169.254. Contributions by corporations, joint stock companies, domestic dependent sovereigns, and labor organizations; limitations; penalties | Statutes | Westlaw

Sec. 54. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section and section 55,¹ and except with respect to loans made in the ordinary course of business, a corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization shall not make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services that are excluded from the definition of a contribution under section 4(3)(a).²

(2) An officer, director, stockholder, attorney, agent, or any other person acting for a labor organization, a domestic dependent sovereign, or a corporation or joint stock company, whether incorporated under the laws of this or any other state or foreign country, except corporations formed for political purposes, shall not make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services that are excluded from the definition of a contribution under section 4(3)(a).

(3) A corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization may make a contribution to a ballot question committee or independent expenditure committee subject to this act. A corporation, joint stock company, domestic dependent sovereign, or labor organization may make an independent expenditure in any amount advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question and does not for this reason become a committee, unless it solicits or receives contributions in excess of $500.00 for the purpose of making the independent expenditure, but is subject to the independent expenditure reporting requirements under section 51.³

(4) A person that knowingly violates this section is guilty of a felony punishable, if the person is an individual, by * * * imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or both, or, if the person is not an individual, by a fine of not more than $10,000.00.