Georgia Code
Article 2 - Campaign Contributions
§ 21-5-34. Disclosure Reports

All persons or entities required to file reports shall have a five-day grace period in filing the required reports, except that the grace period shall be two days for required reports prior to run-off primaries or run-off elections, and no grace period shall apply to contributions required to be reported within two business days. Reports required to be filed within two business days of a contribution shall be reported by facsimile or electronic transmission. Any facsimile filing shall also have an identical electronic filing within five business days following the transmission of such facsimile filing. Each report required in the election year shall contain cumulative totals of all contributions which have been received and all expenditures which have been made in support of the campaign in question and which are required, or previously have been required, to be reported.
(d.1) (1) In the event a candidate for nomination or election to a public office listed in subparagraph (F) or (G) of paragraph (22) of Code Section 21-5-3 or the chairperson or treasurer of a campaign committee organized to bring about the nomination or election of such candidate signs and files with the appropriate official specified by paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a) of this Code section a written notice that such candidate or campaign committee does not intend to accept during such election cycle a combined total of contributions exceeding $2,500.00 for the campaign nor make a combined total of expenditures exceeding $2,500.00 for the campaign in such election cycle, then such candidate or campaign committee shall not be required to file a report under this Code section. The appropriate official shall transmit an electronic copy of the written notice by eFiling or eFax to the commission within ten days of receipt of such notice. The failure of the appropriate official to timely transmit such copy of the written notice to the commission shall not disqualify the candidate or campaign committee from the exemption from report filing provided by this paragraph.
The independent committee shall file a final report prior to December 31 of the election year and shall file supplemental reports on June 30 and December 31 of each year that such independent committee continues to accept contributions or make expenditures.
(2) If such candidate or campaign committee exceeds the $2,500.00 limit for either accepting contributions or making expenditures for such campaign during such election cycle as specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection but does not accept a combined total of contributions exceeding $5,000.00 in such election cycle nor make expenditures exceeding $5,000.00 in such election cycle, then such candidate or campaign committee shall be required to file only the June 30 and December 31 reports required by paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of this Code section. The first such report shall include all contributions received and expenditures made beginning January 1 of such calendar year.
(3) If such candidate or campaign committee accepts a combined total of contributions exceeding $5,000.00 or makes expenditures exceeding $5,000.00 for such campaign during any such election cycle, then such candidate or campaign committee chairperson or treasurer shall thereupon be subject to the reporting requirements of this Code section the same as if the written notice authorized by this subsection had not been filed.
History. Code 1981, § 21-5-34 , enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 957, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 297, § 11; Ga. L. 1987, p. 458, §§ 4, 5; Ga. L. 1988, p. 603, §§ 4, 5; Ga. L. 1989, p. 10, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 643, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 922, §§ 3, 4; Ga. L. 1992, p. 1075, § 6; Ga. L. 1994, p. 257, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 258, §§ 5-9; Ga. L. 1996, p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1491, § 3; Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 12/HB 48; Ga. L. 2006, p. 69, § 1/SB 467; Ga. L. 2009, p. 620, § 3/SB 168; Ga. L. 2010, p. 9, § 1-47/HB 1055; Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 11/SB 17; Ga. L. 2011, p. 19, § 4/HB 232; Ga. L. 2011, p. 590, § 1/HB 143; Ga. L. 2013, p. 173, § 3/HB 143; Ga. L. 2013, p. 540, § 3/HB 142; Ga. L. 2014, p. 1, § 9/HB 310; Ga. L. 2014, p. 9, § 2/SB 297; Ga. L. 2016, p. 173, § 7/SB 199; Ga. L. 2018, p. 1112, § 21/SB 365; Ga. L. 2019, p. 929, § 1/SB 213.
The 2018 amendment, effective May 8, 2018, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted the reservation of former subsection (n).
The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, in subsection (b), substituted “report filed after an election year” for “report of an election cycle” in divisions (b)(1)(D)(i) and (b)(1)(D)(iii), substituted “report filed after the election year” for “report of the applicable new election cycle” at the end of division (b)(1)(D)(v), and inserted “which” near the end of subparagraph (b)(1)(F); in subsection (c), substituted a colon for “on January 31 and June 30;” at the end of paragraph (c)(1), added subparagraphs (c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(B) and substituted “April 30” for “March 31” in subparagraph (c)(2)(A); and, in subsection (e), added “and a December 31 campaign contribution disclosure report regardless of whether the candidate they are supporting has a December 31 campaign contribution disclosure report due” at the end of the second sentence of the introductory language.
Cross references.
District supervisors; election procedure for elected supervisors, § 2-6-30 .
Code Commission notes.
The amendment of this Code section by Ga. L. 2010, p. 9, § 1-47, irreconcilably conflicted with and was treated as superseded by Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 11. See County of Butts v. Strahan, 151 Ga. 417 (1921); Keener v. McDougall, 232 Ga. 273 (1974).
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-3 , in 2013, the amendment of subsection (n) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2013, p. 173, § 3, was treated as impliedly repealed and superseded by Ga. L. 2013, p. 540, § 3, due to irreconcilable conflict. See County of Butts v. Strahan, 151 Ga. 417 (1921); Keener v. McDougall, 232 Ga. 273 (1974) and Ga. L. 2013, p. 141, § 54(d)/HB 79.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2019, “paragraph (22)” was substituted for “paragraph 22” in subparagraphs (c)(1)(A) and (c)(1)(B).
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 2000, p. 1491, § 5, not codified by the General Assembly, provides for severability.
Ga. L. 2000, p. 1491, § 6, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that for purposes of issuing rules and regulations, that Act became effective May 1, 2000.
Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 28/HB 48, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the Act shall not apply to any violation occurring prior to January 9, 2006.
Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 1/SB 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘ Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act of 2010.’ ”
Ga. L. 2010, p. 1173, § 30/SB 17, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part: “This Act shall become effective on January 10, 2011, and shall apply to all reports filed on and after such date; provided, however, that if Code Section 45-12-92.1 as enacted by HB 1055 at the regular session of the 2010 General Assembly does not become law, then the following provisions as enacted by this Act shall not become effective and shall be reserved instead: paragraph (2) of subsection (k) of Code Section 21-5-34; paragraph (2) of subsection (f) of Code Section 21-5-50; division (f)(2)(D)(ii) of Code Section 21-5-71; and division (f)(2)(E)(ii) of Code Section 21-5-71.” HB 1055 became effective May 12, 2010.
Ga. L. 2011, p. 19, § 10/HB 232, provides: “This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law without such approval. It is the express intention of the General Assembly that this Act be applied retroactively to January 10, 2011, as well as prospectively.” This Act became effective March 15, 2011.
Law reviews.
For note on the 1992 amendment of this Code section, see 9 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 247 (1992).
For article on the 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2005).
For article on the 2013 amendment of this Code section, see 30 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 129 (2013).
For article on the 2014 amendment of this Code section, see 31 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 93 (2014).
For article on the 2019 amendment of this Code section, see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 123 (2019).
For article, “SB 221: The Creation of Election Leadership Committees,” see 38 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 155 (2021).