SB0835 - Illinois Clean Elections Act

• Establishes a voluntary public financing system for candidates running for Governor, statewide constitutional offices, State Senate, and State House of Representatives beginning in 2016 elections.

• Creates the Illinois Clean Elections Fund financed by $40,000,000 in annual income tax revenue transfers (starting January 1, 2018), individual tax checkoff donations of $3 or more, qualifying contributions, and other sources.

• Requires participating candidates to collect minimum qualifying contributions ($5 each from registered voters in their district) during designated periods and limits seed money contributions ($50,000 for gubernatorial, $25,000 for statewide offices, $10,000 for State Senate, $5,000 for State House).

• Provides specific fund distributions to certified candidates based on election type and office (ranging from $2,000,000 per gubernatorial primary candidate to amounts based on historical average expenditures for legislative races), with matching funds available if opponents exceed initial distributions.

• Requires participating candidates to limit expenditures to distributed funds only, maintain separate campaign accounts, comply with reporting requirements, and return unspent funds; imposes fines up to $10,000 per violation and criminal penalties for willful violations.