• Elected Officials and their Candidate Committees:
  

  Elected officials who hold active office may not dissolve their candidate's committees.  However, once they leave office, they may dissolve their candidate's committees once all outstanding liabilities have been satisfied and there are no remaining funds in their campaign accounts.

  This does not mean that candidates are required to dissolve their committees upon leaving office.  A candidate may leave his or her committee open as long as the candidate has not ruled out the option of seeking office in the future, even if the specific office and timetable are not known.  The committee must, however, continue to comply with all provisions of the campaign finance law and file regular disclosure reports.  Dissolution is only required in those instances where a candidate has decided not to seek elected office in the future or upon the death of a candidate.

• Political Action Committees and People's Committees
  

  A PAC or People's Committee may remain in business indefinitely, as long as it files regular disclosure reports.

• Ballot Question Committees
  

  By law, ballot question committees must dissolve after the final determination of the question at the polls.  A committee may remain open after an election in certain limited circumstances, such as a question that is defeated in a town election but is promptly re-voted at a subsequent election.  Committees should contact OCPF for guidance if they want to remain open.

In order to dissolve, a committee must have no remaining funds or liabilities.  Liabilities, including any unpaid bills or loans from a candidate, must be paid, settled, or otherwise disposed of before dissolution.  The payment of any debts will be disclosed as expenditures on the final disclosure report filed by the committee.  The settlement of a debt is disclosed on Form CPF S 1: Statement of Settlement.  In the case of a loan from a candidate to his or her committee, if the candidate decides to forgive all or part of the debt, the debt forgiveness is disclosed on Schedule C: In-Kind Contributions on the committee's final disclosure report.

Residual Funds, or the remaining campaign funds left in a committee's account, may not be converted to the personal use of a candidate or any other individual.  Remaining funds may only be disposed of by giving the funds to one or more of the following:

• The general fund of any city or town;
• A charitable or religious organization; or
• A scholarship fund.

Those unsure whether a planned expenditure of residual funds complies with the legal standard should contact OCPF.

Dissolution is accomplished by filing a final campaign finance report detailing the disposition of funds and liabilities.  The reporting period for this report will begin the day after the last campaign finance report was filed and will end on the date of filing.  This report can be filed electronically, using Reporter 5 or Web Reporter, or, if the committee never exceeded the electronic filing threshhold, the report may be filed as a paper report, by downloading and completing the 102 form appropriate to the type of committee dissolving.

In addition to filing a final dissolution report, Depository candidates must also download and complete a Form CPF 23: Petition to close depository account prior to dissolving.

Once all of the required forms and the final report have been received, OCPF will send an acknowledgment confirming the dissolution of the committee.