SEC. 1.118. PAYMENT OF ACCRUED EXPENSES.
§ 1.118
Candidate committees must pay for goods and services received on credit within 180 days of either receiving a bill or the last day of the month the goods/services were delivered, unless there is a good-faith dispute. A good-faith dispute is presumed if the committee protests within 30 days and bases the protest on timing, quality, quantity, or price. Credit card debt is exempt from this rule, and each day an expense remains unpaid after the deadline is a separate violation.
If a candidate's campaign committee buys things or services on credit, it must pay the bill within 180 days—starting from whichever is later: when they get the invoice, or the end of the month when the goods arrived or services were done. The only exception is if the campaign genuinely disputes the bill (for example, the goods arrived late, were damaged, or cost more than agreed). To prove a good-faith dispute, the campaign must complain about the bill within 30 days and explain why (bad timing, poor quality, wrong amount, or wrong price). Credit card balances don't have to follow this 180-day rule. Breaking this rule means each day the bill goes unpaid counts as a separate violation.
- Complex:The section contains overlapping time periods (receipt of bill vs. last day of delivery month), a presumption framework with two conditions, and an exception for credit cards that creates interpretive nuance around what counts as 'accrued expense.'
- Controversial:The rule imposes strict daily penalties for late payment, which affects campaign finance enforcement and could be seen as either necessary accountability or an overly rigid compliance burden on volunteer-run committees.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) A candidate committee that accepts goods or services on credit shall pay for such accrued expenses in full no later than 180 calendar days after receipt of a bill or invoice and in no event later than 180 calendar days after the last calendar day of the month in which the goods were delivered or the services were rendered, unless it is clear from the circumstances that the failure to pay is reasonably based on a good faith dispute. For purposes of this Subsection, a good faith dispute shall be rebuttably presumed if the candidate committee produces the following:
(1) Evidence that the candidate committee protested the payment of a bill no later than 30 calendar days after the last calendar day of the month in which the goods were delivered or the services were rendered; and
(2) Evidence that the protest was based on the time of delivery, quality or quantity of goods delivered or services rendered or the price of the goods delivered or the services provided.
(b) The provisions of Subsection (a) do not apply to debt owed to a financial institution for an outstanding credit card balance.
(c) Each and every calendar day any accrued expense remains partially or wholly unpaid after the time periods set forth in Subsection (a) constitutes a separate violation.
(Added by Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009)
(Former Sec. 1.118 added by Ord. 71-00, File No. 000358, App. 4/28/2000; amended by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; repealed by Ord. 3-06, File No. 051439, App. 1/20/2006)