§ 16-976 — Penalties; separate account; use of monies; surcharge

(Caution: 1998 Prop. 105 applies)

A. The civil penalty for any violation of this chapter shall be at least the amount of the undisclosed or improperly disclosed contribution and not more than three times that amount. For violations of section 16-975, the relevant amount for the purposes of calculating the civil penalty is the amount determined by the commission to constitute a structured transaction.

B. Civil penalties collected for violations of this chapter shall be deposited in a separate account in the citizens clean elections fund established pursuant to chapter 6, article 2 of this title and used to defray the costs of implementing and enforcing this chapter. Any monies in this account that are not used to implement and enforce this chapter may be used for other commission-approved purposes.

C. An additional surcharge of one percent shall be imposed on civil and criminal penalties and the proceeds deposited in the account in the citizens clean elections fund established pursuant to subsection B of this section. The surcharge shall be suspended for one to three years at a time if the commission determines that, during that period, it can perform the actions required by this chapter without the monies from the surcharge.