BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    SB 1107  


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          Date of Hearing:  August 3, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          SB 1107  
          (Allen) - As Amended June 30, 2016


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  YesReimbursable:   
          No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to authorize  
          adoption of public campaign finance programs and limit the uses  
          of campaign funds held by public officials convicted of various  
          public trust crimes. Specifically, this bill: 


          1)Permits the state and local governmental entities to establish  
            programs providing for public campaign financing for  
            candidates for elective office upon meeting all of the  
            following:









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             a)   A dedicated fund for the purpose of providing public  
               campaign financing is established;


             b)   Public moneys held in the fund are available to all  
               qualified, voluntarily participating candidates of the same  
               office without regard to incumbency or political party  
               preference; and,


             c)   Criteria are established, by statute, ordinance,  
               resolution, or charter, for determining a candidate's  
               qualification.


          2)Provides that an officeholder convicted of a felony involving  
            accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the  
            embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public  
            money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes,  
            and whose conviction has become final, may use funds held by  
            the officeholder's candidate controlled committee only for the  
            payment of outstanding campaign debts or expenses and the  
            repayment of contributions.  


          3)Requires the officeholder, six months after conviction for one  
            of the aforementioned felonies becomes final, to forfeit any  
            remaining funds and requires the funds to be deposited in the  
            General Fund.  


          4)Provides that (2) and (3) do not apply to funds held by a  
            ballot measure committee or in a legal defense fund.


          FISCAL EFFECT:










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          Any administrative costs to the FPPC, such as for providing  
          advice or modifying regulations, should be absorbable. The  
          burden of developing and adopting a public campaign financing  
          program would fall on any entity that chooses do so, and would  
          thus not be state reimbursable.


          There is a good probability that this bill could result in  
          litigation challenging whether the bill meets the statutory  
          requirement to further the purpose of the PRA, which does not  
          provide for public financing. The state could therefore incur  
          significant legal costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Public Financing and Proposition 73. Approved in 1988,  
            Proposition 73 prohibited public funding of campaigns and set  
            contribution limits for state and local elections. The only  
            provisions of Proposition 73 to survive legal challenge were  
            contribution limits for special elections, restrictions on  
            certain mass mailings by officeholders, and the prohibition on  
            the use of public money for campaign purposes.  (The  
            contribution limits for special elections that were included  
            in Proposition 73 subsequently were repealed and replaced in  
            another ballot measure.)



            Because of the public funding ban contained in Proposition 73,  
            the state and most local governments in California do not have  
            the option to offer public financing programs for electoral  
            campaigns.  While the California Supreme Court ruled that the  
            public financing ban does not apply to charter cities, a state  
            appellate court has held that the public financing ban does  
            apply to charter counties.










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            As a result, while charter cities in California can enact  
            public campaign financing programs, general law cities, all  
            counties, all districts, and the state government are covered  
            by the current ban. Reportedly, six charter cities (Los  
            Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Richmond, Sacramento, and San  
            Francisco) currently provide limited public funding to match  
            small campaign contributions.





          2)Purpose. SB 1107 removes the ban on voluntary public campaign  
            financing programs and provides the state and all local  
            governments with the authority to enact such programs, within  
            parameters specified in the bill. The bill also requires  
            elected officials, who under current law are banned from  
            running for office due to conviction of specified felonies,  
            such as bribery, to forfeit their campaign funds within six  
            months, after paying debts or returning contributions, other  
            than legal defense funds.



          Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081


















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