BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1146 HEARING DATE:
6/21/11
AUTHOR: NORBY ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 4/25/11
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act of 1974: contribution limits.
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires state and local elected officers,
candidates, and committees (including independent
expenditure committees) to file periodic campaign
statements disclosing specific information including, but
not limited to, all of the following:
The name, street address, occupation, and name of
employer for each person from whom a cumulative
contribution or loan of $100 or more has been received
during the period covered;
The name and street address for each person to whom an
expenditure of $100 or more has been made during the
period covered as well as the amount and purpose of the
expenditure;
The total amount of contributions received during the
period covered from persons who have given a cumulative
amount of $100 or more;
The total amount of contributions received during the
period covered from persons who have given a cumulative
amount of less than $100;
The total amount of expenditures made during the period
covered to persons who received $100 or more;
The total amount of expenditures made during the period
covered to persons who have received less than $100.
Existing law prohibits a person from making an anonymous
contribution to a state or local candidate or committee
totaling $100 or more in a calendar year. An anonymous
contribution of $100 or more must be promptly paid to the
Secretary of State (SOS) for deposit in the state General
Fund.
This bill increases the threshold at which state and local
contributions and expenditures are required to be disclosed
on campaign reports from $100 to $200 and similarly
increases the limit on permissible anonymous contributions.
This bill also makes related findings and declarations.
BACKGROUND
Federal vs. State Reporting Thresholds . Federal law
requires campaign reports for political committees of
federal election campaigns to disclose detailed information
for contributions and expenditures of $200 or more. This
federal limit is higher than California's current $100
reporting threshold. However, only four states have a
reporting threshold of $200 or more while 45 states and the
District of Columbia have a reporting threshold of $100 or
less (see the following list).
No Threshold (all contributions are reported regardless of
amount): Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan,
New Mexico, and West Virginia.
$20 Threshold: Colorado and Wisconsin.
$25 Threshold: Arizona, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Wyoming.
$35 Threshold: Montana.
$50 Threshold: Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia,
Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah.
$100 Threshold: Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia,
Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New
York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
$150 Threshold: Illinois.
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$200 Threshold: Mississippi and North Dakota.
$250 Threshold: Nebraska.
$300 Threshold: New Jersey.
COMMENTS
According to the author , AB 1146 seeks to amend the
Political Reform Act of 1974 (PRA) to raise the minimum
campaign contribution and expenditure reporting threshold
from $100 to $200 conforming it to federal election law
(excluding cash contributions). Campaign contributions
made or received in cash shall remain at the current $100
threshold. The current state threshold of $100 was
established more than 30 years ago. By 2010 estimates, $100
indexed to reflect inflation is approximately $440. AB 1146
is a common-sense measure which eliminates confusion and
will garner greater participation by small donors in future
elections.
Why Disclose ? Disclosure of campaign contributions and
expenditures serves as an integral part of efforts to
prevent corruption, and the appearance thereof, that may
occur through the campaign finance system. Reporting of
donations and spending allows enforcement agencies, such as
the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and local
prosecutors, to enforce contribution limits and other
regulations and, at times, to detect instances of bribery,
contribution laundering, and other violations of the PRA.
Disclosure in campaign finance activity is consistent with
the widely held belief that government transparency is
essential for public accountability. Knowing who gave how
much to a political campaign is viewed as a means of
deterring potentially corrupting practices. With the
passage of the PRA, California voters embraced the notion
that receipts and expenditures in election campaigns should
be fully and truthfully disclosed in order that the voters
may be fully informed and improper activities may be
inhibited. This bill proposes to increase the reporting
threshold on specific campaign finance activity, which will
limit the amount of information available to the public.
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On the other hand, because contributions of $100 or more
need to be reported with specific detailed information
about the contributor, some individual donors may be
hesitant to donate higher amounts of money for fear of
their information being made public and possible
retaliation due to their public support or opposition to a
candidate or ballot measure. This bill will allow
individual donors to contribute higher amounts of money to
political campaigns without having to disclose personal
information.
Is $199 Worth More in Live Oak than Los Angeles ? The
existing $100 reporting threshold applies to both state and
local candidates and committees. By doubling the size of
that threshold to $200, the identity of a donor of a $199
contribution may go unreported. While it could be argued
that a $199 is insignificant in a campaign for Governor or
mayor of a large city, that same $199 contribution can be
very significant to a candidate or ballot measure committee
in a small jurisdiction and therefore continues to merit
individual reporting.
How Many Contributions Are We Talking About ? As an
illustration of how many contributions would no longer need
to include additional disclosure, Assembly committee staff
reviewed campaign statements for the 2010 General Election
for the major party candidates for the offices of Attorney
General and Governor. The review focused on all
contributions received and itemized on the campaign
statements. Below is a table illustrating the percentages
of contributions under $200 reported by each candidate
whose statement was reviewed. It is apparent that if this
bill were law at the time of the 2010 General Election,
detailed information about a large number of contributions
received by these statewide candidates would not have been
disclosed.
--------------------------------------------
| | Attorney | Governor |
| | General | |
|--------------+--------------+--------------|
|Candidate1 | 33% | 55% |
|--------------+--------------+--------------|
|Candidate 2 | 15% | 22.5% |
--------------------------------------------
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PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 6-0
Assembly Floor: 54-16
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Political Treasurers Association
Oppose: Secretary of State
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