California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 2558


Introduced by Assembly Member Steinorth

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Brown, Lackey, Mayes, Obernolte, and Rodriguez)

(Coauthors: Senators Fuller, Leyva, and Morrell)

February 19, 2016


An act to amend Section 83123.5 of the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2558, as introduced, Steinorth. Political Reform Act of 1974: San Bernardino County.

Existing law, until January 1, 2018, authorizes the Fair Political Practices Commission, upon mutual agreement between the Commission and the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino, to have primary responsibility for the impartial, effective administration, implementation, and enforcement of a local campaign finance reform ordinance of the County of San Bernardino, as specified.

This bill would repeal the January 1, 2018, sunset date, thereby extending the operation of these provisions indefinitely.

The bill would make legislative findings and declarations concerning the need for special legislation.

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 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements.

This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Vote: 23. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 83123.5 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:

3

83123.5.  

(a) Upon mutual agreement between the Commission
4and the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino,
5the Commission is authorized to assume primary responsibility
6for the impartial, effective administration, implementation, and
7enforcement of a local campaign finance reform ordinance passed
8by the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino. The
9Commission is authorized to be the civil prosecutor responsible
10for the civil enforcement of that local campaign finance reform
11ordinance in accordance with this title. As the civil prosecutor of
12the County of San Bernardino’s local campaign finance reform
13ordinance, the Commission may do both of the following:

14(1) Investigate possible violations of the local campaign finance
15reform ordinance.

16(2) Bring administrative actions in accordance with this title
17and Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of
18Division 3 of Title 2.

19(b) Any local campaign finance reform ordinance of the County
20of San Bernardino enforced by the Commission pursuant to this
21section shall comply with this title.

22(c) The Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino
23shall consult with the Commission prior to adopting and amending
24any local campaign finance reform ordinance that is subsequently
25enforced by the Commission pursuant to this section.

26(d) (1) The Board of Supervisors of the County of San
27Bernardino and the Commission may enter into any agreements
28necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of this section,
29 including agreements pertaining to any necessary reimbursement
30of state costs with county funds for costs incurred by the
31Commission in administering, implementing, or enforcing a local
32campaign finance reform ordinance pursuant to this section.

33(2) An agreement entered into pursuant to this subdivision shall
34not contain any form of a cancellation fee, a liquidated damages
35provision, or other financial disincentive to the exercise of the
P3    1right to terminate the agreement pursuant to subdivision (e), except
2that the Commission may require the Board of Supervisors of the
3County of San Bernardino to pay the Commission for services
4rendered and any other expenditures reasonably made by the
5Commission in anticipation of services to be rendered pursuant to
6the agreement in the event that the Board of Supervisors of the
7County of San Bernardino terminates the agreement.

8(e) The Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino
9or the Commission may, at any time, by ordinance or resolution,
10terminate any agreement made pursuant to this section for the
11Commission to administer, implement, or enforce a local campaign
12finance reform ordinance or any provision thereof.

13(f) If an agreement is entered into pursuant to this section, the
14Commission shall report to the Legislature regarding the
15performance of that agreement on or before January 1, 2017, and
16shall submit that report in compliance with Section 9795. The
17Commission shall develop the report in consultation with the
18County of San Bernardino. The report shall include, but not be
19limited to, all of the following:

20(1) The status of the agreement.

21(2) The estimated annual cost savings, if any, for the County of
22San Bernardino.

23(3) A summary of relevant annual performance metrics,
24including measures of utilization, enforcement, and customer
25satisfaction.

26(4) Any public comments submitted to the Commission or the
27County of San Bernardino relative to the operation of the
28agreement.

29(5) Any legislative recommendations.

begin delete

30(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2018,
31and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
32is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.

end delete
33

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
34is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
35within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
36Constitution because of the necessity to avoid an appearance of
37corruption in the County of San Bernardino’s electoral process.
38The proposed local campaign finance reform ordinance is intended
39to make it more difficult for candidates and influential individuals
40and entities to engage in quid pro quo corruption, make the
P4    1financing of campaigns for elective county offices more
2transparent, and to make more information, especially financial
3information, regarding candidates and their supporters available
4to voters. The continued enforcement of the local campaign finance
5reform ordinance by the Commission is needed to ensure the
6 integrity of the ordinance.

7

SEC. 3.  

The Legislature finds and declares that this bill furthers
8the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the
9meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government
10Code.



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