By Staff
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday, the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office published a list of principal campaign committees and political action committees that have yet to file their 2016 Annual Report. This report documents all money raised or spent by a candidate or committee each year.
The Secretary of State’s Office says that it made numerous attempts to notify each committee member listed in the FCPA system starting May 1, 2017. Notice was delivered to each committee by phone, mail and email.
This is the first time since the Alabama Legislature created the Fair Campaign Practices Act that the SOS has published a list of law violators.
Since the initial contact was sent out, nearly all 92 of the initial delinquent filers have reconciled the issue by completing and filing a 2016 Annual Report. At the time of this release, only nine principal campaign committees and political action committees remain overdue in their report. Those nine remaining violators are being reported to Attorney General Steve Marshall’s team and the appropriate local district attorney’s office, with a copy to be delivered to the Alabama Ethics Commission.
The penalty for failing to file an FCPA Annual Report is a Class A misdemeanor. More than 1,039 committees are required to file annually, and to date, 1,030 have filed reports.
The nine delinquent funds are William Barnes from Birmingham, James Graham from Phenix City, Jim Green from Scottsboro, Handley Hardy from Ragland, Randy Hester from Vina, Move Birmingham Forward PAC, Steve Small from Birmingham, Orlando Whitehead from Tuskegee and Future Montgomery.
Secretary of State John Merrill is reportedly running for another term in 2018.
