BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2146 (Cook) - Campaign reform: County of San Bernardino
Amended: May 7, 2012 Policy Vote: E&CA 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: July 2, 2012 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2146 will authorize the County of San
Bernardino to contract with the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC) to enforce its campaign finance laws. The
agreement must contain reimbursement by the county to the FPPC
for all costs.
Fiscal Impact: Unknown annual administration, implementation,
and enforcement costs to the FPPC, to be reimbursed by the
County of San Bernardino.
Background: Under existing law, the Fair Political Practices
Commission is charged with enforcing the Political Reform Act of
1974 (PRA) and has the primary responsibility for the impartial,
effective administration and implementation of the PRA.
Local governments are prohibited from enacting a campaign
finance ordinance that imposes reporting requirements that are
different from those set forth in the PRA, unless the different
requirements apply only to the candidates seeking election in
that jurisdiction, their controlled committees or committees
formed primarily to support or oppose their candidacies, and to
committees formed to support or oppose the qualification or
passage of a local ballot measure which is being voted on only
in that jurisdiction. Any jurisdiction that adopts or amends a
local campaign finance ordinance is required to file a copy of
that ordinance with the FPPC. The FPPC has begun posting those
ordinances on its Internet Website.
Proposed Law: AB 2146 will authorize the FPPC to have primary
responsibility for the impartial, effective administration,
implementation, and enforcement of a local campaign finance
AB 2146 (Cook)
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reform ordinance with the County of San Bernardino, upon mutual
agreement between the FPPC and the Board of Supervisors of the
county.
Upon implementation of the mutual agreement, the FPPC will be
authorized to be the civil prosecutor responsible for the civil
enforcement of the local campaign finance reform ordinance
adopted by the county. Specifically, the commission will be
authorized to: 1) investigate possible violations of the local
campaign finance reform ordinance, and 2) bring administrative
actions as necessary.
AB 2146 further requires the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors to consult with the FPPC before adopting and
amending any local campaign finance reform ordinance that is
subsequently enforced by the commission.
The county or the commission may terminate the agreement at any
time, and the agreement may not contain any form of a
cancellation fee, liquidated damages provisions or other
financial disincentive terms.
AB 2146 provides that if an agreement is entered into between
the county and the commission, the FPPC will report to the
Legislature by January 1, 2017 - the report will include the
following information:
a) The status of the agreement,
b) The estimated annual cost savings, if any, for the
County of San Bernardino,
c) A summary of relevant annual performance metrics,
including measures of utilization, enforcement, and
customer satisfaction,
d) Any public comments submitted to the commission or to
the county relative to the agreement, and
e) Any legislative recommendations.
The authorization provided in AB 2146 will sunset January 1,
2018.
Staff Comments: The current San Bernardino County local
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campaign finance ordinance is very limited in scope and merely
establishes a voluntary campaign expenditure limit for
candidates for local office. It does not provide any incentive
for candidates to adopt that voluntary limit, nor does it
establish penalties for candidates who agree to abide by the
voluntary limits and then make campaign expenditures in excess
of that limit.
The FPPC does not currently enforce any local campaign finance
ordinance as it will for San Bernardino County under the
provisions of this bill.
AB 2146 furthers the purpose of the Political Reform Act and
will require a 2/3rd vote on the Senate Floor.