BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2691|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2691
Author: Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMDMTS COMM. : 5-0, 6/19/12
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, Gaines, Lieu, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/10/12 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill repeals obsolete provisions of the
Political Reform Act of 1974 (PRA) related to the online or
electronic disclosure of campaign and lobbying information.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC),
and makes it responsible for the impartial, effective
administration and implementation of the PRA.
2. Requires all candidates and committees that are required
to file campaign reports in connection with a state
elective office or state measure to file those reports
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online or electronically if the cumulative amount of
contributions received, expenditures made, loans made,
or loans received is $25,000 or more.
3. Requires general purpose committees, including political
party committees and small contributor committees, that
cumulatively receive contributions or make expenditures
of $25,000 or more to support or oppose candidates for
any elective state office or state measure, to file
campaign reports online or electronically.
4. Requires slate mailer organizations to file campaign
reports online or electronically if the cumulative
reportable payments received or made for the purposes of
producing slate mailers is $25,000 or more.
5. Requires lobbyists, lobbying firms, lobbyist employers,
and other persons required to file periodic lobbying
disclosure reports to file such reports online or
electronically if the total amount of any category of
reportable payments, expenses, contributions, gifts, or
other items is $2,500 or more in a calendar quarter.
This bill:
1. Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that requires
the Secretary of State (SOS) to implement an online or
electronic disclosure program in connection with the
2000 state primary election and specified lobbying
activities.
2. Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that required
all candidates and ballot measure committees that were
required to file campaign disclosure reports in
connection with a statewide elective office or a state
measure appearing on the November 1998 ballot to provide
a copy of any required report on a computer disk in
either an ASCII or PDF format.
3. Repeals an obsolete provision of the PRA that
appropriated $1.1 million in 1997 from the General Fund
to the SOS for the purposes of developing an online and
electronic disclosure system.
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4. Makes corresponding changes.
Background
Electronic campaign disclosure . SB 49 (Karnette), Chapter
866, Statutes of 1997, enacted the Online Disclosure Act,
requiring the SOS to develop a process whereby campaign and
lobbying reports and statements required to be filed
pursuant to the PRA could be filed online or electronically
and viewed by the public online. Among other provisions,
SB 49 established specific electronic reporting
requirements for the November 1998 and March 2000 statewide
elections, and established specific electronic reporting
requirements for lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist
employers for part of the 2000 calendar year. Because
those provisions were effective only for specific time
periods, those provisions of the PRA are now obsolete; the
ongoing requirements for campaign and lobbying reports to
be filed electronically are located elsewhere in the PRA.
Additionally, SB 49 added a provision to the PRA that
appropriated $1.1 million for the development of the online
and electronic disclosure system. Because the online and
electronic disclosure system has already been built and
this money has been spent, this provision of law is also
obsolete.
This bill repeals these obsolete provisions of the PRA.
Additionally, this bill makes corresponding changes by
deleting cross references to one of those obsolete sections
in another section of the PRA.
PRA . California voters passed an initiative in 1974
(Proposition 9) that created the FPPC and codified
significant restrictions and prohibitions on candidates,
officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is commonly
known as the PRA. 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 5/20/12)
Fair Political Practices Commission
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this is one of the Assembly Elections & Redistricting
Committee's annual omnibus bills, containing various minor
and technical changes to the PRA. This bill repeals
obsolete provisions of the PRA. Additionally, this bill
makes corresponding changes by deleting cross-references to
one of those obsolete sections in another section of the
PRA.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/10/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Pan, Perea,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Fletcher, Furutani, Jeffries,
Norby, Olsen, V. Manuel P�rez
DLW:mk 8/25/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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