Amended in Senate June 25, 2013

Amended in Assembly May 14, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 15, 2013

Amended in Assembly March 21, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 914

Introduced by Assembly Member Gordon

February 22, 2013

An act to add Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 84350) to Chapter 4 of Title 9 of the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 914, as amended, Gordon. Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 imposes various reporting requirements with regard to contributions and independent expenditures, as defined, made for political purposes. The act establishes the Fair Political Practices Commission as the agency responsible for administering and enforcing the act. A violation of the act’s provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor.

This bill would require the Commission to develop a Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement form. The bill would require that the form provide for the disclosure of specified information relating to begin insert certain end insert contributions, expenditures, and independent expenditures made by, and donations made to, a nonprofit corporation. The bill would require a nonprofit corporation to file a Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement, at a time prescribed by the Commission, in any year in which the nonprofit corporation makes combined contributions, expenditures, begin delete and end delete begin insert or end insert independent expenditures begin insert in support of or opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot measure end insert in this state aggregating $50,000 or more during the nonprofit corporation’s fiscal year.

The bill would require the Commission to make Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statements available to the public. The bill would authorize a nonprofit corporation or a donor to the nonprofit corporation to petition the Commission to maintain the confidentiality of information relating to donors and donations. The bill would require the Commission to grant a petition to maintain the confidentiality of donor and donation information if the petitioner establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the public disclosure of donor information will cause undue harm, threats, harassment, or reprisals to the donor, or that the donor did not know or have reason to know that his or her donation would be used to make a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure begin insert end insert begin insert in support of or opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot measure end insert , as specified.

By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

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.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 84350) is
added to Chapter 4 of Title 9 of the Government Code, to read:

 

Article 3.5.  Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organizations

 

84350.  

(a) This section shall apply only to a nonprofit
corporation, as defined in Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue
Code, that begin delete makes combined contributions, expenditures, and
independent expenditures in this state aggregating fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000) or more during the nonprofit corporation’s fiscal
year. end delete begin insert satisfies both of the following: end insert

begin insert

(1) The nonprofit corporation makes, in this state, contributions,
expenditures, or independent expenditures, as defined in Sections
82015, 82025, and 82031, respectively, in support of or opposition
to a candidate, political party, or ballot measure, or any
combination thereof.

end insert begin insert

(2) The aggregate contributions, expenditures, or independent
expenditures described in paragraph (1) total, in any combination,
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or more during a fiscal year of
the nonprofit corporation.

end insert

(b) The Commission shall develop a Nonprofit and Multipurpose
Organization Disclosure Statement form that provides for the
disclosure of all of the following information begin insert relative to the
contributions, expenditures, and independent expenditures made
by a nonprofit corporation in support of or opposition to a
candidate, political party, or ballot measure end insert :

(1) The aggregate combined dollar amount of contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures that are made during
the reporting period.

(2) The amount of expenses attributable to contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures as a percentage of the
nonprofit begin delete organization’s end delete begin insert corporation’s end insert total expenses that are made
during the reporting period.

(3) For purposes of a nonprofit begin delete organization end delete begin insert corporation end insert for
which the combined amounts of contributions, expenditures, and
independent expenditures made during the reporting period exceed
10 percent of the nonprofit begin delete organization’s end delete begin insert corporation’s end insert total
expenses, each of the following with respect to contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures made during that
period:

(A) The amount of any funds, or the fair market value of any
services or assets, that are provided in relation to a contribution,
expenditure, or independent expenditure.

(B) The amount or fair market value of any liabilities incurred
in relation to a contribution, expenditure, or independent
expenditure.

(C) The date that the funds, services, or assets were provided
or the liabilities were incurred.

(D) The name and address of the recipient of the contribution,
expenditure, or independent expenditure.

(E) A description of the contribution, expenditure, or
independent begin delete expenditures end delete begin insert expenditure end insert and its purpose, including
whether the contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure
was made in support of or opposition to a candidate, political party,
begin insert or end insert ballot measure begin delete , or other question put before the voters in an
election end delete .

(F) Information related to each donor who made donations in
an aggregate amount of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more to
the nonprofit corporation during the reporting period, including
each of the following:

(i) The name and address of the donor.

(ii) The name of the employer of the donor, if available.

(iii) The date and amount of each donation from that donor
during the reporting period.

(c) (1) Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, a
nonprofit corporation described in subdivision (a) shall file, at a
time to be determined by the Commission, a Nonprofit and
Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement with the
Commission for any year in which the nonprofit corporation meets
the fifty thousand dollar ($50,000) threshold begin delete for combined
aggregate contributions, expenditures, and independent
expenditures made during a fiscal year end delete begin insert described in subdivision
(a) end insert . Except as provided in subdivision (d), the Commission shall
make the filed Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure
Statement available to the public, as required by Section 81008.

(2) A nonprofit corporation is not required to disclose the
information described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) if that
information has been previously disclosed by the nonprofit
corporation in any other campaign statement or report required by
this title.

(3) If a nonprofit corporation required to file a Nonprofit and
Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement pursuant to this
section maintains one or more segregated bank accounts for the
purpose of making election-related contributions, expenditures,
or independent expenditures begin insert described in subdivision (a) end insert , and those
accounts represent the exclusive source of the nonprofit
corporation’s election-related contributions, expenditures, and
independent expenditures in this state, the nonprofit corporation
is only required to report information described in subparagraph
(F) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) with respect to donations
deposited into the segregated election-related accounts.

(d) A nonprofit corporation or a donor to a nonprofit corporation
that is subject to the reporting requirements of this section may
petition the Commission, no later than 45 days prior to the date
on which the Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure
Statement must be filed, to maintain the confidentiality of donor
information that is disclosed on the statement. If a petitioner
demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that the public
disclosure of donor information reported on the Nonprofit and
Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement will cause undue
harm, threats, harassment, or reprisals to the donor or that the donor
did not know or have reason to know that his or her donation would
be used to make a contribution, expenditure, or independent
expenditure begin insert described in subdivision (a) end insert in this state, the
Commission shall, notwithstanding Section 81008, treat the donor
and donation information as confidential and shall redact the donor
and donation information from any documents that are made
available to the public. The Commission shall inform the petitioner,
in writing, whether the petition to maintain the confidentiality of
donor and donation information has been granted or denied. The
Commission’s grant or denial determination shall include a
statement of findings and conclusions, and the reasons or basis for
the determination.

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.

SEC. 3.  

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.