BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1692
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1692 (Garcia)
As Amended April 8, 2014
2/3 vote
ELECTIONS 6-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Fong, Donnelly, Mullin, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Hall, Perea, Rodriguez | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Limits the use of campaign funds and legal defense
funds to pay fines and penalties that are imposed for an
improper personal use of campaign funds. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Prohibits an expenditure of campaign funds to pay a fine,
penalty, judgment, or settlement relating to an expenditure of
campaign funds that was found to be improper because the
expenditure resulted in either of the following:
a) A personal benefit to the candidate or officer, and the
expenditure was not reasonably related to a political,
legislative, or governmental purpose; or,
b) A substantial personal benefit to the candidate or
officer, and the expenditure was not directly related to a
political, legislative, or governmental purpose.
2)Codifies a regulatory definition of the term "attorney's fees
and other related legal costs" for the purposes of provisions
of existing law that specify the permissible uses of funds
raised into a legal defense fund, and makes that definition
applicable to provisions of state law that restrict the use of
surplus campaign funds and that limit the circumstances under
which campaign funds may be used to pay fines, penalties,
AB 1692
Page 2
judgments, or settlements.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor absorbable costs to the Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC) for enforcement, potentially offset
to some extent by penalty revenues.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "To prevent campaign funds
from being used to pay for fines that result from the violation
of campaign fund laws (i.e. making expenditures intended for
private purposes), AB 1692 prohibits the use of campaign funds
to pay for the associated fines, penalties, judgments and
settlements."
Existing law generally prohibits campaign funds from being used
for personal expenses, and instead requires campaign
expenditures to be reasonably related to a political,
legislative, or governmental purpose. When a campaign
expenditure results in a personal benefit of more than $200 to
an individual who had the authority to approve the expenditure,
the expenditure must be directly related to a political,
legislative, or governmental purpose. These provisions are
intended to ensure that campaign funds are not used as a method
of personally enriching candidates and officers of political
committees.
Existing law permits candidates and elected officials to
establish a legal defense fund to defray attorney's fees and
other related legal costs under certain situations. The FPPC
has adopted a regulation to define the term "attorney's fees and
other related legal costs" for the purpose of expenditures from
legal defense funds. This bill codifies the definition in the
FPPC regulation.
Additionally, this bill adopts the FPPC's regulatory definition
of "attorney's fees" for the purposes of other provisions of the
Political Reform Act (PRA) that allow surplus campaign funds and
non-legal defense campaign funds to be used for attorney's fees.
California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9 in 1974,
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
AB 1692
Page 3
this bill, must further the purposes of the initiative and
require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0003399