For the purposes of the contribution limitations contained in this chapter, contributions of two or more persons or entities shall be aggregated as follows:
A. All payments made by a person or organization whose contributions or expenditure activities are financed, maintained or controlled by any corporation, labor organization, association, political party or any other person or committee, including any parent, subsidiary, branch, division department or local unit of the corporation, labor organization, association, political party or any other person, or by any group of such persons, shall be considered to be made by the person or organization financing, maintaining or controlling the contribution or expenditure.
1. Related Entities. Two or more entities, including, but not limited to, partnerships, limited partnerships, and corporations, shall be treated as one person for purposes of the contribution limitations set forth in Section 2.13.050 above, when any of the following circumstances apply:
a. The entities share the majority of members of their governing boards.
b. The entities share two or more officers.
c. The entities are owned or controlled by the same majority shareholder(s) or general partner(s). For purposes of this subsection, a controlling interest means fifty (50) percent or more of the voting power of a corporation.
d. The entities are in a parent-subsidiary relationship. A parent-subsidiary relationship exists when one corporation directly or indirectly owns shares possessing fifty (50) percent or more of the voting power of another corporation.
2. Controlling Interest. A person and any general partnership in which the person is a general partner, or a person and any corporation in which the person owns a controlling interest, shall be treated as one and the same, and the aggregate contributions made by the person and the corporation or partnership shall not exceed the contribution limitations set forth in Section 2.13.050.
For purposes of this subsection, a controlling interest in a corporation means fifty (50) percent or more of the voting power of a corporation.
C. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2.13.180, a candidate shall not be deemed to be in violation of this section if he or she accepts a contribution from a person or persons that exceeds the contribution limits set forth in Section 2.13.050 because of the aggregation of contributions pursuant to subsections A and B of this section. It is the intent of this section to make contributors, and not candidates, liable for violations of this section occurring as a result of the applicability of the aggregation rules set forth in subsections A and B of this section, except where there is sufficient proof that the candidate had knowledge that the contributions must be aggregated. (Ord. 2017-0027 § 4; Ord. 2000-048 § 1)