BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2691
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 2691 (Elections & Redistricting Committee) - As Introduced:
March 14, 2012
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: online and electronic
filing.
SUMMARY : Repeals obsolete provisions of the Political Reform
Act of 1974 (PRA) related to the online or electronic disclosure
of campaign and lobbying information. Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that requires the
Secretary of State (SOS) to implement an online or electronic
disclosure program in connection with the 2000 state primary
election and specified lobbying activities.
2)Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that required all
candidates and ballot measure committees that were required to
file campaign disclosure reports in connection with a
statewide elective office or a state measure appearing on the
November 1998 ballot to provide a copy of any required report
on a computer disk in either an ASCII or PDF format.
3)Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that appropriated
$1.1 million in 1997 from the General Fund to the SOS for the
purposes of developing an online and electronic disclosure
system.
4)Makes corresponding changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), and
makes it responsible for the impartial, effective
administration and implementation of the PRA.
2)Requires all candidates and committees that are required to
file campaign reports in connection with a state elective
office or state measure to file those reports online or
electronically if the cumulative amount of contributions
received, expenditures made, loans made, or loans received is
AB 2691
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$25,000 or more.
3)Requires general purpose committees, including political party
committees and small contributor committees, that cumulatively
receive contributions or make expenditures of $25,000 or more
to support or oppose candidates for any elective state office
or state measure, to file campaign reports online or
electronically.
4)Requires slate mailer organizations to file campaign reports
online or electronically if the cumulative reportable payments
received or made for the purposes of producing slate mailers
is $25,000 or more.
5)Requires lobbyists, lobbying firms, lobbyist employers, and
other persons required to file periodic lobbying disclosure
reports to file such reports online or electronically if the
total amount of any category of reportable payments, expenses,
contributions, gifts, or other items is $2,500 or more in a
calendar quarter.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : This is one of the Assembly Elections &
Redistricting Committee's annual omnibus bills, containing
various minor and technical changes to the PRA.
2)Electronic Campaign Disclosure : SB 49 (Karnette), Chapter
866, Statutes of 1997, enacted the Online Disclosure Act,
requiring the SOS to develop a process whereby campaign and
lobbying reports and statements required to be filed pursuant
to the PRA could be filed online or electronically and viewed
by the public online. Among other provisions, SB 49
established specific electronic reporting requirements for the
November 1998 and March 2000 statewide elections, and
established specific electronic reporting requirements for
lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers for part of
the 2000 calendar year. Because those provisions were
effective only for specific time periods, those provisions of
the PRA are now obsolete; the ongoing requirements for
campaign and lobbying reports to be filed electronically are
located elsewhere in the PRA.
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Additionally, SB 49 added a provision to the PRA that
appropriated $1.1 million for the development of the online
and electronic disclosure system. Because the online and
electronic disclosure system has already been built and this
money has been spent, this provision of law is also obsolete.
This bill repeals these obsolete provisions of the PRA.
Additionally, this bill makes corresponding changes by
deleting cross references to one of those obsolete sections in
another section of the PRA.
3)Political Reform Act of 1974 : California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the FPPC and
codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on
candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is
commonly known as the 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Fair Political Practices Commission
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094