BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 594
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
594 (Gordon) - As Amended April 7, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Elections and Redistricting |Vote:|5 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill amends and streamlines certain reporting requirements
under the Political Reform Act (PRA). Specifically, this bill:
AB 594
Page 2
1)Provides that a contribution or an independent expenditure of
$1,000 or more that is received or made on election day is
also considered a "late contribution" or a "late independent
expenditure," and is thus required to be reported within 24
hours of having been received or made.
2)Eliminates supplemental preelection and supplemental
independent expenditure reporting requirements.
3)Requires all preelection reports to be filed pursuant to the
same schedule, instead of having a slightly different schedule
for preelection reports that are filed in connection with
statewide elections held in June and November of even-numbered
years.
4)Eliminates the requirement for city general purpose committees
to file preelection reports if they do not receive
contributions of $1,000 or more.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Any costs to the Fair Political Practices Commission, which
administers and enforces the PRA, will be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "AB 594 would streamline
some of the campaign finance rules in the Political Reform Act
AB 594
Page 3
to reduce redundancy and improve accountability. Overall, the
bill would make small, but meaningful reforms to the Political
Reform Act, while maintaining the highest ethical standards."
2)Background. Under the PRA, there are two general types of
reports: 1) periodic reports, which must be filed according
to specified time schedules, and 2) activity-based reports,
which are triggered when a candidate or committee conducts
campaign activity that meet or exceeds a specific dollar
threshold. To streamline the campaign reporting process, this
bill eliminates two types of special activity-based
reports-supplemental preelection statements and supplemental
independent expenditure reports. Due to modifications made to
campaign limits and disclosure requirements after these
reporting requirements were established, these reporting
requirements no longer serve their original purposes.
This bill also standardizes the schedule for filing
preelection reports so that the first preelection report is
always due by the 40th day before the election, covering all
activity through the 45th day before the election, regardless
of when the election is held.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 594
Page 4