If the Arkansas Medical Society uses 2 percent or more of its annual revenue, operating expenses or funds to make contributions exceeding $10,000 to a ballot-question committee, it would be required to register itself as such a committee and file financial reports, the Arkansas Ethics Commission said Friday in an advisory opinion.
Scott Smith, director of governmental affairs for the Arkansas Medical Society, asked the Ethics Commission for an advisory opinion to clarify the reporting requirements applicable to a group such as the medical society that might make contributions exceeding that threshold from its reserves to a ballot-question committee.
The Arkansas Medical Society is a Section 501(c)(6) health care organization that is funded by annual membership dues and has reserves, according to the Ethics Commission's advisory opinion.
Smith said Friday the medical society hasn't decided whether it will contribute to ballot-question committees.
He said he sought the advisory opinion after attorney Matt Campbell of Little Rock, who runs the self-described left-leaning Blue Hog Report website, filed a complaint a month ago with the Ethics Commission against the Arkansas Health Care Association. That association is an organization of long-term-care facilities that has given $330,000 to a ballot-question committee, Health Care Access for Arkansans.
Last week, the Arkansas Health Care Association filed documents to become a ballot-question committee. The documents contained the names of several hundred nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and other medical operations that had contributed a total of $330,000 through the association to Health Care Access for Arkansans.
The association -- the lobby for nursing homes -- said it "is not required to disclose the entire set of all contributions we receive or all expenditures we make which are unrelated to ballot question advocacy" based on "our counsel's discussions with the Ethics Commission." Instead, the group said, "we believe that our disclosure requirement is limited to those contributions and expenditures which are related to ballot question advocacy."
In its advisory opinion, the Ethics Commission said Friday that if the Arkansas Medical Society makes contributions exceeding $10,000 to a ballot-question committee using at least 2 percent of its annual revenues, operating expenses or funds, it would become a ballot-question committee and subject to the registration requirements of Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-404 and reporting requirements of Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-406 through 7-9-409.
The commission interprets Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-404 to require filing a statement of organization as a ballot-question committee within five days of meeting that contribution threshold, the ethics commission said.
The statement of organization would include the committee's name, street address and the telephone number; treasurer and other principal officers and directors; and the name and address of each financial institution in which the ballot question committee deposits money or anything else of monetary value; and the name of each person who is a member of the ballot-question committee, according to the Ethics Commission.
The Ethics Commission said it interprets Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-407 to require the reports of a ballot-question committee to include the name, address and telephone number of the committee, the total amount of contributions made to another committee during the period covered by the report, and the cumulative amount of contributions.
The first financial report should be filed within 15 days following the month in which the group meets the threshold to become a ballot-question committee, the Ethics Commission said.
The Health Care Access for Arkansans ballot-question committee is promoting a proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The proposed amendment would limit noneconomic damages and attorneys' fees in lawsuits against health care providers.
A Section on 08/20/2016