BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Debra Bowen, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2771 HEARING DATE:
6/21/06
AUTHOR: LENO ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 4/3/06
FISCAL: YES
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires, by December 31, 2002, the Secretary
of State (SOS), in consultation with the Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC), to develop a means or method
whereby filers who are required to submit campaign filings
online or electronically may do so free of charge.
Existing law requires the following persons to file all
campaign reports online or electronically with the SOS:
Candidates who have received contributions or loans, or
made expenditures or loans, cumulatively totaling $50,000
or more;
General purpose committees that have received
contributions or made expenditures cumulatively totaling
$50,000 or more to support or oppose candidates for
elective state office or state measures;
Slate mailer organizations with cumulative reportable
payments received or made of $50,000 or more; and,
Lobbyists, lobbying firms, or lobbyist employers with
reportable payments, expenses, contributions, gifts, or
other items of $5,000 or more in any calendar quarter.
Existing law sets the beginning date for calculating
cumulative totals to determine whether a candidate, general
purpose committee, or slate mailer organization is required
to file online or electronically as January 1, 2000 for a
committee or slate mailer organization that existed prior
to January 1, 2000. For a committee or slate mailer
organization that did not exist prior to January 1, 2000,
the beginning date is the date the committee first became a
committee or slate mailer organization.
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This bill suspends the requirement that certain specified
entities file campaign reports online or electronically
until January 1, 2010 or until the first filing due six
months after the SOS has developed a free online filing
process, whichever is earlier. Specifically, this bill :
Makes various findings and declarations about the cost to
committees for complying with the requirement to file
online or electronically and about the failure of the SOS
to provide a means of free online or electronic filing.
Provides that any general purpose committee, small
contributor committee, or slate mailer organization that
is otherwise required by existing law to file online or
electronically that hasn't cumulatively received
contributions or made expenditures totaling $50,000
within three years of the applicable beginning date for
calculating cumulative totals need not file online or
electronically until January 1, 2010, or until the first
filing date more than six months after the FPPC has
certified that the free online filing processes developed
by the SOS are sufficiently simple to access and use that
a person without technical training or support can
reasonably be expected to file without that training or
support, whichever is earlier.
Permits the SOS, when developing a means or method
whereby filers required to file campaign reports online
or electronically can do so free of charge, to include
some enhanced functions as long as the method doesn't
include any additional services beyond those needed to
file the campaign reports.
BACKGROUND
Yearning to File Free . Candidates and committees that are
required to file campaign reports online have been forced
to spend money to comply with that requirement because
three different SOS's haven't been able to complete the
free online filing method that was supposed to be available
no later than December 31, 2002.
SB 49 (Karnette), Chapter 866, Statutes of 1997, the Online
Disclosure Act of 1997, required the SOS to develop a
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process whereby reports and statements required under the
PRA could be filed online and viewed by the public. SB 49
also required certain candidates, committees, slate mailer
organizations, lobbyists, lobbyist employers, and lobbying
firms to file campaign reports online.
AB 696 (Longville), Chapter 917, Statutes of 2001, required
the SOS to provide, by December 31, 2002, a way for people
subject to the online and electronic filing disclosure
requirements of the PRA may submit required filings free of
charge. At the time AB 696 was moving through the
Legislature, then-SOS Bill Jones indicated it would cost
$600,000 to develop a method for people to submit their
filings free of charge. As such, AB 696 appropriated
$600,000 to the SOS for that purpose.
However, more than three years after the deadline, the SOS
has not yet completed the free online filing method for
everyone who is required to file online or electronically.
While all quarterly lobbying disclosure forms can be filed
online or electronically for free, there are a number of
campaign disclosure forms that cannot be filed online or
electronically for free. None of the required campaign
filings for slate mailer organizations can be filed online
through the SOS's web site for free.
The failure of the SOS to develop a free online filing
method in a timely manner has slowed attempts to provide
for more timely and thorough campaign disclosure. SB 1849
(Karnette) of 2004 sought to lower certain monetary
thresholds which trigger electronic filing requirements.
The lower thresholds in SB 1849 would have expanded access
to campaign disclosure reports by requiring more candidates
and committees to file campaign reports electronically.
However, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 1849, noting in
his veto message that it would be premature to lower the
filing thresholds until the SOS finished the free online
filing system.
This bill would temporarily suspend the electronic filing
requirement for certain general purpose committees and
slate mailer organizations until 2010 or until the first
filing due six months after SOS has finished the free
filing system, whichever comes first. The suspension of
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that requirement would apply only to those committees and
slate mailer organizations that didn't reach the cumulative
thresholds for filing electronically within the first three
years of the beginning date for calculating cumulative
totals. That means committees and slate mailer
organizations that existed prior to January 1, 2000 won't
be required to file online or electronically unless they
reached the threshold for mandatory online filing before
January 1, 2003 -- the date by which the free filing system
was required to be in operation.
COMMENTS
1.Who Benefits From This Bill ? This bill creates an
exemption for any general purpose committee, small
contributor committee, or slate mailer organization that
didn't reach the $50,000 level within the first three
years of the beginning date for calculating cumulative
totals. The exemption would expire on January 1, 2010 or
six months after the SOS has finished creating the free
filing system, whichever comes first.
As a practical matter, that means committees and slate
mailer organizations that existed prior to January 1,
2000 won't be required to file online or electronically
unless they reached the threshold for mandatory online
filing before January 1, 2003, the date by which the free
filing system was required to be in operation.
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One of the impacts of this proposal will be that any
entity falling into the class of folks noted above that
has been paying for the software necessary to comply with
the law will no longer have to do so until one of the
above-noted deadlines.
2.Enhanced Functions . One of the provisions of AB 696
(Longville), Chapter 917, Statutes of 2001 prohibited the
SOS, when developing the free filing method, from
providing "any additional or enhanced functions or
services that exceed the minimum requirements necessary
to fulfill the disclosure provisions" of state law.
This provision was included in AB 696 to protect the
investment of private vendors who had spent time and
money developing software to submit required campaign
filings electronically. Because most private vendors
offered campaign services that went beyond the electronic
filing of campaign reports, the vendors were confident
they could recoup their investments in developing the
electronic filing software as long as the SOS was
prohibited from providing these additional services for
free.
This bill would instead prohibit the SOS from providing
"any additional services that exceed the minimum
requirements necessary to fulfill the disclosure
provisions" of state law. According to the author's
office, this change in law - striking "or enhanced
functions" from the current law - is intended to allow
the SOS to add minimal additional functionality to the
free filing method that will provide for greater ease of
use without competing against the additional services
offered by private vendors.
3.Related Legislation . AB 2902 (Nunez), required the SOS
to report to the Legislature on the implementation and
development of online and electronic filing of campaign
reports, with a specific emphasis on the status of the
development of a method by which filers may file required
reports online or electronically free of charge. After
it was introduced, AB 2902 was amended and now pertains
to a completely different subject matter.
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PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections & Redistricting Committee 6-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee17-0
Assembly Floor 76-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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