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
SB 1107
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