SB 310, as introduced, Anderson. The Political Reform Act of 1974.
Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing. Existing law sets forth findings and declarations supporting the necessity of campaign finance regulation.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 81001 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:
The people find and declare as follows:
4(a) State and local government should serve the needs and
5respond to the wishes of all citizens equally, without regard to
6their wealth;
7(b) Public officials, whether elected or appointed, should
8perform their dutiesbegin delete in an impartial mannerend deletebegin insert impartiallyend insert, free from
9bias caused by their own financial interests or the financial interests
10of persons who have supported them;
P2 1(c) Costs of conducting
election campaigns have increased
2greatly in recent years, and candidates have been forced to finance
3their campaigns by seeking large contributions from lobbyists and
4organizations who thereby gain disproportionate influence over
5governmental decisions;
6(d) The influence of large campaign contributors is increased
7because existing laws for disclosure of campaign receipts and
8expenditures have proved to be inadequate;
9(e) Lobbyists often make their contributions to incumbents who
10cannot be effectively challenged because of election laws and
11abusive practices which give the incumbent an unfair advantage;
12(f) The wealthy individuals and organizations which make large
13campaign contributions frequently extend their influence by
14employing lobbyists and spending large amounts to influence
15legislative and administrative
actions;
16(g) The influence of large campaign contributors in ballot
17measure elections is increased because the ballot pamphlet mailed
18to the voters by the state is difficult to read and almost impossible
19for a layman to understand; and
20(h) Previous laws regulating political practices have suffered
21from inadequate enforcement by state and local authorities.
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