligible to receive any payment under 11 CFR 9004.2, the Presidential candidate of each major, minor or new party shall certify to the Commission, under penalty of perjury, that such candidate will not knowingly make expenditures from his or her personal funds, or the personal funds of his or her immediate family, in connection with his or her campaign for the office of President in excess of $50,000 in the aggregate.

(1) For purposes of this section, the term immediate family means a candidate's spouse, and any child, parent, grandparent, brother, half-brother, sister, or half-sister of the candidate, and the spouses of such persons.

(2) Expenditures from personal funds made under this paragraph shall not apply against the expenditure limitations.

(3) For purposes of this section, the terms personal funds and personal funds of his or her immediate family mean:

(i) Any assets which, under applicable state law, at the time he or she became a candidate, the candidate had legal right of access to or control over, and with respect to which the candidate had either:

(A) Legal and rightful title, or

(B) An equitable interest.

(ii) Salary and other earned income from bona fide employment; dividends and proceeds from the sale of the candidate's stocks or other investments; bequests to the candidate; income from trusts established before candidacy; income from trusts established by bequest after candidacy of which the candidate is a beneficiary; gifts of a personal nature which had been customarily received prior to candidacy; proceeds from lotteries and similar legal games of chance.

(iii) A candidate may use a portion of assets jointly owned with his or her spouse as personal funds. The portion of the jointly owned assets that shall be considered as personal funds of the candidate shall be that portion which is the candidate's share under the instrument(s) of conveyance or ownership. If no specific share is indicated by any instrument of conveyance or ownership, the value of one-half of the property used shall be considered as personal funds of the candidate.

(4) For purposes of this section, expenditures from personal funds made by a candidate of a political party for the office of Vice President shall be considered to be expenditures made by the candidate of such party for the office of President.

(5) Contributions made by members of a candidate's family from funds which do not meet the definition of personal funds under 11 CFR 9003.2(c)(3) shall not count against such candidate's $50,000 expenditure limitation under 11 CFR 9003.2(c).

(6) Personal funds expended pursuant to this section shall be first deposited in an account established in accordance with 11 CFR 9003.3 (b) or (c).

(7) The provisions of this section shall not operate to limit the candidate's liability for, nor the candidate's ability to pay, any repayments required under 11 CFR part 9007. If the candidate or his or her committee knowingly incurs expenditures in excess of the limitations of 11 CFR 110.8(a), the Commission may seek civil penalties under 11 CFR part 111 in addition to any repayment determinations made on the basis of such excessive expenditures.

(8) Expenditures made using a credit card for which the candidate is jointly or solely liable will count against the limits of this section to the extent that the full amount due, including any finance charge, is not paid by the committee within 60 days after the closing date of the billing statement on which the charges first appear. For purposes of this section, the “closing date” shall be the date indicated on the billing statement which serves as the cutoff date for determining which charges are included on that billing statement.

(d) Form. Major party candidates shall sign and submit the certifications required under 11 CFR 9003.2 in a letter which shall be signed and submitted within 14 days after receiving the party's nomination for election. Minor and new party candidates shall sign and submit such letter certification within 14 days after such candidates have qualified to appear on the general election ballot in 10 or more States pursuant to 11 CFR 9002.2(a)(2). The Commission, upon written request by a minor or new party candidate made at any time prior to the date of the general election, may extend the deadline for filing such lettercertification, except that the deadline shall be a date prior to the day of the general election.

[56 FR 35913, July 29, 1991, as amended at 89 FR 219, Jan. 2, 2024]