IN SB0233

County election boards gain exclusive jurisdiction to disband local and school board candidate committees, as well as political action and regular party committees that file only with county boards—removing the state election commission's authority over these local-level committees.

A new section (IC 3-9-1-12.5) establishes procedures for the state election commission to disband state-level committees, including candidate committees for state and legislative offices, legislative caucus committees, and PACs/party committees filing with the election division.

Committees may be administratively disbanded if they have not filed expenditure reports in the previous calendar year, have $1,000 or less cash on hand, and mail/email contact attempts have been returned as undeliverable.

Civil penalties for campaign finance violations change from discretionary ("may assess") to mandatory ("shall assess"), including penalties up to $1,000 for various violations, $50/day for late filings (capped at $1,000), and a flat $500 penalty for failure to file electronically.

The act takes effect immediately upon passage as an emergency measure.