Section 11.1304. Duties of the ethics commission.

  The commission shall:

(1)  Prescribe forms for making the reports, statements, and notices required by this chapter. The commission shall make the forms available free of charge on the commission's Internet site and shall distribute or arrange for the distribution of all forms for use by other filing officers.

(2)  Upon request, transmit a form described under sub. (1) , free of charge, by facsimile or by 1st class mail.

(3)  

(a) Prepare and publish for the use of persons required to file reports and statements under this chapter a manual setting forth simply and concisely recommended uniform methods of bookkeeping and reporting.

(b) Prepare, publish, and revise as necessary a manual simply and concisely describing the filing and registration requirements established in this chapter in detail, as well as other major provisions of this chapter and ch. 12 .

(4)  Develop a filing, coding, and cross-indexing system consonant with the purposes of this chapter.

(5)  Assign an identification number to each committee for whom the commission acts as a filing officer under s. 11.0102 (1) and to each conduit.

(6)  

(a) Except as provided in par. (b) , require each committee for whom the commission serves as filing officer under s. 11.0102 (1) to file each campaign finance report that is required to be filed under this chapter in an electronic format. The commission shall permit an authorized individual to provide at the time of filing an electronic signature, as defined in s. 137.11 (8) , that is subject to a security procedure, as defined in s. 137.11 (13) . A committee that files a report under this subsection in an electronic format may file with the commission that portion of the report signed by an authorized individual rather than submit the electronic signature of that individual. The commission shall provide complete instructions to any committee that files a report under this subsection.

(b) Permit a committee that accepts contributions in a total amount or value of $1,000 or less during a campaign period to opt out of the requirement to file a campaign finance report in an electronic format as specified in par. (a) . In this paragraph, the campaign period of a candidate committee begins and ends as provided under s. 11.1103 , and the campaign period of any other committee begins on January 1 of each odd-numbered year and ends on December 31 of the following year.

(7)  Compile and maintain on an electronic system a current list of all reports and statements received by or required of and pertaining to each committee registered under this chapter.

(8)  Maintain a duplicate record of any statement submitted by a political action committee under s. 11.0505 or by an independent expenditure committee under s. 11.0605 or by a person under subch. X together with the record of each candidate to whom it relates.

(9)  Determine whether each report or statement required to be filed under this chapter has been filed in the form and by the time prescribed by law, and whether it conforms on its face to the requirements of this chapter.

(10)  Immediately send to any committee or conduit which is delinquent in filing, or which has filed otherwise than in the proper form, a notice that the committee or conduit has failed to comply with this chapter. Whenever a candidate committee has appointed an individual other than the candidate as campaign treasurer, the commission shall send the notice to both the candidate and the treasurer of the candidate committee.

(11)  Receive and maintain in an orderly manner all reports and statements required to be filed with the state under the federal election campaign act. The commission shall:

(a) Preserve such reports and statements for a period of 6 years from date of receipt.

(b) Compile and maintain a current list of all reports and statements pertaining to each candidate who is required to file a report or statement under the federal election campaign act.

(c) Promptly compile and release for public inspection a list of all reports received from candidates for national office and from committees supporting or opposing such candidates which are required to be filed with the state under the federal election campaign act, as soon as possible after each deadline for receipt of such reports as provided by federal law.

(12)  Make the reports and statements filed under this chapter, including those reports and statements filed under sub. (11) , available on the commission's Internet site for public inspection and copying, commencing as soon as practicable but not later than the end of the 2nd day following the day during which they are received. No information copied from such reports and statements may be sold or utilized by any person for any commercial purpose.

(13)  Upon the request of any person, permit copying of any report or statement described under sub. (12) by hand or by duplicating machine at cost.

(14)  Include in its annual report under s. 19.47 (5) compilations of any of the following in its discretion:

(a) Total reported contributions, disbursements, and incurred obligations for all committees registered and reporting under this chapter during the biennium.

(b) Total amounts contributed during the biennium, reported by contribution amounts as determined by the commission, to each type of committee registered and reporting under this chapter.

(c) Total amounts expended during the biennium, reported by disbursement amounts as determined by the commission, by each type of committee registered and reporting under this chapter.

(d) Total amounts expended for influencing nominations and elections whenever separate information is reported.

(e) Aggregate amounts contributed by any contributors shown to have contributed more than $100.

(15)  Prepare and publish from time to time special reports comparing the various totals and categories of contributions and disbursements made with respect to preceding elections.

(16)  Make available a list of delinquents for public inspection.

(17)  Promulgate rules to administer this chapter.

2015 a. 117 ss. 24 , 74 (1m) .