In January, the Act to Improve the Laws Relating to Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying went into effect.  Many of the changes to the campaign finance law brought about by the new act will impact how campaign finance reporting is managed at the municipal level.  We understand that these new requirements will be challenging to implement, so we want to offer our assistance in meeting these new mandates.  We have launched this page to provide a centralized resource center for the maintenance and distribution of campaign finance materials, information about the new law, and links to other resources you may find helpful as you implement the new law.

The change to M.G.L. c. 55, s. 26 requires every municipality with a website to post, for public viewing, all campaign finance reports that show $1,000 or more in activity.  In response to this change in the law, OCPF created the Webpage Toolkit for Municipal Clerks.  This new application on the OCPF Electronic Filing System (EFS) has been designed with novice computer users in mind.  The application uses an interview-style interface:  you will be asked to supply information about the candidates, the offices sought and the campaign finance reports you expect to receive for each local election and the location where you store your electronic files.  Once you have supplied the information, the software builds a webpage for you to save to any location you choose.

Passwords are required to login.  Once you have received your password, you can access the application here:

To log-in, select your municipality from the dropdown list and then enter your password.  You can also view or download a reference guide for the Webpage Toolkit here:

If you have any questions about the new posting requirement, require assistance with the Webpage Toolkit, or need to request a password, please contact OCPF Technical Support at (617) 979-8300.

• Click here to view an edited version of M.G.L. Chapter 55 (with redacted language crossed through and new language in bold.)
  
  
• Special Edition of OCPF Reports
  OCPF has published a special edition of its newsletter to assist the public in understanding the new revisions to the campaign finance law that will take effect on January 1, 2010.  OCPF Reports Special Edition (.pdf format)
  
  
• Click here to view Chapter 28 of the 2009 Session Laws (The Act to Improve the Laws Relating to Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying).
  
  
• Click here to view a summary of the changes to the Electronic Filing System (EFS).

OCPF has posted editable PDF versions of the municipal campaign finance report forms on our Forms & Publications page.  There is a new CPF M102 campaign finance report form, with supplemental Sch. A and B forms, and a new editable R-1 form.  The candidates and committees that file with your office can enter their campaign finance activity information directly into these forms, which will make the reports much more legible.  The completed forms can then be printed for signature and sent to you.  These forms require Adobe Acrobat which is also available, at no cost, from the Forms & Publications page.  Eventually, all of the forms on the OCPF website will be in editable form.

Of course, any of our forms are available for ordering.  Please use the clerk's order form to place your order with OCPF.

Click here to download an overview of the campaign finance disclosure requirements for municipal elections.

Finally, Reporter 5, OCPF's free campaign finance reporting software, has also been updated to accommodate all of the new changes in the law.  Municipal candidates and committees can use Reporter 5 to create and print their reports.  Reports can also be generated in the PDF file format.  Reporter 5 is available, at no cost, for downloading from the OCPF website.