Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes a pilot program for city funding of local municipal elections, to remain active until July of 2016.

Highlights:

-Applies to the town of Chapel Hill and any municipality with a population over 50,000 that wishes to participate in the program and submits a proposal that meets the criteria established by the State Board of Elections (Sec. 1). -Authorizes the governing body of a city to appropriate funds for a public campaign financing program and requires the State Board of Elections to develop guidelines for the program (Sec. 1). -Requires the governing body of a city to prepare a report no later than six months after the second election in which it distributes funds, analyzing its experience in organizing a public campaign financing program by such criteria as percentage of candidates participating, sources and amounts of funding and administrative issues, and present it to the State Board of Elections (Sec. 1). -Requires candidates participating in the program to demonstrate public support and voluntarily accept strict fund-raising and spending limits in accordance with a set of requirements drawn by the government (Sec. 1). -Requires that all unspent funds must be returned to the governmental entity that first provided them (Sec. 1). -Allows the State Board to limit the number of municipalities selected according to its own resources to administer the pilot program (Sec. 1). -Prohibits the State Board from funding municipalities that use the partisan method of election (Sec. 1). -Takes effect upon becoming law (Sec. 3).

Full Bill Text