BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 594 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 594 (Gordon) As Amended August 17, 2015 2/3 vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | 77-0 | (May 7, 2015) |SENATE: |40-0 | (August 31, | | | | | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: E. & R. SUMMARY: Eliminates certain campaign reporting requirements. Standardizes the dates by which preelection reports must be filed. Requires contributions and independent expenditures of $1,000 or more that are received or made on Election Day to be reported within 24 hours. Specifically, this bill: 1)Provides that a contribution or an independent expenditure of $1,000 or more that is received or made on Election Day is a "late contribution" or a "late independent expenditure" that is required to be reported within 24 hours of having been received or made. 2)Eliminates supplemental preelection and supplemental independent expenditure reporting requirements. AB 594 Page 2 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. 5)Makes corresponding and technical changes. The Senate amendments: 1)Increase the amount of contributions that an entity must receive in a calendar year order to be considered a "committee" under the Political Reform Act (PRA) from $1,000 to $2,000. 2)Increase the maximum amount of contributions that a candidate or officeholder can receive, and the maximum amount of expenditures they can make, in a calendar year and be eligible to file a "short form" campaign disclosure report, from $1,000 to $2,000. 3)Increase the maximum amount of contributions that a member of or candidate for county central committee of a political party can receive, and the maximum amount of expenditures they can make, in a calendar year and not be required to file campaign disclosure reports under the PRA, from $1,000 to $2,000. 4)Make technical, corresponding, and conforming changes. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations AB 594 Page 3 Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS: According to the author, "AB 594 would streamline some of the campaign finance rules in the [PRA] to reduce redundancy and improve accountability. Overall, the bill would make small, but meaningful reforms to the [PRA], while maintaining the highest ethical standards." Under the PRA, there are two general types of reporting requirements: periodic reports that are filed according to specified time schedules, and activity-based reports, which are triggered when a candidate or committee has campaign activity that meets or exceeds a specific dollar threshold. This bill seeks to eliminate two types of special activity-based reports in an effort to streamline the campaign reporting process. The reports that would be eliminated are 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 special activity-based 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. Finally, this bill eliminates the requirement for city general purpose committees to file preelection reports in connection with an election if the committees are not recipient committees (that is, if they do not receive contributions of $1,000 or more). Unlike city general purpose committees, state and county general purpose committees are required to file preelection reports only if they are recipient committees. State and county general purpose committees that are not recipient committees -that is, committees that make independent expenditures or contributions, but that do not receive contributions - are not required to file preelection AB 594 Page 4 reports. Those committees' preelection activities typically will be disclosed on other reports (including through late independent expenditure reports and late contribution reports). California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the Fair Political Practices Commission and codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill, must further the purposes of the initiative and require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature. Senate amendments to this bill added provisions that increase the monetary threshold of contributions that must be received in order to qualify as a committee under the PRA, make related changes relative to the eligibility of committees to file a "short form" campaign disclosure report and to provisions of law governing when candidates for party central committee are exempt from filing campaign disclosure reports, and make conforming changes. The subject matter of these additions to this bill has not been heard in an Assembly policy committee during the current legislative session. Analysis Prepared by: Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0001376