Does the Yuma Transparency Club Have to Register as a PAC? What Arizona Law Says

There is a question hanging over Yuma’s political scene: Does the Yuma Transparency Club need to register as a political action committee?

The answer depends on more than its name or its connection to a candidate. Arizona law uses a specific test based on an organization’s purpose and its election-related financial activity.

The story starts with Carlos Adams, a write-in candidate for Yuma mayor in the July 21, 2026 City primary. The City lists his committee, PC2026-03 Adams for Yuma Mayor, as active. When the results were canvassed on August 5, Adams had received 1,348 write-in votes, or 13.6% of ballots cast. Yuma Arizona

Separately, an Adams for Yuma campaign page describes the Yuma Transparency Club as an organization founded by Adams. It describes the club as nonpartisan, open to everyone and free to participate in, with a focus on civic education and ethics-reform work.

That establishes a public connection between Adams and the club. But it does not answer the legal question: Is the club an entity that must register for campaign-finance purposes, and do its activities satisfy Arizona’s requirements for political action committee registration?

Arizona’s Two-Part Test for PAC Registration

In Arizona, an entity generally has to satisfy two requirements before it must register as a political action committee.

First, the entity must be organized for the primary purpose of influencing the result of an election. Arizona defines “primary purpose” as an entity’s predominant purpose. Arizona Legislature

Second, the entity must knowingly receive qualifying contributions or make qualifying expenditures, in combination, reaching the applicable financial threshold during a calendar year.

A.R.S. § 16-905(C) uses the phrase “at least” the statutory amount. That amount is adjusted every two years. Arizona Legislature

For the 2025-2026 cycle, the Arizona Secretary of State lists the adjusted PAC threshold as $1,500.

There is a small wording inconsistency in the State’s current materials. The Secretary of State’s filing information describes the requirement as activity “in excess of” the $1,500 threshold. But on the same page, it gives an example in which an entity receives $750 and spends $750, totaling exactly $1,500, and says that registration is triggered. The statute itself uses “at least” for the underlying threshold and requires biennial adjustments. Arizona Legislature

Because the official materials are not perfectly consistent at the exact boundary, Yuma Informed is not treating the difference between exactly $1,500 and more than $1,500 as resolved here.

That edge case is not the central issue anyway. Before the amount matters, the underlying financial activity has to qualify under Arizona’s campaign-finance definitions.

Arizona defines a contribution as money or another thing of value provided for the purpose of influencing an election. An expenditure is similarly tied to money or another thing of value spent for the purpose of influencing an election. That means ordinary civic donations or general operating expenses do not automatically become campaign-finance contributions or expenditures merely because a politically active person is involved. Arizona Legislature

What About Tax-Exempt Organizations?

Arizona law also contains special provisions for certain tax-exempt organizations.

The statutory definition of “primary purpose” says an entity is not organized for the primary purpose of influencing an election if it satisfies specified conditions involving federal tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code § 501(a), required IRS exemption filings, continued tax-exempt status and required Form 990 filings. Arizona Legislature

Arizona law also restricts some registration, disclosure and investigative requirements that local governments may impose on qualifying tax-exempt organizations, subject to statutory exceptions. Arizona Legislature

Whether any of those provisions apply to the Yuma Transparency Club depends on its actual tax and organizational status.

The records reviewed by Yuma Informed do not establish that information.

What the City Records Show

The City of Yuma’s registered-committees page lists PC2026-03 Adams for Yuma Mayor as an active committee. Yuma Arizona

The City’s election records confirm Adams received 1,348 write-in votes, or 13.6% of ballots cast, in the July 21, 2026 mayoral primary. The results were officially canvassed by the City Council on August 5. Yuma Arizona

In the City committee listing reviewed on September 26, 2026, Yuma Informed did not locate a separately listed committee under the name Yuma Transparency Club.

That is a bounded observation about the public listing. It is not, by itself, evidence that the club was required to register or that anyone violated campaign-finance law. Yuma Arizona

For City elections, Arizona law identifies the city or town clerk as the filing officer. Once an organization actually qualifies as a committee, A.R.S. § 16-906 requires it to file a statement of organization with the appropriate filing officer within ten days. Arizona Legislature

What Evidence Establishes

• The Adams for Yuma campaign site publicly identifies the Yuma Transparency Club, attributes its founding to Carlos Adams and describes its civic and ethics-reform activities.
• Official City records establish that Adams ran as a write-in candidate for mayor in 2026 and received 1,348 votes, or 13.6% of ballots cast. Yuma Arizona
• The City lists PC2026-03 Adams for Yuma Mayor as an active candidate committee. Yuma Arizona
• Arizona law establishes a two-part PAC registration framework involving an organization’s predominant purpose and qualifying election-related financial activity. Arizona Legislature
• The Arizona Secretary of State lists $1,500 as the adjusted PAC threshold for the 2025-2026 cycle. Arizona Secretary of State
• A committee that qualifies must file a statement of organization within ten days. Arizona Legislature

What Evidence Does Not Establish

The materials reviewed do not establish the Yuma Transparency Club’s:

• formal legal structure
• membership or governance
• bank accounts or financial records
• tax-exempt status
• amount or source of funds received
• expenditures
• amount of qualifying election-related contributions or expenditures
• predominant organizational purpose
• financial relationship, if any, with Adams for Yuma Mayor

The records also do not establish whether club activity was undertaken for the purpose of influencing an election or whether the club and Adams’s candidate committee shared finances or coordinated election-related activity.

The campaign page’s public association between Adams and the club does not establish any of those facts.

Still Unresolved

Whether the Yuma Transparency Club was required to register as a political action committee ultimately depends on evidence about both elements of Arizona’s PAC test, along with whether any of the state’s provisions for qualifying tax-exempt organizations apply.

The public connection between Carlos Adams and the Yuma Transparency Club makes the question reasonable to examine. But it does not answer it.

Based on the records reviewed, Yuma Informed has not established that the club was legally required to register as a PAC or that it violated Arizona campaign-finance law.

What remains missing is the information that would allow that determination to be made: how the club is organized, what its predominant purpose is, what money it has received or spent, what that money was used for and how, if at all, its finances relate to the registered Adams for Yuma Mayor committee.

That evidence, not the group’s name or its association with a candidate, is what would determine the answer.