BILL NUMBER: AB 473 CHAPTERED 07/12/07 CHAPTER 54 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 12, 2007 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 12, 2007 PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 28, 2007 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 7, 2007 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2007 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Adams FEBRUARY 20, 2007 An act to amend Section 84215 of the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 473, Adams. Political Reform Act of 1974: filing campaign statements. The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires elected officers, candidates, and committees to file campaign statements. The act requires all candidates, elected officers, committees, and proponents of state ballot measures or the qualification of state ballot measures, with certain exceptions, to file 2 copies of these campaign statements with the clerk of the county in which they are domiciled. The act provides that a committee is domiciled at the address listed on its campaign statement or if the committee is outside of California, it is deemed to be Los Angeles County. This bill would provide instead that all candidates and elected officers and their controlled committees shall file one copy of the campaign statements with the elections official of the county in which the candidate or elected officer is domiciled. The bill would make this provision inapplicable to proponents of state ballot measures or the qualification of state ballot measures. The act requires certain officers, candidates, and committees to file copies with the Secretary of State and at additional locations. This bill would reduce the number of copies that a committee, candidate, or elected officer is required to file at additional locations from 2 to 1. In addition, in cases in which these provisions require filing with the clerk of the county, the bill would instead require filing with the elections official of the county. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes, upon a 2/3 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 84215 of the Government Code is amended to read: 84215. All candidates and elected officers and their controlled committees, except as provided in subdivision (e), shall file one copy of the campaign statements required by Section 84200 with the elections official of the county in which the candidate or elected official is domiciled, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 349 of the Elections Code. In addition, campaign statements shall be filed at the following places: (a) Statewide elected officers and candidates for these offices other than the Board of Equalization, supreme court justices, their controlled committees, committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose these candidates, elected officers, supreme court justices, or statewide measures, or the qualification of state ballot measures, and all state general purpose committees and filers not specified in subdivisions (b) to (e), inclusive: (1) The original and one copy with the Secretary of State. (2) One copy with the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles County. (3) One copy with the Registrar of Voters of the City and County of San Francisco. (b) Members of the Legislature or Board of Equalization, court of appeal justices, superior court judges, candidates for those offices, their controlled committees, and committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose these candidates or officeholders: (1) The original and one copy with the Secretary of State. (2) One copy with the elections official of the county with the largest number of registered voters in the districts affected. (c) Elected officers in jurisdictions other than legislative districts, Board of Equalization districts, or appellate court districts that contain parts of two or more counties, candidates for these offices, their controlled committees, and committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose candidates or local measures to be voted upon in one of these jurisdictions shall file the original and one copy with the elections official of the county with the largest number of registered voters in the jurisdiction. (d) County elected officers, candidates for these offices, their controlled committees, committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose candidates or local measures to be voted upon in any number of jurisdictions within one county, other than those specified in subdivision (e), and county general purpose committees shall file the original and one copy with the elections official of the county. (e) City elected officers, candidates for city office, their controlled committees, committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose candidates or local measures to be voted upon in one city, and city general purpose committees shall file the original and one copy with the clerk of the city. These elected officers, candidates, and committees need not file with the elections official of the county in which they are domiciled. (f) Notwithstanding the above, a committee, candidate, or elected officer is not required to file more than the original and one copy, or one copy, of a campaign statement with any one county elections official or city clerk or with the Secretary of State. (g) If a committee is required to file campaign statements required by Section 84200 or 84200.5 in places designated in subdivisions (d) and (e), it shall continue to file these statements in those places, in addition to any other places required by this title, until the end of the calendar year. SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that this bill furthers the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government Code.