SB1196 - Illinois Clean Elections Act

• Establishes a voluntary public financing system for campaigns of candidates running for statewide constitutional offices (Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Treasurer, State Comptroller) and General Assembly positions, available beginning in 2020 elections.

• Creates the Illinois Clean Elections Fund as a special state treasury fund, to be financed by $40,000,000 annually from income tax revenues (beginning January 1, 2020), qualifying contributions of $5 from registered voters, income tax checkoff donations of $3 per taxpayer, and other sources including fines and unspent campaign funds.

• Requires participating candidates to collect $5 qualifying contributions from registered voters during specified periods (November through April 15 for statewide offices, January through April 15 for legislative offices) and limit seed money contributions to $50,000 for gubernatorial candidates, $25,000 for statewide offices, and $5,000-$10,000 for legislative candidates.

• Distributes Fund revenues to certified candidates in amounts varying by office and election type, ranging from $2,000,000 per gubernatorial primary candidate to amounts based on average historical spending for legislative races; provides matching funds if opponents exceed distribution amounts by up to 2 times the original distribution.

• Prohibits certified candidates from accepting contributions beyond Fund distributions (except interest earned), requires detailed campaign finance reporting and record-keeping, imposes fines up to $10,000 per violation, and mandates State Board reports every 4 years evaluating program implementation.