PERRY COUNTY, Miss. (WKRG) – A state lawmaker has unpaid fines to the Mississippi Ethics Commission for failing to submit financial reports required by state law.

The commission says State Rep. Dale Goodin has $250 in outstanding fees for failing to file a May 2019 report on time when he was running for his first term in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

Goodin appealed the fine but was denied a waiver in July 2019. The fee remains unpaid.

The lawmaker represents most of Greene and Perry counties and the Rocky Creek and Shipman precincts in George County. A retired Perry County Schools administrator and Navy veteran, Goodin was first elected in 2019. He defeated incumbent Roun McNeal in the Republican primary run-off for the seat.

Two other fines issued by the state board have been paid. They include $250 for filing an October 2019 report 13 days late and $500 for never filing a report due in January 2020 after his election.

WKRG reported on May 15 that six out of 10 required reports since 2019 appeared to have been filed late, according to publicly available Secretary of State records.

Goodin filed 14 financial disclosures with the Secretary of State on Jan. 31, including reports that are supposed to document money spent and received during months well into the future, from May until October. The Secretary of State’s office counted the report due May 10 as late.

All candidates for office must file campaign finance disclosure reports in accordance with state law, regardless of whether they spent or received money during the reporting period. Candidates who do not file are assessed a civil penalty of $50 per day, up to $500, beginning with the tenth calendar day after the report is due. An intentional violation of the campaign finance disclosure law is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of $3,000, six months imprisonment, or both.

Ethics commission staff said the board only has authority to send written notices to candidates who are placed on a delinquency list by the Office of the Secretary of State, who determines how late the report is and how much the fine should be.

Goodin will be challenged in the August Republican primary by attorney and Greene County public defender Elliot Burch and Greene County businessman Matt Brewer. Matthew Daves is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Brewer and Daves both filed multiple reports late while running for the seat in 2019. It is unclear whether they were issued any fines.