BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: SB 844 HEARING DATE: 3/18/14
AUTHOR: PAVLEY ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 3/12/14
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Ballot measure contributions
DESCRIPTION
Existing law , pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA),
provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing,
including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and
expenditures, as defined, and imposing other reporting and
recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees, as defined.
Existing law further requires each campaign committee formed or
existing primarily to support or oppose a statewide ballot
measure to file with the Secretary of State (SOS) periodic
reports identifying the sources and amounts of contributions
received during specified periods.
Existing law specifies what information must be included in the
statewide ballot pamphlet, including, but not limited to:
A complete copy of each measure.
A copy of the arguments and rebuttals for and against each
state measure.
A copy of the analysis of each state measure by the
Legislative Analyst.
Tables of contents, indexes, art work, graphics, and
other materials that the SOS determines will make the
ballot pamphlet easier to understand or more useful for
the average voter.
This bill would require the SOS to post on his or her Internet
Web site a list of the 10 highest contributors of $50,000 or
more who have made the largest cumulative contributions to
campaign committees formed or existing primarily to support or
oppose for each statewide ballot measure. This bill would also
require the statewide ballot pamphlet to include a printed
statement that refers voters to the SOS's Internet Web site for
these contributor lists.
This bill would also provide for all of the following:
a.Each list of contributors must identify the names of the 10
contributors who have made the largest cumulative
contributions to the committee, the total amount of each
contributor's contributions, the employer and occupation of
the contributor, if any, the city and state of the
contributor, and the contributor's committee identification
number, if any.
b.Each list of contributors must be in order from the
contributor who made the largest cumulative amount of
contributions to the contributor who made the smallest
cumulative amount of contributions. If two or more
contributors made an equal amount of contributions, the
contributor who made the most recent contribution must be
placed higher on the list.
c.Each list of contributors must reflect the cumulative amount
of contributions received by primarily formed committees
beginning 12 months before the date each committee made its
first expenditure to qualify, support, or oppose the measure.
d.If a contributor is a committee controlled by a candidate, the
name of the candidate must be listed.
e.If a contributor is a sponsored committee, the name of the
sponsor must be listed.
f.The SOS must update each list of contributors within five
business days after specified campaign statement deadlines if
the information in the report affects the lists. During the
16 days before the election for each statewide ballot measure,
each list must be updated every 48 hours to include new
contributions, with a final update two business days before
the election.
g.The SOS must, within 10 business days after January 31st, post
a final version of each list for any statewide ballot measure
voted on in the previous calendar year.
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h.The SOS must post in a prominent place on the homepage of his
or her Internet Web site and in the online version of the
statewide ballot pamphlet a hyperlink to the lists of
contributors.
BACKGROUND
Contributor Lists in the Ballot Pamphlet . Numerous prior bills
have attempted to add campaign contribution information to the
state ballot pamphlet. Most recently, SB 334 (DeSaulnier) of
2011, which was vetoed by Governor Brown, required the state
ballot pamphlet to contain a list of the five highest
contributors of $50,000 or more to each primarily formed
committee supporting or opposing each state measure appearing on
the ballot. In his veto message the Governor stated the
following:
"This bill would require that the voter pamphlet list the top
five contributors for and against a ballot measure. Printing of
the voter pamphlet starts months before an election, so the
required contributor list would only include contributions
received more than 15 weeks before an election. I am concerned
that this outdated information could mislead voters about the
true supporters and opponents of a ballot measure.
The Secretary of State's website already provides up-to-date and
accurate information on all campaign contributions. It is a
helpful resource for concerned voters."
It should be noted however that this bill, SB 844, does not
require the ballot pamphlet itself to contain the contributor
information. Rather, it requires the statewide ballot pamphlet
to include a printed statement that refers voters to the SOS's
Internet Web site for the required lists of contributors.
What is a Primarily Formed Committee ? The PRA defines a
"primarily formed committee" as a recipient committee which is
formed or exists primarily to support or oppose any of the
following:
A single candidate.
A single measure.
A group of specific candidates being voted upon in the same
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city, county, or multicounty election.
Two or more measures being voted upon in the same city,
county, multicounty, or state election.
What is a Sponsored Committee ? The PRA defines "sponsored
committee" as a committee, other than a candidate controlled
committee, which has one or more sponsors. Any person
(organizations, associations, business entities, etc.), except a
candidate or other individual, may sponsor a committee. A
person sponsors a committee if any of the following apply:
The committee receives 80 percent or more of its contributions
from the person or its members, officers, employees, or
shareholders.
The person collects contributions for the committee by use of
payroll deductions or dues from its members, officers, or
employees.
The person, alone or in combination with other organizations,
provides all or nearly all of the administrative services for
the committee.
The person, alone or in combination with other organizations,
sets the policies for soliciting contributions or making
expenditures of committee funds.
COMMENTS
1.According to the Author : Under current law, the state collects
and makes public all contributors to the various committees
for and against propositions. However, the Secretary of State
does not currently aggregate this information into a single,
user-friendly list. In addition, contributions from
individual donors are spread out over multiple campaign
committees, obfuscating the real total that these individuals
and groups have contributed for or against a single issue.
Thus, voters are prevented from finding out who are the top
contributors for and against a ballot initiative.
SB 844 would provide voters with the identities of large
financial contributors who pump millions of dollars into
campaigns to pass or defeat state ballot initiatives.
This bill will direct the Secretary of State to aggregate the
existing data in its comprehensive database to identify the
top 10 contributor for and against each ballot initiative.
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This information will be presented in a way which is easily
accessible to all voters. In addition, SB 844 will require the
Secretary of State to list a web address on the ballot measure
to provide the voters with an opportunity to find out who is
funding these ballot measures.
Ultimately, SB 844 will arm voters with reliable information
prior to making their voting decisions, and shed some light on
the largest financial contributors in the initiative process.
2.Related Legislation . This bill is similar to provisions
contained in SB 27 (Correa) which was pending on the Senate
floor awaiting concurrence in Assembly amendments at the time
this analysis was printed. SB 27 differs from this bill in
that it requires all primarily formed committees that raise $1
million or more to maintain an accurate list of their top 10
contributors and requires those lists to be disclosed on the
FPPC's Web site. SB 27 also requires committees to use
reasonable efforts to identify the individuals or corporations
that are the true source of contributions made to the
committee when listing the top contributors.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Common Cause
California Voter Foundation
League of Woman Voters of California
MapLight
Oppose: None received
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