Request By:
Mr. Sean Delahanty
Chairman, Louisville-Jefferson County Democratic Party
Fincastle Building
660 Third Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Frederic J. Cowan, Attorney General; Ross T. Carter, Assistant Attorney General
You have asked whether a county executive committee of a political party may receive unexpended campaign funds pursuant to KRS 121.180(10).
The relevant text of subsection 10 of the statute is:
Any unexpended balance of funds not otherwise obligated for the payment of expenses incurred to further a political issue or the candidacy of a person shall, at the election of the candidate or committee, escheat to the State Treasury, be returned pro rata to all contributors or, in the case of a partisan candidate, be transferred to the executive committee of the political party of which the candidate is a member except that a candidate, committee or an official may retain such funds to further the same political issue or to seek election to the same office.
One might assume that the statute's reference to "the executive committee" implies that there is only one executive committee for each party that is eligible to receive unexpended funds. However, KRS 446.020 states that a statute importing the singular may extend to the plural. Consequently we conclude that that statute itself does not by its terms limit the permissible construction to one committee.
While KRS 121.015 defines "committee" as, among other things, "an executive committee of a political party, " the chapter nowhere defines "executive committee. " The question whether "executive committee" in KRS 121.180(10) refers to one committee or several thus becomes one of legislative intent.
The first sentence of subsection 10 of the statute refers to "any committee as defined in this section." The statute contains no definition of "committee"; however subsection 1 refers to "state and county executive committees." It seems plausible therefore to conclude that "executive committee" as used in subsection 10 denotes any of the "state and county executive committees" mentioned in subsection 1.
This construction comports with the overall objective of the chapter. Chapter 121 establishes the comprehensive regulation of campaign finance. Candidates and political organizations must disclose financial transactions and are prohibited from engaging in certain transactions. Among the entities required to file detailed reports are the "state and county executive committees" mentioned in KRS 121.180(10). Since the chapter tightly regulates campaign financing of county executive committees, we perceive no policy to be advanced by excluding them from the receipt of unexpended funds.
Furthermore, we find that chapter 121 contains specific references to the state governing committee of a political party. In KRS 121.110, we find the terms "political party's state central executive committee" and "state central committee of the political party, " and in KRS 121.150(10) we find the term "state executive committee of a political party. " Apparently, the chapter denotes the state governing committee with either of the adjectives "central" and "executive," or in one case "central executive." We conclude that the legislature is amply supplied with terms to limit the operation of a statute to the one state governing committee, and chose freely from among them when it deigned to express such a limitation. The absence of the terms "state," "central," and "executive" from KRS 121.180(10) therefore indicates that the legislature chose not to limit the operation of that statute to the state governing committee.
We conclude therefore that a candidate may designate a county executive committee of a political party as the recipient of unexpended funds pursuant to KRS 121.180(10).