BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                AB 1181
                                                                Page  1

        CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
        AB 1181 (Huber)
        As Amended  August 26, 2009
        2/3 vote
         
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        |ASSEMBLY:  |76-1 |(May 28, 2009)  |SENATE: |27-9 |(April 15,     |
        |           |     |                |        |     |2010)          |
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        Original Committee Reference:   E. & R.

        SUMMARY  :  Lowers the monetary thresholds which trigger mandatory  
        electronic reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures by  
        candidates, officeholders, committees, major donors, and slate  
        mailer organizations.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

        1)Lowers, from $50,000 to $25,000, the cumulative amount of  
          contributions received, expenditures made, or loans made or  
          received by a candidate or committee in connection with a state  
          elective office or a state measure before that candidate or  
          committee is required to file those reports online or  
          electronically.

        2)Lowers, from $50,000 to $25,000, the cumulative amount of  
          contributions received or expenditures made by a general purpose  
          committee to support or oppose candidates for any elective state  
          office or state measures, before that committee is required to  
          file those reports online or electronically.

        3)Lowers, from $50,000 to $25,000, the cumulative amount of  
          reportable payments received or made for the purposes of producing  
          slate mailers by a slate mailer organization before that slate  
          mailer organization is required to file campaign reports online or  
          electronically.

        4)Lowers, from $5,000 in a calendar quarter to $2,500 in a calendar  
          quarter, the amount of reportable payments, expenses,  
          contributions, gifts, or other items that must be made by a  
          lobbyist, lobbying firm, or lobbyist employer before that  
          lobbyist, firm, or employer is required to file periodic lobbying  
          disclosure reports online or electronically.

        5)Eliminates the requirement that statewide candidates, committees  
          formed to support or oppose statewide measures, and state general  








                                                                AB 1181
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          purpose committees file a paper copy of all campaign reports with  
          Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties.  Eliminates the  
          requirement that members of the Legislature and Board of  
          Equalization, court of appeal justices, superior court judges, and  
          candidates for those offices file a paper copy of campaign reports  
          with the elections official in the county with the largest number  
          of registered voters in the district.

        6)Requires candidates for the Board of Administration of the Public  
          Employees Retirement System to file campaign reports online or  
          electronically with the Secretary of State (SOS).

        7)Eliminates the requirement that a paper copy of a late  
          contribution report or a late independent expenditure report be  
          filed if such report is submitted by online or electronic  
          transmission to the SOS.

        8)Requires lobbyist registration statements and amendments to those  
          statements to be filed both by online or electronic means and in a  
          paper format.


         The Senate amendments  :

        1)Require candidates for superior court to file campaign reports  
          online or electronically with the SOS if the cumulative amount of  
          contributions received, expenditures made, loans made, or loans  
          received by the candidate is $25,000 or more.

        2)Provide that a candidate for elective state office who is not also  
          a candidate for local elective office who files campaign reports  
          by online or electronic means with the SOS need not file a copy of  
          those reports with a local filing officer.

        3)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with AB  
          1514 (Hayashi), and make various technical and clarifying changes.
         
        AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill was similar to the version  
        approved by the Senate.
         
        FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,  
        pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.

         COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "Senate Bill 49 (Karnette, 1997)  
        created online disclosure of campaign reports in order to cast  








                                                                AB 1181
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        public sunshine on the campaign contribution statements and  
        political activities of state leaders and lobbyists. . . . However,  
        SB 49 is limited in scope.  For example, as long as campaigns spend  
        or receive less than $50,000 per year, their activities are not  
        subject to online public review.  Similarly, lobbyists or lobbyist  
        employers are not required to submit electronic disclosure reports  
        of their expenditures unless they spend over $5,000 on political  
        lobbying.  Thus, thousands of candidates, donors, campaign officials  
        and special interests are still allowed to submit disclosure forms  
        that are not available online.  Consequently, California currently  
        does not meet the [Political Reform Act's] goal of keeping voters  
        'fully informed.'"

        Under existing law, the SOS is required to determine and publicly  
        disclose when online and electronic campaign disclosure systems are  
        operating effectively.  Despite the fact that legislation requiring  
        the development of an online campaign disclosure system was enacted  
        in 1997, the SOS has never made a public determination that the  
        online campaign disclosure system is operating effectively.  Given  
        that it has been 12 years since the Legislature required the  
        creation of an online campaign disclosure system, and given the fact  
        that the SOS still has not determined that the system is operating  
        effectively, it is unclear whether it is appropriate to expand the  
        situations under which reports are required to be filed using that  
        system.

        California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that  
        created the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and codified  
        significant restrictions and prohibitions on candidates,  
        officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is commonly known as  
        the Political Reform Act (PRA).  Amendments to the PRA that are not  
        submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill, must  
        further the purposes of the initiative and require a two-thirds vote  
        of both houses of the Legislature.

        Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of  
        this bill.


         Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 

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