SB 1104, as amended, Padilla. Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign communication disclosure.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates certain communications, including mass mailings, slate mailers, and advertisements, by requiring those items to include specified information and disclosures.
This bill would require a candidate for elective state office, a slate mailer organization, or a committee that authorizes an expenditure for a campaign communication, as defined, to file an electronic copy of the campaign communication with the Secretary of State, as specified. The bill would require the Secretary of State to maintain an archive of the filed campaign communications and to make the campaign communications available for public inspection on his or her Internet Web site. This bill would make these changes operative on July 1, 2017.
A violation of the act’s provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. 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:
Article 6 (commencing with Section 84550) is
2added to Chapter 4 of Title 9 of the Government Code, to read:
3
(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
7have the following meanings:
8(1) “Campaign communication” means an advertisement, as
9defined in Section 84501, that advocates support for or opposition
10to a candidate for elective state office or a statewide ballot measure;
11a mass mailing, as defined in Section 82041.5, that advocates
12support for or opposition to a candidate for elective state office or
13a statewide ballot measure; or a slate mailer, as defined in Section
1482048.3, that advocates support for or opposition to a candidate
15for elective state office or a statewide ballot measure.
16(2) “Elective
state office” has the same meaning as set forth in
17Section 82024, but does not include a member elected to the Board
18of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System
19or a member elected to the Teachers’ Retirement Board.
20(b) A candidate for elective state office, a slate mailer
21organization, or a committee that authorizes an expenditure for a
22campaign communication shall file an electronic copy of the
23campaign communication with the Secretary of State as follows:
24(1) begin insert(A)end insertbegin insert end insert A campaign communication that is distributedbegin insert
byend insertbegin insert postal
25mailend insert during the period from 90 days prior to the election at which
26the candidate or measure that is the subject of the campaign
27communication will appear on the ballot to the day of the election,
P3 1inclusive, shall be filed not later thanbegin delete 24end deletebegin insert 72end insert hours after the first
2distribution of the campaign communication.
3(B) A campaign communication that is distributed in a manner
4other than by postal mail during the period from 90 days prior to
5the election at which the candidate or
measure that is the subject
6of the campaign communication will appear on the ballot to the
7day of the election, inclusive, shall be filed not later than 24 hours
8after the first distribution of the campaign communication.
9(2) A campaign communication that is distributed at any time
10other than that described in paragraph (1) shall be filed not later
11than five business days after the first distribution of the campaign
12communication.
13(c) The Secretary of State shall maintain an archive of all
14campaign communications that are filed pursuant to this section
15and shall make the campaign communications available for public
16inspection on his or her Internet Web site.
17(d) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2017.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
19Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
20the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
21district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
22infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
23for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
24the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
25the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
26Constitution.
The Legislature finds and declares that this bill furthers
28the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the
29meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government
30Code.
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