BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1146|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1146
Author: Norby (R)
Amended: 4/25/11 in Assembly
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/21/11
AYES: La Malfa, De Le�n, Gaines
NOES: Correa, Lieu
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-16, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: contribution
limits
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill increases the threshold at which
contribution at expenditures are required to be disclosed
on campaign reports.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, the Political Reform Act (PRA)
of 1974, prohibits anonymous campaign contributions of $100
or more to a candidate, committee, or other person in a
calendar year. Existing law also requires that the value
of all in-kind contributions of $100 or more be reported
in writing to the recipient upon the recipient's written
request. Existing law further requires that detailed
specified information be reported for each person to whom
independent expenditures are made, or from whom
contributions are received, totaling $100 or more during a
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reporting period.
Specifically, this bill:
1. Increases, from $100 to $200, the threshold at which
political candidates or committees are required to
itemize the following items on campaign statements:
A. Independent expenditures;
B. Campaign contributions;
C. Campaign expenditures; and,
D. In-kind contributions.
2. Increases the limit, from $100 to $200, on anonymous
contributions permitted to a candidate, committee, or
any other person.
3. Makes findings and declarations regarding anonymous
contributions.
According to the author, "AB 1146 seeks to amend the
Political Reform Act of 1974 to raise the minimum campaign
contribution and expenditure reporting threshold from $100
to $200 conforming it to federal election law. 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."
California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in
1974, which created the Fair Political Practices Commission
(FPPC) and codified significant restrictions and
prohibitions on candidates, officeholders, and lobbyists.
That initiative is commonly known as the PRA. The PRA,
among other things, requires detailed disclosure of
contributions and expenditures in connection with campaigns
supporting or opposing state and local candidates and
ballot measures. The original limit for disclosure of
contributions and expenditures in the PRA was $50; however,
subsequent legislation increased the threshold to the
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current $100 limit. Amendments to the PRA that are not
submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this
bill, must further the purposes of the initiative and
require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the
Legislature.
Federal election 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 the state's current $100 reporting threshold. The
author argues that this bill conforms state law to federal
law. However, it is not uncommon for state law to differ
from federal law, especially in elections policy.
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:
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|No Threshold (all |Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, |
|contributions are |Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, |
|reported regardless of |and West Virginia |
|amount) | |
|-------------------------+---------------------------------|
|$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, |
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| |Virginia, and Washington |
|-------------------------+---------------------------------|
|$150 Threshold |Illinois |
|-------------------------+---------------------------------|
|$200 Threshold |Mississippi and North Dakota |
|-------------------------+---------------------------------|
|$250 Threshold |Nebraska |
|-------------------------+---------------------------------|
|$300 Threshold |New Jersey |
| | |
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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.
Because contributions of $100 or more need to be reported
with specific detailed information about the contributor,
some individual donors have been 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 measure. This bill allows
individual donors to contribute higher amounts of money to
political campaigns without having to disclose personal
information.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/22/11)
California Political Treasurers Association
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/22/11)
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Secretary of State
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : In support of this bill, the
California Political Treasurers Association notes that,
"raising the reporting threshold for contribution�s] and
expenditures from $100 to over $200 would not only simplify
the reporting process for all concerned, it would also
afford many grass-roots operations the peace of mind that
their Treasurers are not overwhelmed with small contributor
processing."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition to this bill, the
Secretary of State (SOS), argues that if this bill were
enacted it will be "more difficult to determine who is
contributing to political campaigns and how those
contributions may affect a particular political or
governmental issue." The SOS continues that this bill
represents "a step backwards" from the standard that
California voters approved with the passage of the PRA.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-16, 6/1/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Bonilla, Bradford, Buchanan, Charles Calderon,
Carter, Cedillo, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey,
Roger Hern�ndez, Hueso, Jones, Knight, Logue, Ma,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Skinner, Smyth,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, John A.
P�rez
NOES: Ammiano, Brownley, Campos, Chesbro, Feuer, Fletcher,
Gordon, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Lara, Pan, Perea,
Portantino, Swanson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Blumenfield, Butler, Eng, Gorell,
Jeffries, Bonnie Lowenthal, V. Manuel P�rez, Solorio,
Yamada
DLW:kc 6/23/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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