Assignments, Participations, etc (a) Any Agent may, and with the written consent of the Agents, which consents shall not be unreasonably withheld, any other Bank, may at any time assign and delegate to one or more Eligible Assignees (provided that no written consent of either Agent shall be required in connection with any assignment and delegation by a Bank to an Eligible Assignee that is an Affiliate of such Bank) (each an "Assignee") all, or any ratable part of all, of the Loans, the Commitments and the other rights and obligations of such Bank hereunder, in a minimum amount of $5,000,000; provided, however, that (i) the Company and the Agents may continue to deal solely and directly with such Bank in connection with the interest so assigned to an Assignee until (A) written notice of such assignment, together with payment instructions, addresses and related information with respect to the Assignee, shall have been given to the Company and the Administrative Agent by such Bank and the Assignee; (B) such Bank and its Assignee shall have delivered to the Company and the Administrative Agent an Assignment and Acceptance in the form of Exhibit E ("Assignment and Acceptance") together with any Note or Notes subject to such assignment and (C) the assignor Bank or Assignee has paid to each the Administrative Agent a processing fee in the amount of its $[______________]; and (ii) if the assignor Bank or any of its Affiliates is a Swap Provider with respect to any Specified Swap Contract, such Bank shall not assign all of its interest in the 76 128 Loans and the Commitments to an Assignee unless such Assignee, or an Affiliate of such Assignee, shall also assume all obligations of such assignor Bank or Affiliate with respect to such Specified Swap Contracts, with the consent of the Company.
(b) From and after the date that the Administrative Agent notifies the assignor Bank that it has received (and provided its consent and obtained the consent of the Documentation Agent) with respect to) an executed Assignment and Acceptance and payment of the above-referenced processing fee, (i) the Assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent that rights and obligations hereunder have been assigned to it pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, shall have the rights and obligations of a Bank under the Loan Documents, and (ii) the assignor Bank shall, to the extent that rights and obligations hereunder and under the other Loan Documents have been assigned by it pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, relinquish its rights and be released from its obligations under the Loan Documents.
(c) Within five Business Days after its receipt of notice by the Administrative Agent that it has received an executed Assignment and Acceptance and payment of the processing fee, the Company shall execute and deliver to the Administrative Agent, new Notes evidencing such Assignee's assigned Loans and Commitment and, if the assignor Bank has retained a portion of its Loans and its Commitment, replacement Notes in the principal amount of the Loans retained by the assignor Bank (such Notes to be in exchange for, but not in payment of, the Notes held by such Bank). Immediately upon each Assignee's making its processing fee payment under the Assignment and Acceptance, this Agreement shall be deemed to be amended to the extent, but only to the extent, necessary to reflect the addition of the Assignee and the resulting adjustment of the Commitments arising therefrom. The Commitment allocated to each Assignee shall reduce such Commitments of the assigning Bank pro tanto.
(d) Any Bank may at any time sell to one or more commercial banks or other Persons not Affiliates of the Company (a "Participant") participating interests in any Loans, the Commitment of that Bank and the other interests of that Bank (the "originating Bank") hereunder and under the other Loan Documents; provided, however, that (i) the originating Bank's obligations under this Agreement shall remain unchanged, (ii) the originating Bank shall remain solely responsible for the performance of such obligations, (iii) the Company and the Agents shall continue to deal solely and directly with the originating Bank in connection with the originating Bank's rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Documents, and (iv) no Bank shall transfer or grant any participating interest under which the Participant has rights to
01. In the case of any such participation, the Participant shall not have any rights under this Agreement, or any of the other Loan Documents, and all amounts payable by the Company hereunder shall be determined as if such Bank had not sold such participation; except that, if amounts outstanding under this Agreement are due and unpaid, or shall have been declared or shall have become due and payable upon the occurrence of an Event of Default, each Participant shall be deemed to have the right of set-off in respect of its participating interest in amounts owing under this Agreement to the same extent as if the amount of its participating interest were owing directly to it as a Bank under this Agreement.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision in this Agreement, any Bank may at any time create a security interest in, or pledge, all or any portion of its rights under and interest in this Agreement and the Note held by it in favor of any Federal Reserve Bank in accordance with Regulation A of the FRB or U.S. Treasury Regulation 31 CFR Section203.14, and such Federal Reserve Bank may enforce such pledge or security interest in any manner permitted under applicable law.
Repayment of Participations (i) At any time after any Lender has purchased and funded a risk participation in a Swing Line Loan, if the Swing Line Lender receives any payment on account of such Swing Line Loan, the Swing Line Lender will distribute to such Lender its Applicable Percentage of such payment (appropriately adjusted, in the case of interest payments, to reflect the period of time during which such Lender’s risk participation was funded) in the same funds as those received by the Swing Line Lender.
(ii) If any payment received by the Swing Line Lender in respect of principal or interest on any Swing Line Loan is required to be returned by the Swing Line Lender under any of the circumstances described in Section 10.05 (including pursuant to any settlement entered into by the Swing Line Lender in its discretion), each Lender shall pay to the Swing Line Lender its Applicable Percentage thereof on demand of the Administrative Agent, plus interest thereon from the date of such demand to the date such amount is returned, at a rate per annum equal to the Federal Funds Rate. The Administrative Agent will make such demand upon the request of the Swing Line Lender. The obligations of the Lenders under this clause shall survive the payment in full of the Obligations and the termination of this Agreement.
Assignments; Participations (a) Any Lender may, with the written consent of (i) the Agent, (ii) the Swingline Lender and the Letter of Credit Issuers, and (iii) so long as no Event of Default under any of Section 10.1(a), (e), (f) or (g) has occurred and is continuing, the Borrower (in each case, which consents shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed), assign and delegate to one or more Eligible Assignees (provided that (x) no such Borrower consent shall be required in connection with any assignment to an existing Lender, an Affiliate of a Lender, or an Approved Fund of a Lender and (y) such Borrower consent shall be deemed to have been given if the Borrower has not responded within ten (10) Business Days of receipt of a written request for consent (each an “Assignee”) all, or any ratable part of all, of the Loans, the Commitments and the other rights and obligations of such Lender hereunder, in a minimum amount of $5,000,000, or an integral multiple of $1,000,000 in excess thereof (provided that an amount less than the minimum amount of $5,000,000 may be assigned if agreed to by the Borrower and the Agent, or if such amount represents all of the Loans, the Commitments and the other rights and obligations of the Lender hereunder) (provided, further that no such minimum amount shall apply to any assignment to an Approved Fund or to a Lender or to an Affiliate of a Lender); provided, however, that (A) written notice of such assignment, together with payment instructions, addresses and related information with respect to the Assignee, shall be given to the Borrower and the Agent by such Lender and the Assignee; (B) such Lender and its Assignee shall deliver to the Borrower and the Agent an Assignment and Acceptance, along with an Administrative Questionnaire and any know-your-customer documentation; and (C) the assignor Lender or Assignee shall pay to the Agent a processing fee in the amount of $3,500; provided, further, that the Agent may elect to waive such processing fee in its sole discretion.
(b) From and after the date that the Agent has received an executed Assignment and Acceptance, the Agent has received payment of the above-referenced processing fee and the Agent has recorded such assignment in the Register as provided in Section 13.20 herein, (i) the Assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent that rights and obligations, including, but not limited to, the obligation to participate in Letters of Credit, have been assigned to it pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, shall have the rights and obligations of a Lender under the Loan Documents, and (ii) the assignor Lender shall, to the extent that rights and obligations hereunder and under the other Loan Documents have been assigned by it pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance, relinquish its rights and be released from its obligations under this Agreement (and in the case of an Assignment and Acceptance covering all or the remaining portion of an assignor Lender’s rights and obligations under this Agreement, such assignor Lender shall cease to be a party hereto).
(c) By executing and delivering an Assignment and Acceptance, the assignor Lender thereunder and the Assignee thereunder confirm to and agree with each other and the other parties hereto as follows: (i) other than as provided in such Assignment and Acceptance, such assignor Lender makes no representation or warranty and assumes no responsibility with respect to any statements, warranties or representations made in or in connection with this Agreement or any other Loan Document or the execution, legality, validity, enforceability, genuineness, sufficiency or value of this Agreement or any other Loan Document furnished pursuant hereto or the attachment, perfection, or priority of any Lien granted by any Obligor to the Agent or any Lender in the applicable Collateral; (ii) such assignor Lender makes no representation or warranty and assumes no responsibility with respect to the financial condition of any Obligor or the performance or observance by any Obligor of any of its obligations under this Agreement or any other Loan Document furnished pursuant hereto; (iii) such Assignee confirms that it has received a copy of this Agreement, together with such other documents and information as it has deemed appropriate to make its own credit analysis and decision to enter into such Assignment and Acceptance; (iv) such Assignee will, independently and without reliance upon the Agent, such assignor Lender or any other Lender, and based on such documents and information as it shall deem appropriate at the time, continue to make its own credit decisions in taking or not taking action under this Agreement; (v) such Assignee appoints and authorizes the Agent to take such action as agent on its behalf and to exercise such powers under this Agreement as are delegated to the Agent by the terms hereof, together with such powers, including the discretionary rights and incidental powers, as are reasonably incidental thereto; and (vi) such Assignee agrees that it will perform in accordance with their terms all of the obligations which by the terms of this Agreement are required to be performed by it as a Lender.
Benefit of Agreement Assignments Participations (a) This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the respective successors and assigns of the parties hereto; provided, however, that (i) no Credit Party may assign or transfer any of its rights, obligations or interest hereunder or under any other Credit Document without the prior written consent of the Lenders, (ii) although any Lender may grant participations in its rights hereunder, such Lender shall remain a “Lender” for all purposes hereunder (and may not transfer or assign all or any portion of its Commitments hereunder except as provided in Section 11.04(b)) and no participant shall constitute a “Lender” hereunder and (iii) no Lender shall transfer or grant any participation under which the participant shall have rights to approve any amendment to or waiver of this Agreement or any other Credit Document except to the extent such amendment or waiver would (x) extend the final scheduled maturity of any Loan or Note in which such participant is participating, or reduce the rate or extend the time of payment of interest or Commitment Commission thereon (except (I) in connection with a waiver of applicability of any post-default increase in interest rates and (II) that any amendment or modification to the financial definitions in this Agreement shall not constitute a reduction in the rate of interest for purposes of this clause (x)) or reduce the principal amount thereof, or increase the amount of the participant’s participation over the amount thereof then in effect (it being understood that a waiver of any Default or Event of Default or of a mandatory reduction in the Total Commitments shall not constitute a change in the terms of such participation, and that an increase in any Commitment or Loan shall be permitted without the consent of any participant if the participant’s participation is not increased as a result thereof), (y) consent to the assignment or transfer by the Borrower of any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement or (z) release all or substantially all of the Collateral under all of the Security Documents (except as expressly provided in the Credit Documents) securing the Loans hereunder in which such participant is participating. In the case of any such participation, the participant shall not have any rights under this Agreement or any of the other Credit Documents (the participant’s rights against such Lender in respect of such participation to be those set forth in the agreement executed by such Lender in favor of the participant relating thereto) and all amounts payable by the Borrower hereunder shall be determined as if such Lender had not sold such participation. Each Lender that sells a participation shall, acting solely for this purpose as an agent of the Borrower, maintain a register on which it enters the name and address of each participant and the principal amounts (and stated interest) of each participant’s interest in the Loan or other obligations under the Note (the “Participant Register”); provided that no Lender shall have any obligation to disclose all or any portion of the Participant Register (including the identity of any participant or any information relating to a participant’s interest in any commitments, loans or its other obligations under any Note) to any Person except to the extent that such disclosure is necessary to establish that such commitment, loan, letter of credit or other obligation is in registered form under Section 5f.103-1(c) of the United States Treasury Regulations. The entries in the Participant Register shall be conclusive absent manifest error, and such Lender shall treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Participant Register as the owner of such participation for all purposes of this Agreement notwithstanding any notice to the contrary. For the avoidance of doubt, the Administrative Agent (in its capacity as Administrative Agent) shall have no responsibility for maintaining a Participant Register.
(b) Notwithstanding the foregoing, any Lender (or any Lender together with one or more other Lenders) may:
SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION AND DVBE PARTICIPATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS a. If for this Contract Contractor made a commitment to achieve small business participation, then Contractor must within 60 days of receiving final payment under this Contract (or within such other time period as may be specified elsewhere in this Contract) report to the awarding department the actual percentage of small business participation that was achieved. (Govt. Code § 14841.)
b. If for this Contract Contractor made a commitment to achieve disabled veteran business enterprise (DVBE) participation, then Contractor must within 60 days of receiving final payment under this Contract (or within such other time period as may be specified elsewhere in this Contract) certify in a report to the awarding department: (1) the total amount the prime Contractor received under the Contract; (2) the name and address of the DVBE(s) that participated in the performance of the Contract; (3) the amount each DVBE received from the prime Contractor; (4) that all payments under the Contract have been made to the DVBE; and (5) the actual percentage of DVBE participation that was achieved. A person or entity that knowingly provides false information shall be subject to a civil penalty for each violation. (Mil. & Vets. Code § 999.5(d); Govt. Code § 14841.)
Company Participation Subject to Section B.5, the Company shall not be liable to indemnify the Indemnitee under this Agreement with regard to any judicial action if the Company was not given a reasonable and timely opportunity, at its expense, to participate in the defense, conduct and/or settlement of such action.
Benefit of Agreement Assignments and Participations (a) This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Borrower, the Lenders and the Agent and their respective successors and permitted assigns, and all subsequent holders of any of the Notes or any portion thereof.
(b) Each Lender may assign its rights and interests under this Agreement, the Notes and the Security Documents and/or delegate its obligations hereunder and thereunder, in whole or in part, and sell participations in the Notes and the Security Documents as security therefor, provided as follows:
(i) Any such assignment, other than an assignment in whole, made other than to (A) another Lender, (B) a separately organized branch of a Lender or (C) a Related Lender Party, shall reflect an assignment of such assigning Lender's Notes and Commitments which is in an aggregate principal amount of at least $500,000, unless each of the Borrower and the Agent otherwise consents to a lesser amount.
(ii) Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, (A) each Lender may at any time pledge all or any portion of its rights under this Agreement and each of the other Loan Documents, including without limitation its Loans and the Notes held by such Lender, to a Federal Reserve Bank (or equivalent thereof in the case of Lenders chartered outside of the United States) in support of borrowings made by such Lender from such Federal Reserve Bank and (B) any Lender that is a fund or similar investment vehicle that invests in or makes commercial loans may, without the consent of the Agent or the Borrower, pledge all or any portion of its Notes or Loans to any holders of obligations owed, or securities issued, by such Person, as security for such obligations or securities, or to any trustee for, or any other representative of, such holders; provided that any foreclosure or similar action by such trustee shall be subject to the provisions of this Section concerning assignments. No pledge pursuant to this subsection (ii) shall release the transferor Lender from any of its obligations and liabilities under the Loan Documents.
(iii) Any assignments and/or delegations made hereunder shall be pursuant to an instrument of assignment and acceptance (the "Assignment and Acceptance") substantially in the form of Schedule 12 and the parties to each such assignment shall execute and deliver to the Agent for its acceptance the Assignment and Acceptance together with any Note or Notes subject thereto. Upon such execution and delivery, from and after the effective date specified in each Assignment and Acceptance, which effective date shall be at least five (5) Business Days after the execution thereof unless otherwise permitted by the Agent, (A) the assignee thereunder shall become a party hereto and, to the extent provided in such Assignment and Acceptance, have the rights and obligations of a Lender hereunder with applicable Loans as set forth therein and (B) the assigning Lender thereunder shall, to the extent provided in such assignment, be released from its obligations under this Agreement as to that portion of its obligation being so assigned and delegated. The Assignment and Acceptance shall be deemed to amend this Agreement to the extent, and only to the extent, necessary to reflect the addition of the assignee as a Lender and the resulting adjustment of Loans arising from the purchase by and delegation to such assignee of all or a portion of the rights and obligations of such assigning Lender under this Agreement.
(iv) The Agent, on behalf of the Borrower, shall maintain at the address of the Agent referred to in Section 13.03 a copy of each Assignment and Acceptance delivered to it and a register (the "Register") for the recordation of the names and addresses of the Lenders and the Commitments of, and principal amounts of the Loans owing to, and any Notes evidencing the Loans owned by, each Lender from time to time. The entries in the Register shall be conclusive, in the absence of manifest error, and the Borrower, the Agent and the Lenders shall treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Register as the owner of a Loan or other obligation hereunder as the owner thereof for all purposes of this Agreement and the other Loan Documents, notwithstanding any notice to the contrary. Any assignment of any Loan or other obligation hereunder shall be effective only upon appropriate entries with respect thereto being made in the Register; provided that in the case of an assignment by a Lender to any Related Lender Party that is not reflected on the Register, the assigning Lender shall maintain a comparable register on behalf of the Agent. The Register shall be available for inspection by the Borrower or any Lender at any reasonable time and from time to time upon reasonable prior notice.
(v) Upon its receipt of an Assignment and Acceptance executed by an assigning Lender and the assignee together with the Note or Notes, if any, subject to such assignment (or a standard indemnity letter from the respective assigning Lender in respect of any lost Note or Notes) and payment by the assigning Lender or the assignee to the Agent of registration and processing fees of $3,500 in the aggregate (except with respect to assignments (A) to any Related Lender Party or another Lender or (B) by the Agent, the Syndication Agent or the Documentation Agent, in their capacities as Lenders), the Agent shall promptly accept such Assignment and Acceptance and record the information contained therein in the Register and give notice of such acceptance and recordation to the Lenders and the Borrower. Such Assignment and Acceptance and the assignment evidenced thereby shall only be effective upon appropriate entries with respect to the information contained therein being made in the Register pursuant to subparagraph (iv) above.
(vi) Within five (5) Business Days after receipt of such notice, the Borrower shall, if requested by the assignee Lender, execute and deliver to the Agent in exchange for evidence of the delivery to the Agent of a copy of each such surrendered Note, marked "Superseded", one or more new Notes payable to the order of such assignee in an amount equal to the portion of the applicable Commitment assumed and/or Loans purchased by such assignee pursuant to such Assignment and Acceptance and a new Note payable to the order of the assigning Lender in an amount equal to the portion of the applicable Commitment(s) and/or Loans retained by it hereunder. Such new Notes shall be dated the effective date of such Assignment and Acceptance and shall otherwise be in substantially the form provided in Sections 1.01, 1.03, 1.04 or 1.04A as applicable. Copies of the superseded Notes shall be delivered to the Borrower upon execution and delivery of such new Notes and the original superseded Notes shall be returned to the assignors thereof.
(vii) Each Lender may sell participations in all or a portion of its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including, without limitation, all or a portion of the Notes held by it); provided, however, that, no Lender shall transfer or grant any participation under which the participant shall have rights to approve any amendment to or waiver of this Agreement or any other Loan Document, except to the extent such amendment or waiver would (A) extend the final scheduled maturity of any Loan or Note in which such participant is participating, or reduce the rate or extend the time of payment of interest or fees thereon (except in connection with a waiver of applicability of any post-default increase in interest rates) or reduce the principal amount thereof, or increase the amount of the participant's participation over the amount thereof, or increase the amount of the participant's participation over the amount thereof then in effect (it being understood that no waiver or modification of any condition precedent, covenant or Default or of any mandatory reduction in the aggregate Commitments shall constitute a change in the terms of such participation, that an increase in any Commitment or Loan shall be permitted without the consent of any participant if the participant's participation is not increased as a result thereof and that any amendment or modification to the financial definitions in this Agreement shall not constitute a reduction in any rate of interest or fees for purposes of this clause (A)), (B) consent to the assignment or transfer by the Borrower of any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement or (C) release all or substantially all of the Collateral under all of the Security Documents (except as expressly provided in the Security Documents) supporting the Loans hereunder in which such participant is participating or (D) eliminate the rights set forth in Section 1.21. In the case of any such participation, the participant shall not have any rights under this Agreement or any of the other Loan Documents (the participant's rights against such Lender in respect of such participation to be those set forth in the agreement executed by such Lender in favor of the participant relating thereto) and all amounts payable by the Borrower hereunder shall be determined as if such Lender had not sold such participation.
(viii) Except for an assignment made to (i) another Lender, (ii) a separately organized branch of a Lender, (iii) a Related Lender Party or (iv) a Qualified Institutional Lender, and except during the existence of a Default, no assignment referred to above shall be permitted without the prior written consent of the Agent and the Borrower, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
(ix) The Borrower may not assign any of its rights or delegate any of its duties or obligations hereunder.
(x) To the extent that an assignment of all or any portion of a Lender's Commitment and outstanding Loans pursuant to subsection (b) of Article XI or this Article XII would, due to circumstances existing at the time of such assignment, result in costs under Sections 1.11, 1.13 or 1.14 which are increased from those being charged by the respective assigning Lender prior to such assignment, then the Borrower shall not be obligated to pay such increased costs (although the Borrower shall be obligated to pay any other increased costs of the type described above resulting from changes after the date of the respective assignment).
(xi) Any Lender may, in connection with any assignment or participation pursuant to this Section, disclose to the assignee or participant any information relating to the Companies and the Parent Affiliates furnished to such Lender by or on behalf of the Borrower and such assignee or participant shall treat such information as confidential.
Assignment and Participations (a) Subject to the terms of this Section 9.1, any Lender may make an assignment to a Qualified Assignee of, or sell participations in, at any time or times, the Loan Documents, Loans, Letter of Credit Obligations and any Commitment or any portion thereof or interest therein, including any Lender's rights, title, interests, remedies, powers or duties thereunder. Any assignment by a Lender shall: (i) require the consent of Agent (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed with respect to a Qualified Assignee) and, so long as no Event of Default has occurred and is then continuing, Borrower (which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed; provided, that any assignment to Black Diamond Capital Management or any of its Affiliates shall require the consent of Borrower so long as no Event of Default pursuant to Sections 8.1(a)(i), 8.1(a)(ii), 8.1(h) or 8.1(i) has occurred and is then continuing), and the execution of an assignment agreement (an "Assignment Agreement") substantially in the form attached hereto as Exhibit 9.1(a) and otherwise in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to, and acknowledged by, Agent; (ii) be conditioned on such assignee Lender representing to the assigning Lender and Agent that it is purchasing the applicable Loans to be assigned to it for its own account, for investment purposes and not with a view to the distribution thereof; (iii) after giving effect to any such partial assignment, the assignee Lender shall have Commitments in an amount at least equal to $5,000,000 and the assigning Lender shall have retained Commitments in an amount at least equal to $2,500,000; and (iv) include a payment to Agent of an assignment fee of $3,500. In the case of an assignment by a Lender under this Section 9.1, the assignee shall have, to the extent of such assignment, the same rights, benefits and obligations as all
(a) have been complied with. Agent hereby agrees to provide Borrower with commercially reasonable prior written notice of any assignment or sale contemplated by this Section 9.1(a), the consummation of which does not require consent of Borrower.
(b) Any participation by a Lender of all or any part of its Commitments shall be made with the understanding that all amounts payable by Borrower hereunder shall be determined as if that Lender had not sold such participation, and that the holder of any such participation shall not be entitled to require such Lender to take or omit to take any action hereunder except actions directly affecting (i) any reduction in the principal amount of, or interest rate or Fees payable with respect to, any Loan in which such holder participates, (ii) any extension of the scheduled amortization of the principal amount of any Loan in which such holder participates or the final maturity date thereof, and (iii) any release of all or substantially all of the Collateral (other than in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, the Collateral Documents or the other Loan Documents). Solely for purposes of Sections 1.13, 1.15, 1.16 and 9.8, Borrower acknowledges and agrees that a participation shall give rise to a direct obligation of Borrower to the participant and the participant shall be considered to be a "Lender". Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, neither Borrower nor any other Credit Party shall have any obligation or duty to any participant. Neither Agent nor any Lender (other than the Lender selling a participation) shall have any duty to any participant and may continue to deal solely with the Lender selling a participation as if no such sale had occurred.
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION AND SOLICITATION LIMITATIONS No state contractor, prospective state contractor, principal of a state contractor or principal of a prospective state contractor, with regard to a state contract or state contract solicitation with or from a state agency in the executive branch or a quasi-public agency or a holder, or principal of a holder of a valid prequalification certificate, shall make a contribution to (i) an exploratory committee or candidate committee established by a candidate for nomination or election to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, Secretary of the State or State Treasurer, (ii) a political committee authorized to make contributions or expenditures to or for the benefit of such candidates, or (iii) a party committee (which includes town committees). In addition, no holder or principal of a holder of a valid prequalification certificate, shall make a contribution to (i) an exploratory committee or candidate committee established by a candidate for nomination or election to the office of State senator or State representative, (ii) a political committee authorized to make contributions or expenditures to or for the benefit of such candidates, or (iii) a party committee. On and after January 1, 2011, no state contractor, prospective state contractor, principal of a state contractor or principal of a prospective state contractor, with regard to a state contract or state contract solicitation with or from a state agency in the executive branch or a quasi-public agency or a holder, or principal of a holder of a valid prequalification certificate, shall knowingly solicit contributions from the state contractor's or prospective state contractor's employees or from a subcontractor or principals of the subcontractor on behalf of (i) an exploratory committee or candidate committee established by a candidate for nomination or election to the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, Secretary of the State or State Treasurer, (ii) a political committee authorized to make contributions or expenditures to or for the benefit of such candidates, or (iii) a party committee. State contractors and prospective state contractors are required to inform their principals of the above prohibitions, as applicable, and the possible penalties and other consequences of any violation thereof. Contributions or solicitations of contributions made in violation of the above prohibitions may result in the following civil and criminal penalties: Civil penalties—Up to $2,000 or twice the amount of the prohibited contribution, whichever is greater, against a principal or a contractor. Any state contractor or prospective state contractor which fails to make reasonable efforts to comply with the provisions requiring notice to its principals of these prohibitions and the possible consequences of their violations may also be subject to civil penalties of up to $2,000 or twice the amount of the prohibited contributions made by their principals. Criminal penalties—Any knowing and willful violation of the prohibition is a Class D felony, which may subject the violator to imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or not more than $5,000 in fines, or both.
Public Participation 79. This Consent Decree shall be lodged with the Court for a period of not less than 30 Days for public notice and comment in accordance with 28 C.F.R. ' 50.
