BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 3 HEARING DATE: 04/30/13
AUTHOR: YEE ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 04/22/13
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act: campaign reporting: campaign
treasurers
DESCRIPTION
Cal-Access
Existing law requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in
consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission
(FPPC), to provide an online and electronic filing system
for use by specified state candidates, committees,
lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers. This
online reporting and disclosure system is commonly referred
to as the Cal-Access system. The SOS must make all the
data filed using the system available on the Internet for
public viewing in an easily understood format and also
provide a means whereby entities that are required to file
statements or reports online or electronically with the SOS
pursuant to the PRA, can submit those required filings free
of charge.
This bill states that it is the intent of the Legislature
to develop a single, statewide electronic filing system
that consolidates the filing of all state and local
campaign statements and reports required by this title into
one searchable database that provides for, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
Electronic filing of committee organization statements.
Electronic filing of campaign statements by all state
committees, without regard to the amounts of
contributions and expenditures.
Electronic filing of reports by all major donors at the
state and local levels when specified thresholds are met.
A consolidated statewide network that includes a process
to import into the statewide database state-required
committee disclosures from each local jurisdiction that
has its own electronic filing system.
A statewide, Internet Web-based database with expanded
filing and public search capabilities that are data
driven and user-friendly for all members of the public.
This bill would require the SOS to develop this electronic
filing system as follows:
Not later than December 31, 2014, the SOS must develop a
feasibility study report (FSR) that will outline the
technology requirements and the costs of the electronic
filing system. The SOS must consult and coordinate with
other state agencies that he or she deems appropriate,
including, but not limited to, the FPPC, with respect to
data transitioning.
The SOS must develop a funding plan that includes a
comprehensive and detailed project budget that will be
accurate through the duration of the project and will
include appropriate and reasonable contingencies.
Not later than December 31, 2018, the SOS must complete
work on the development, construction, and launch of the
new electronic filing system.
Campaign Reporting
Existing law , pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA),
requires candidates, political committees, and slate mail
organizations to file specified periodic and activity-based
campaign finance reports, including semiannual statements,
pre-election statements, supplemental pre-election
statements, and late contribution/expenditure reports that
include specified campaign finance information.
Existing law requires candidates and committees to file a
report within 24-hours of making or receiving a
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contribution, or making an independent expenditure, of
$1,000 or more during the last 90 days before an election
(late contribution and late independent expenditure
reports).
This bill would change the terms "late contribution" and
"late independent expenditure," as defined in the PRA, to
"election-cycle contribution" and "election-cycle
independent expenditure," respectively, and would make
other conforming changes.
Existing law requires candidates and committees that are
required to file specified campaign statements by online or
electronic means with the SOS to additionally file the
original and one copy of those campaign statements in a
paper format with the SOS. The paper originals, which are
signed, are considered the official filing for audit and
other legal purposes.
This bill repeals the requirement that these candidates and
committees file these paper reports.
Existing law requires each committee to file a statement of
organization within 10 days of becoming a committee.
This bill would reduce the time in which the statement of
organization must be filed to 5 days.
Existing law provides that if any person files a copy of a
statement or report after any deadline imposed by the PRA,
he or she shall, in addition to any other relevant
penalties or remedies, be liable in the amount of $10 per
day until the statement is filed not to exceed the
cumulative amount stated in the late statement or report,
or $100, whichever is greater.
This bill would increase the fines and penalties imposed on
campaign statements and reports that are filed late from
$10 per day to $30 per day not to exceed 150% of the
cumulative amount stated in the late statement or report,
or $1,000, whichever is greater.
Campaign Treasurers
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Existing law requires each committee to have a designated
treasurer who is identified in the statement of
organization. A committee may not make an expenditure
without the authorization of the treasurer.
This bill would require a treasurer for a committee or
committees that have made cumulative contributions or
expenditures in excess of $250,000 to complete an online
certification course, designed and administered by the
FPPC. The course would address the statutes and
regulations governing the financing of campaigns and the
duties and responsibilities of a treasurer and it must be
completed within 20 business days after being designated as
the treasurer, or within 20 business days of exceeding the
$250,000 threshold.
BACKGROUND
Cal-Access Status : Created in 1999, Cal-Access is a
database and filing system the SOS has used to make much of
the lobbying and campaign finance information available
online at no cost to users. In late November 2011, the
Cal-Access system went down, and the system was unavailable
for most of the month of December. Shortly following that
incident, the SOS provided the following information about
the status of the Cal-Access system and the challenges to
replacing that system with a new (and more robust) campaign
and lobbying disclosure database:
Cal-Access is a suite of applications developed
in 13 different programming languages which,
until [recently], ran the system on a server
cluster and associated components?that are more
than 12 years old, using an uncommon version of
the Unix operating system.?While the [SOS] has
the funding to maintain the existing hardware and
software, finding parts and qualified people to
do the maintenance on such outdated equipment has
been increasingly difficult?.
The Cal-Access system went down November 30, was
restored December 7, went down December 9, and
was restored again on December 30. The causes of
the outages were layered and complex and no quick
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fix was available?.
The recovery efforts that [SOS] staff and
contractors pursued in December should stabilize
Cal-Access and enable it to continue running, but
the system can never be made stronger or patched
with new features. Any attempt to upgrade or
modernize Cal-Access could be as risky,
time-consuming, and expensive as developing and
deploying a new system. Even the December work
to restore Internet availability of Cal-Access
will not last forever. It is highly likely that
Cal-Access will require more robust servers in
the next three to four years simply to continue
providing access to the ever-growing volume of
information.
The cost of an entirely new system and the speed
with which it can be deployed will depend on many
factors and ultimately can only be borne out
through the state's IT procurement process, which
history has shown to be lengthy and expensive.
Before the Cal-Access outage began on November
30, my office was looking at existing commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) products, as well as systems
used by other states to prepare a feasibility
study report (FSR) - the project blueprint that
is the required precursor for an IT project and
subject to approval by state control agencies.
Any consideration of an FSR, along with the
subsequent legislative and gubernatorial review
of any budget change proposal to conduct a
procurement, would take into account the
replacement of Cal-Access in the context of the
two major IT procurements - VoteCal and
California Business Connect - that my office is
currently conducting.
The PDATA Fund . SB 1001 (Yee), Chapter 506 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 Political
Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency, and Access Fund
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(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 PRA. Moneys 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 (Cal-Access). It is
estimated that these fees will result in approximately
$490,000 of new revenue yearly for the PDATA Fund.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : In winter of 2011, the
Secretary of State's online campaign finance and
lobbying disclosure website (also known as
Cal-ACCESS) crashed for nearly a month. During
that time regulated parties sought other means of
filing legally required disclosure forms; the media
and government watchdogs were forced to wait until
the system was restored in order to continue using
the system to do important accountability work; and
the public was left in the dark regarding how much
money and what type of activity took place in the
political industry. Luckily, this crash occurred
during a quiet time in state politics and during a
non-election year. However, this incident only
supported the ongoing commentary among independent
watchdogs, candidates, consultants, lobbyists and
media publications that the decade-old design of
Cal-ACCESS is outdated and does not meet the 21st
Century data standards or demands of today.
In 2012, Common Cause sponsored legislation authored
by Senator Yee that created a dedicated funding
source for a new online disclosure system through
registration fees gathered from lobbyists and
political committees. Senate Bill 1001 created the
Political Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency,
and Access Fund for the purpose of paying for
maintenance and an eventual upgrade to the
Cal-ACCESS system.
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Senate Bill 3 is the second half of the Sunshine in
Campaigns Act (including SB 2). SB 3 is also a
continuation of the work done in Senate Bill 1001
with its major provisions that set out statutory
deadlines for when the Secretary of State will need
to complete the design and development of a new
online disclosure system that will meet today's
information technology standards. A new disclosure
system will make searching for data more accessible
and make campaign and lobbying spending easier for
the regulated community, all while improving the
public's experience with this important resource.
In addition to providing for a new state online
disclosure system, SB 3 also allows local
jurisdictions to allow for electronic filing in
lieu of paper disclosures if the jurisdiction
allows it. This reform will save local governments
money and make filing campaign statements easier
for local candidates and committees.
SB 3 also makes important changes to what the state
designates as "late" contributions or independent
expenditures. This change will amend the term
"late" with the term "election-cycle" which is less
confusing to voters and regulated individuals and
closer to how the FPPC designates these
transactions in regulations.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: California Common Cause
Support: California Clean Money Campaign
League of Women Voters of California
Oppose: None received
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