BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 1104 (Padilla) - Campaign Communication Disclosures
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1104 requires a candidate for elective state
office, a slate mailer organization, or a committee that
authorizes an expenditure for a campaign communication, to file
an electronic copy of the campaign communication with the
Secretary of State (SOS).
Fiscal Impact:
Estimated one-time costs of approximately $2.7 million, and
annual ongoing costs of $580,000 to the Secretary of State
(General Fund)
Annual costs of $90,133 to the FPPC (General Fund)
The Secretary of State estimates one-time costs totaling $2.7
million for the implementation of a computerized public access
system as follows: $200,000 for a feasibility study report;
$800,000 for a System Integration Vendor; $900,000 in hardware
costs; staffing costs of $300,000, and project oversight
expenses totaling $500,000. Ongoing costs totaling $580,000
consist of 2 PYs in the Political Reform Division, and 2 PY's in
the Information Technology Division.
The FPPC indicates the need for one Political Reform Consultant
to handle requests for advice on the new definitions.
Additionally, the SOS indicates unknown potential long-term
costs for permanently preserving digital records including
maintaining systems for public access and migrating digital
information to successive server and platform changes over time.
Background: The Political Reform Act (PRA) regulates campaign
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communications which includes mass mailings, slate mailers,
print advertisements, and broadcast advertisements. The PRA
defines "mass mailing" as a mailing that has over two hundred
substantially similar pieces of mail. "Slate mailer" means a
mass mailing which supports or opposes a total of four or more
candidates or ballot measures.
Proposed Law: SB 1104 requires a candidate for elective state
office, a slate mailer organization, or a committee that
authorizes an expenditure for a campaign communication to file
an electronic copy of the campaign communication with the
Secretary of State as follows:
A campaign communication that is distributed during the period
of 90 days prior to the election at which the candidate or
measure that is the subject of the campaign communication will
appear on the ballot to the day of the election, must be filed
electronically with the SOS not later than 24 hours after the
first distribution of the campaign communication.
A campaign communication that is distributed at any other time
must be filed not later than five business days after the
first distribution of the campaign communication.
SB 1104 defines "campaign communication" as an advertisement
that advocates support for or opposition to a candidate for
elective state office or a statewide ballot measure; a mass
mailing that advocates support for or opposition to a candidate
for elective state office or a statewide ballot measure; or a
slate mailer.
"Elective state office" means the office of Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, Controller,
Secretary of State, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public
Instruction, Member of the Legislature, and member of the State
Board of Equalization.
SB 1104 requires the SOS to maintain an archive of the filed
campaign communications and to make the campaign communications
available for public inspection.
Staff Comments: The Secretary of State serves as a general
repository of historical state documents. The initial Political
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Reform Act in 1974 required candidates to submit a copy of every
mass mailing in support of or in opposition to a state candidate
or state measure which were to be held as public records. The
requirement was later repealed due to space logistics and lack
of public interest in viewing the stored documents.
Marin County along with the cities of Los Angeles, West
Hollywood, Palmdale, San Jose, and Berkeley require disclosure
of campaign communications during their municipal elections.
Other states that have a similar requirement include New York,
New Jersey, Montana, and Oklahoma.
It should be noted that the Secretary of State's office is
currently in the process of procuring and launching other
substantial information technology projects including the
statewide voter database known as VoteCal, and the online
business filing system California Business Connect, both of
which are slated to be completed in 2016.
Author's Amendments: Staff understands that the author intends
to amend SB 1104 while the bill is on Suspense to integrate the
campaign disclosure electronic filing program into the Secretary
of State's CalAccess database.