BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 2
Author: Lieu (D) and Yee (D)
Amended: 5/15/13
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND. COMM. : 4-1, 4/30/13
AYES: Correa, Hancock, Padilla, Yee
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/23/13
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974
SOURCE : California Common Cause
League of Women Voters of California
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC) to perform additional audits, and increases
various fines and penalties relating to campaign reporting laws.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law, under the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Act):
1. Provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign
financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign
contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting
and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees and
CONTINUED
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imposes administrative, civil, and criminal fines and
penalties for violations of its provisions.
2. Regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or
public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a
person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing
a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot
measures. The Act places certain disclosure requirements on
advertisements. In addition to other penalties imposed by
the Act, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an
advertisement can be imposed on a person who violates the
disclosure requirements for advertisements.
3. Regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, which
support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for
an election. The Act requires that each slate mailer
identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily
formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that
is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified
information in specified formatting. The Act requires that
each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to
appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk.
4. Requires a ballot measure committee, within 30 days of
designating the numerical order of propositions appearing on
the ballot, to identify itself as committee for or against
that numbered proposition in all required references.
5. Authorizes the FPPC, which administers and enforces the Act,
to perform discretionary investigations and audits with
respect to campaign and lobbying reports and statements that
are filed with the Secretary of State (SOS). The Act also
authorizes any person residing in the jurisdiction to sue for
injunctive relief to prevent violations or compel compliance
with the Act.
This bill:
1. Requires that television, video, or audio broadcast
advertisements supporting or opposing a candidate or
soliciting contributions in support of that purpose that are
authorized by a candidate include a specified disclosure
statement made by the candidate and increases the maximum
penalty for a violation of these provisions to six-times the
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amount of the costs of the advertisement.
2. Requires that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the
slate mailer as a result of a payment made by a party be
designated by an "@," and requires the notice to voters
included on a slate mailer be revised to describe this new
requirement.
3. Requires that a slate mailer that is produced in a language
other than English provide the notice to voters in that same
language.
4. Requires that a slate mailer provide the notice in both
English and another language if a substantial portion of a
slate mailer is produced in the other language.
5. Reduces the amount of time in which a ballot measure
committee must reference itself as a committee for or against
a numbered proposition to within 10 days of designating the
numerical order of propositions.
6. Specifies that the FPPC may perform audits prior to the date
of the election and prior to the date that a statement or
report is required to be filed.
7. Authorizes a person to challenge an audit by the FPPC or any
order resulting from an audit by seeking a writ of mandate,
which takes priority over all other civil matters.
8. Specifies that the FPPC is authorized to seek an injunction
to prevent a violation of or compel compliance with the Act.
Background
New Filing Schedule . Under existing law, candidates and
committees generally are required to file regular campaign
disclosure reports semi-annually. Candidates generally are
required to file two pre-election campaign statements for any
election where they will appear on the ballot, and certain
non-candidate committees similarly must file pre-election
reports. When candidates and committees are required to file
these pre-election reports, they generally must also file late
contribution reports, and late independent expenditure (IE)
reports, disclosing within 24-hours any contributions made or
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received and IEs made of $1,000 or more in the last 16 days
before the election. Candidates and committees can also be
required to file additional special campaign reports at other
times of year, based on the particular campaign finance Activity
of the candidate or committee.
The Political Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency, and
Access Fund (PDATA Fund) SB 1001 (Yee, Chapter 506, Statutes of
2012) imposed a new $50 fee on specified committees that are
required to file disclosure reports pursuant to the PRA and
increased fees by $25 per year on lobbying firms and lobbyist
employers. The bill created the PDATA Fund in the State
Treasury and required the new fee revenue to be used for the
online and electronic disclosure of reports filed pursuant to
the Act. Monies deposited in the PDATA Fund are subject to
appropriation by the Legislature for the maintenance, repair,
and improvement of the online or electronic disclosure program
implemented by the SOS pursuant to existing law. It is
estimated that these fees will result in approximately $490,000
of new revenue yearly for the PDATA Fund.
Slate Mail Definitions . "Slate mailer" is defined in the Act as
a mass mailing which supports or opposes a total of four or more
candidates or ballot measures.
A "slate mailer organization" means any person or organization
who, directly or indirectly, does all of the following:
Is involved in the production of one or more slate mailers and
exercises control over the selection of the candidates and
measures to be supported or opposed in the slate mailers.
Receives or is promised payments totaling $500 or more in a
calendar year for the production of one or more slate mailers.
However, a slate mailer organization does not include any of the
following:
A candidate or officeholder or his/her controlled committee.
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An official committee of any political party.
A legislative caucus committee.
A committee primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate,
officeholder, or ballot measure.
Related Legislation
This bill conflicts with SB 268 (Gaines) as both bills seek to
change existing campaign reporting schedules within the Act.
However, SB 268 was recently made a "two-year" bill by the
author.
This bill also conflicts with SB 52 (Leno) which is also before
the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, as
both bills seek to amend the law regarding disclosure of major
donors who must be identified on specified advertisements.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
FPPC indicates minor, absorbable costs (General)
Potential increase in penalty revenue of $200,000 - $300,000
annually (General)*
Potential increase in revenue of approximately $15,000
(PDATA Fund)
Approximately $18,000 one-time to update the automated fine
assessment system to accommodate the increase in late filing
penalties (General)
*This same penalty revenue is contained in SB 3 (Yee).
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SUPPORT : (Verified 5/28/13)
California Common Cause (co-source)
League of Women Voters of California (co-source)
American Association of University Women
California Clean Money Campaign
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/28/13)
San Diego Radio Broadcasters Association
Southern California Broadcasters Association
RM:d 6/4/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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