(Title and Section Amended by Ord. No. 183,414, Eff. 3/13/15.)
A. A current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office may control one or more legal defense committees.
1. A legal defense committee may be used solely to defray attorney's fees and other legal costs incurred in the legal defense of the current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office in a civil or criminal court case, an administrative proceeding, or an Ethics Commission matter arising directly out of the conduct of a City election campaign, the City's electoral process, or the performance of City duties.
2. The current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office shall file with the Ethics Commission a Statement of Purpose identifying the specific case, proceeding, or matter for which the legal defense committee is established.
3. The legal defense committee shall be named "The [name of the current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office] Legal Defense Committee for [number of the case, proceeding, or matter or, if a number does not exist, a brief description of the case, proceeding, or matter]."
B. Contributions to legal defense committees are subject to the following:
1. A current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office may not solicit or accept a contribution or cause a contribution to be solicited or accepted before the committee is established and the Statement of Purpose has been filed.
2. The committee shall establish a separate checking account at an office of a financial institution located in the City. All contributions received by the legal defense committee shall be deposited into that account.
3. A person may not make and the committee or the person who controls the committee may not solicit or accept or cause to be solicited or accepted contributions from another person that, during a fiscal year, cumulatively exceed the per-person campaign contribution limit that applies to candidates for Citywide office under Section 49.7.3 B.2.b.
a. If the per-person contribution limit applicable to candidates for Citywide office increases under Section 49.7.3, the new limit applies to contributions to the committee during that fiscal year.
b. This paragraph does not prohibit the person who controls the committee from obtaining a personal loan of any amount and duration from a licensed financial lending institution in the regular course of business on the same terms available to members of the public.
C. Expenditures by a legal defense committee are subject to the following:
1. An expenditure must be related to the case, proceeding, or matter identified in the Statement of Purpose.
2. All expenditures by the committee must be made from the committee's checking account.
3. Within 180 days after the final conclusion of the case, proceeding, or matter and the payment of all debts incurred in connection with that case, proceeding, or matter, funds remaining in the committee's checking account shall be disposed of by repayment of contributions to contributors, by transfer to another legal defense committee, or by payment to the City's General Fund.
D. This Section is the sole authority for soliciting or accepting contributions for the defense of a current or former elected City officer or candidate for elected City office in a case, proceeding, or matter arising out of a City election campaign, the City's electoral process, or the performance of City duties.