BILL ANALYSIS
AB 7
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 7 (Krekorian) - As Amended: May 14, 2009
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to establish new
disclosure requirements on independent expenditure (IE)
advertisements. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires every broadcast or mass mailing advertisement
supporting or opposing a candidate or ballot measure that is
paid for by an IE to include:
a) A statement clearly identifying the economic or other
special interest of the major donors of $50,000 or more to
the committee.
b) The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for an Internet Web
site established by the committee that lists the
committee's responsible officer and all donors who made
contributions of more than $100 to the committee.
2)Provides that if any of the major donors of $50,000 or more to
the committee is another committee, that major donor shall be
identified by the names of the economic or other special
interest that made the highest cumulative contributions of
$50,000 or more to that committee.
FISCAL EFFECT
Costs to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), which
enforces the PRA, will be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, a report issued last year
AB 7
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by the Fair Political Practices Commission, "Independent
Expenditures: The Giant Gorilla in Campaign Finance," included
the following findings:
Since Proposition 34 took effect on January 1, 2001,
through the 2006 election cycle, more than $88 million was
spent on "independent expenditures" benefiting candidates
for state office.
$63 million of the $88 million spent on "independent
expenditures" for legislative and statewide candidates from
2001 through 2006 came from just 25 "independent
expenditure" groups.
The author believes that, given the amount of money spent to
influence the state's political process, "the voters, and
those affected by the political influence of such committees,
have a right to know who is trying to move their votes." AB 7
attempts to address this issue by expanding the disclosures
required on broadcasts and mailers by independent expenditure
campaigns.
2)On-Ad Disclosures : Existing law generally requires IEs and
ads supporting or opposing ballot measures to include a
disclosure statement identifying the top two donors of $50,000
or more to the committee paying for the ad. Additionally,
existing law requires any committee that supports or opposes
one or more ballot measures to name itself using a name or
phrase that clearly identifies the economic or other special
interest of its major donors of $50,000 or more. Since the
name of the committee paying for an advertisement is required
to be included in the advertisement, any ad in support of or
in opposition to a ballot measure will include an
identification of the economic or other special interest of
the major donors to the committee funding the ad.
This bill places a similar requirement on ads that are paid for
by IEs. However, rather than requiring the committee name to
include the economic or other special interest of the major
donors of $50,000 or more to the committee, this bill instead
requires that the economic or other special interest of the
donors of $50,000 or more to the committee funding the ad be
included in the ad. Additionally, to ensure that IEs contain
a full disclosure of the interests that are funding an ad,
this bill provides that if one of the major donors of $50,000
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or more to the committee funding the ad is another committee,
the ad must also include the economic or special interest of
the major donors to the committee that made the donation.
3)Opposition . The California Broadcasters Association (CBA)
notes that unlike the requirements for all other media,
disclosures in radio advertisements must be vocalized, and for
ballot propositions this can require over 50% of a 30 second
ad. The CBA argues that, by adding a potentially lengthy web
locator address, the time required for disclosures would
consume over 20 seconds in a 30 second spot, even though the
URL would contain the same financial disclosures currently
stated within the advertisement.
4)Related Legislation . AB 1322 (Huffman), pending on the
Assembly floor, specifies the text and format in which a
disclosure must appear when such disclosures are required on
certain IEs.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081