(1) "Independent expenditure" means an expenditure that has each of the following elements:

(a) It is made in support of or in opposition to a candidate for office by a person who is not:

(i) A candidate for that office;

(ii) An authorized committee of that candidate for that office; and

(iii) A person who has received the candidate's encouragement or approval to make the expenditure, if the expenditure pays in whole or in part for political advertising supporting that candidate or promoting the defeat of any other candidate or candidates for that office;

(b) It is made in support of or in opposition to a candidate for office by a person with whom the candidate has not collaborated for the purpose of making the expenditure, if the expenditure pays in whole or in part for political advertising supporting that candidate or promoting the defeat of any other candidate or candidates for that office;

(c) The expenditure pays in whole or in part for political advertising that either specifically names the candidate supported or opposed, or clearly and beyond any doubt identifies the candidate without using the candidate's name; and

(d) The expenditure, alone or in conjunction with another expenditure or other expenditures of the same person in support of or opposition to that candidate, has a value of $1,000 or more. A series of expenditures, each of which is under $1,000, constitutes one independent expenditure if their cumulative value is $1,000 or more.

(2) "Independent expenditure" does not include: Ordinary home hospitality; communications with journalists or editorial staff designed to elicit a news item, feature, commentary, or editorial in a regularly scheduled news medium that is of primary interest to the general public, controlled by a person whose business is that news medium, and not controlled by a candidate or a political committee; participation in the creation of a publicly funded voters' pamphlet statement in written or video form; an internal political communication primarily limited to contributors to a political party organization or political action committee, the officers, management staff, and stockholders of a corporation or similar enterprise, or the members of a labor organization or other membership organization; or the rendering of personal services of the sort commonly performed by volunteer campaign workers or incidental expenses personally incurred by volunteer campaign workers not in excess of $250 personally paid for by the worker.

Intent—Construction—Rules remain valid—Effective date—2024 c 164: See notes following RCW 29B.10.010.