"Personal Use" means any use of funds in a campaign account of a present or former candidate to fulfill a commitment, obligation, or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidate’s campaign or duties as an officeholder.

B. Personal use. Personal use includes the use of funds in a campaign account for:

1. Household food items or supplies;

2. Funeral, cremation, or burial expenses except those incurred for a candidate or an employee or volunteer of an authorized committee whose death arises out of, or in the course of, campaign activity;

3. A clothing purchase, except for clothing of a de minimis value that is used in the campaign, as tee shirts and caps imprinted with a campaign slogan;

4. A tuition payment, other than those associated with the training of campaign staff;

5. A home, mortgage, rent, or utility payment:

a. For any part of any personal residence of the candidate or member of the candidate's family; or

b. For real or personal property that is owned by the candidate or a member of the candidate's family and used for campaign purposes, to the extent the payments exceed the fair market value of the property usage;

6. Admission to a sporting event, a concert, a theater, or any other form of entertainment not associated with an election campaign or officeholder activity;

7. Dues, fees, and other payments to a health club, recreational facility, or other nonpolitical organization, unless the payments are made in connection with a specific fundraising event that takes place on the organization's premises;

8. A country club membership;

9. Salary payments to a member of a candidate's family, unless the family member is providing bona fide services to the campaign and receives compensation that is no greater than the fair market value of the services provided;

10. A vacation or other non-campaign-related trip;

11. A non-campaign-related automobile expense; or

12. Compensation paid to the candidate or officeholder, unless otherwise permitted by law.

C. Case-by-case determinations. The State Board of Elections (state board) will determine on a case-by-case basis whether other uses of funds in a campaign account fulfill a commitment, obligation, or other expense that would exist irrespective of the candidate's campaign or duties as an officeholder and therefore are personal use.

Examples of other uses include:

1. Legal expenses

2. Meal expenses

3. Travel expenses, including subsistence expenses incurred during travel. If a committee uses campaign funds to pay reasonable expenses associated with travel that involves both personal activities and campaign or officeholder-related activities, the incidental expenses that result from personal activities are personal use, unless the person benefiting from this use reimburses the campaign account within 30 days for the amount of the incremental expenses;

4. Vehicle expenses, unless they are de minimis amount. If a campaign uses campaign funds to pay expenses associated with a vehicle that is used for both personal activities beyond a de minimis amount and campaign or officeholder related activities, the portion of the vehicle expenses associated with the personal activities is personal use, unless the person using the vehicle for personal activities reimburses the campaign account within 30 days for the expenses associated with the personal activities. Campaign funds may not be used to pay for or reimburse vehicle expenses otherwise provided for under Virginia law.

5. Dependent care expenses that are incurred as a direct result of the person seeking, holding, or maintaining public office.

D. Non-personal uses. The following uses of donated funds are not considered personal use:

1. Charitable donations to an organization described in 170(c) of the United States Code are not personal use, unless the candidate receives compensation from the organization before the organization has expended the entire amount donated for purposes unrelated to the candidate's personal benefit.

2. Transfers of campaign assets, so long as the transfer is for fair market value. Any depreciation before the transfer must be allocated between the committee and the purchaser based on the useful life of the asset.

3. Gifts of a nominal value made on a special occasion such as a holiday, graduation, marriage, retirement, or death, unless made to a member of the candidate's family.

4. The use of campaign funds for a political or officially connected expense to the extent the expense is an expenditure that is provided for under Virginia law or an ordinary and necessary expense incurred in connection with the duties of an officeholder. Any use of funds that would be personal under subsection B of this section will not be considered a qualified expenditure or an ordinary and necessary expense incurred in connection with the duties of a state or local officeholder.

E. Permissible non-campaign use of funds. In addition to defraying expenses in connection with a campaign for an office of the Commonwealth, funds in a campaign account:

1. May be used to defray any ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with the recipient's duties as an officeholder or candidate, if applicable, including:

a. The costs of travel by the recipient officeholder and an accompanying spouse to participate in a function directly connected to bona fide official responsibilities, such as a fact-finding meeting or an event at which the officeholder's services are provided through a speech or appearance in an official capacity; or

b. The costs of winding down the office of a former officeholder for a period of six months after the officeholder leaves office;

2. May be disposed of or used in accordance with §§ 24.2-948.4 and 24.2-948.6 of the Code of Virginia.

3. May be used for any other lawful purpose, unless the use is a personal use under subsection B or C of this section.

Nothing in this subsection modifies or supersedes other federal statutory restrictions or relevant state laws that may apply to the use of campaign or donated funds by candidates or officeholders.

F. Third-party payments. Notwithstanding that the use of funds for a particular expense would be a personal use under this section, payment of that expense by any person other than the candidate or the campaign committee shall be a contribution, as defined in § 24.2-945.1 of the Code of Virginia, to the candidate unless the payment would have been made irrespective of the candidate's candidacy. Examples of payments considered to be irrespective of candidacy include situations where:

1. The payment is made from funds that are the candidate’s personal funds, including an account jointly held by the candidate and a member of the candidate's family; or

2. Payments for that expense were made by the person making the payment before the candidate became a candidate or would be made irrespective of the candidate’s candidacy. Payments that are compensation shall be considered contributions unless:

a. The compensation results from bona fide employment that is genuinely independent of the candidacy;

b. The compensation is exclusively in consideration of services provided by the employee as part of the employee's employment;

c. The compensation does not exceed the amount of compensation that would be paid to any other similarly qualified person for the same work over the same period of time.

G. Candidate and officeholder security. The use of campaign funds to pay for the reasonable costs of security measures for a candidate, officeholder, member of their family, and employees of the candidate's campaign or the officeholder's office is not personal use so long as the security measures address ongoing dangers or threats that would not exist irrespective of the individual's status or duties as a candidate or officeholder.

1. Disbursements for security measures must be for the usual and normal charge for the goods or services. Usual and normal charge means, in the case of goods, the price of those goods in the market in which they are ordinarily purchased, and, in the case of services, the hourly or piecework charge for the services at a commercially reasonable rate prevailing at the time the services were rendered.

2. Examples of security measures include:

a. Nonstructural security devices, such as security hardware, locks, alarm systems, motion detectors, and security camera systems;

b. Structural security devices, such as wiring, lighting, gates, doors, and fencing, so long as the devices are intended solely to provide security and not to improve the property or increase its value;

c. Security personnel and services that are bona fide, legitimate, and professional;

d. Cybersecurity software, devices, and services.

H. Recordkeeping. For the use of campaign funds described in subsections B and C of this section that involve both personal use and either campaign or office-holder use, a contemporaneous log or other record must be kept to document the dates and expenses related to the personal use of the campaign funds. The log must be updated whenever campaign funds are used for personal expenses, as described in subsections B and C of this section, rather than for campaign or officeholder expenses. The log or other record must also be maintained and preserved in accordance with the requirements of § 24.2-947.3 of the Code of Virginia.

I. Exemption. Candidates and federal officeholders subject to 52 USC § 30114 are exempted from this section.

J. Violations.

1. A person may file a Complaint for violations of § 24.2-948.6 of the Code of Virginia and this section if the person:

a. Contributes to a candidate or campaign committee that has allegedly committed the violation; or

b. Is qualified to vote in the election for the office for which the candidate is running.

2. A complaint must be filed with the Department on a form prescribed by the Department of Elections (department) in accordance with the requirements of § 24.2-948.7 of the Code of Virginia.

3. The department must provide a copy of a submitted complaint to the respondent within 24 hours of receipt.

4. The department must review complaints and transmit those it deems credible, complete, and from a qualified complainant to the state board within 10 days of receipt. The department must provide written notice to the complainant and respondent of the department's determination of complaint disposition.

5. For complaints transmitted by the department, or pursuant to an inquiry initiated upon its own motion, the state board will conduct a preliminary investigation and, if necessary, a public hearing in accordance with the requirements of § 24.2-948.7 of the Code of Virginia and procedures developed by the state board.

6. The department's complaint form and state board's procedures must be posted on the Department’s website.