BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 914|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 914
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: 6/25/13 in Senate
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTIT. AMEND. CMTE : 4-1, 7/2/13
AYES: Torres, Hancock, Padilla, Yee
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-18, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures
SOURCE : Fair Political Practices Commission
DIGEST : This bill imposes new disclosure requirements under
the Political Reform Act (PRA) for nonprofit corporations,
provided they make in California contributions, expenditures, or
independent expenditures, as defined, in support of or
opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot measure,
or any combination thereof in the aggregate totaling $50,000 or
more during a fiscal year of the nonprofit corporation.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides that the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC)
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is responsible for the impartial, effective administration and
implementation of the PRA.
2.Requires certain entities, including charitable corporations,
unincorporated associations, and trustees, to file periodic
written reports with the Attorney General, under oath, setting
forth information as to the nature of assets held for
charitable purposes and the administration thereof by the
corporation, unincorporated association, or trustee.
3.Requires multipurpose organizations to disclose the sources of
funds behind their campaign expenditures when donors have made
donations to the organization in response to a solicitation
that indicates the organization's intent to use such funds to
make campaign contributions or expenditures, or when such
organizations have previously made contributions or
independent expenditures from their general treasuries of
$1,000 or more during the calendar year, or the previous four
years, in California.
This bill:
1.Imposes new disclosure requirements under the PRA for
nonprofit corporations, provided they make in California
contributions, expenditures, or independent expenditures, as
defined, in support of or opposition to a candidate, political
party, or ballot measure, or any combination thereof in the
aggregate totaling $50,000 or more during a fiscal year of the
nonprofit corporation.
2.Requires the FPPC to develop and make publicly available a
Nonprofit and Multipurpose Organization Disclosure Statement
form that provides for the disclosure of information 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,
including:
A. The aggregate combined dollar amount of contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures that are made
during the reporting period.
B. The amount of expenses attributable to contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures as a percentage
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of the nonprofit corporation's total expenses that are made
during the reporting period.
1.Requires additional information be disclosed for nonprofit
corporations where the combined amounts of contributions,
expenditures, and independent expenditures made during the
reporting period exceed 10% of the nonprofit corporation's
total expenses. These nonprofit corporations would have to
provide, among other things, a description of the
contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure and its
purpose, including whether it was made in support of or
opposition to a candidate, political party, or ballot measure.
They would also have to provide information related to each
donor who made donations in an aggregate amount of $10,000 or
more to the nonprofit corporation during the reporting period,
including:
A. The name and address of the donor.
B. The name of the employer of the donor, if available.
C. The date and amount of each donation from that donor
during the reporting period.
1.Provides that a nonprofit corporation is not required to
disclose specified information if that information has been
previously disclosed by the nonprofit corporation in any other
campaign statement or report required by the PRA.
2.Provides that a nonprofit corporation or a donor to a
nonprofit corporation that is subject to the reporting
requirements of this bill may petition the FPPC, 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/her
donation would be used to make a contribution, expenditure, or
independent expenditure in this state, the FPPC must treat the
donor and donation information as confidential and must redact
the donor and donation information from any documents that are
made available to the public.
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Background
Multipurpose Organizations, Campaign Disclosure, & the "One
Bite" Rule . Under existing law, when a multipurpose
organization makes contributions or independent expenditures of
specified amounts in connection with an election in California,
that organization must file a report disclosing that it made the
contributions or independent expenditures. In some cases, the
organization is required to report only the fact that it made a
contribution or independent expenditure, while in other cases,
the report must also disclose certain donors to the
organization. One of the key rules in determining whether or
not a multipurpose organization is required to disclose its
donors when it makes contributions or independent expenditures
in connection with California elections is commonly referred to
as the "one bite at the apple" rule. This rule is particularly
relevant to entities that are organized under Section 501 of the
Internal Revenue Code, since those entities typically are not
otherwise required to publicly disclose their donors.
The "one bite" rule is intended to ensure that a multipurpose
organization is required to reveal the name of a donor to that
organization only if the donor knew, or had reason to know, that
his/her donation could be used for political purposes in
California. Under the "one bite" rule, a multipurpose
organization is not necessarily required to disclose any
information about donors to that organization unless that
organization has previously made expenditures or contributions
of at least $1,000 during the calendar year, or at any time in
the prior four calendar years. Once a multipurpose organization
takes its first "bite" by making contributions or expenditures
of $1,000 or more, donors to that organization are presumed to
know that the organization is involved in making contributions
or expenditures in connection with California elections, and
thus are presumed to know that their donations may be used for
political purposes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/13)
Fair Political Practices Commission (source)
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill strikes a balance between campaign related disclosures
necessary for a fully informed electorate and privacy of donor
information. By requiring additional disclosure, the bill
enhances transparency in the electoral process as well as
detection and deterrence of PRA violations. The bill also
includes important protections so as to maintain anonymity of
donors if their donations are restricted to purposes unrelated
to elections, as well as creating a safe harbor for donors to
qualifying nonprofits from public disclosure if such disclosure
would cause undue harm, threats, harassment, or reprisal.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 55-18, 5/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,
Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth
Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Logue, Mansoor,
Melendez, Morrell, Patterson, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Linder, Nestande, Olsen, Waldron,
Wilk, Vacancy
RM:nl 8/21/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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