BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1442 HEARING DATE: 4/22/14
AUTHOR: LARA ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 3/27/14
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act: campaign statements: quarterly filing
DESCRIPTION
Existing law , pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA),
requires candidates, political committees, and slate mail
organizations to file specified periodic and activity-based
campaign finance reports, including semiannual statements,
pre-election statements, supplemental pre-election statements,
and late contribution/expenditure reports that include specified
campaign finance information.
This bill would require elected state officers, candidates for
elective state office, and committees primarily formed to
support or oppose a candidate for elective state office or one
or more statewide ballot measures to file quarterly statements
each year instead of semiannual statements. Specifically, an
elected state officer, a candidate for elective state office, or
a recipient committee that is primarily formed to support or
oppose a candidate for elective state office or one or more
statewide ballot measures would file quarterly campaign
statements each year, as follows:
No later than April 7 for the period commencing January 1 and
ending March 31.
No later than July 31 for the period commencing April 1 and
ending June 30.
No later than October 7 for the period commencing July 1 and
ending September 30.
No later than January 31 for the period commencing October 1
and ending December 31.
This bill also requires independent expenditure committees and
"major donor" committees that are primarily formed to support or
oppose a candidate for elective state office or one or more
statewide ballot measures to file quarterly campaign statements
pursuant to the aforementioned schedule unless the committee has
not made contributions or independent expenditures during the
reporting period.
This bill would recast or repeal other specified reporting
requirements, including supplemental pre-election statements,
supplemental independent expenditure reports, and odd-numbered
year reports in order to conform to the proposed quarterly
reporting schedule.
Existing law defines "late contributions" and "late independent
expenditures" to include certain contributions and independent
expenditures that are made within 90 days before the date of the
election.
This bill would revise these definitions to specify that those
terms also include contributions and independent expenditures
that are made on the date of the election.
BACKGROUND
Filing Schedules . Under existing law, candidates and committees
generally are required to file regular campaign disclosure
reports semi-annually. Candidates generally are required to
file two pre-election campaign statements for any election where
they will appear on the ballot, and certain non-candidate
committees similarly must file pre-election reports. When
candidates and committees are required to file these
pre-election reports, they generally must also file late
contribution reports, and late independent expenditure reports,
disclosing within 24-hours any contributions made or received
and independent expenditures made of $1,000 or more in the last
90 days before the election (election cycle). Candidates and
committees can also be required to file additional special
campaign reports at other times of year, based on the particular
campaign finance activity of the candidate or committee.
Periodic and Activity-Based Reports . Under the PRA, there are
two general types of reporting requirements. The first type of
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report is referred to as a periodic report. Periodic reports
must be filed according to a specified time schedule for all
similarly-situated candidates and committees, regardless of the
amount of campaign activity during the period of time covered by
the report. These reports generally include all campaign
activity (contributions, loans, expenditures, etc.) that
occurred over a specified period of time. Semi-annual reports
and pre-election reports are two examples of periodic reports
that are required under the PRA.
The second type of report that the PRA requires is an
activity-based report. An activity-based report is triggered
when a candidate or committee has campaign activity that meets
or exceeds a specific dollar threshold. Election cycle 24-hour
reports for contributions of $1,000 or more and non-election
cycle 10-business day reports of contributions of $5,000 or more
are examples of activity-based reports.
Major Donor Committees . The PRA defines "committee" to include
recipient committees, independent expenditure committees, and
"any person or combination of persons who directly or indirectly
makes contributions totaling $10,000 or more in a calendar year
to or at the behest of candidates or committees." These last
groups of committees are commonly referred to as "major donor"
committees since they use their own funds to make political
contributions rather than raising money from other sources.
COMMENTS
1.According to the Author : This bill is part of a package of
bills that are aimed at strengthening the relationship between
the citizens of California and their state government - the
California Accountability in Public Service Act (CAPS Act).
Recent events have raised significant questions about the
transparency and accountability of rules and political
practices in state government. This package of bills is the
most significant change to political practices in California
in at least twenty years. SB 1442 is a part of the CAPS Act
and replaces semi-annual reporting statements with quarterly
filing reports. This doubles the amount of disclosure
currently provided to the public. This will streamline and
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consolidate the current reporting process without losing
transparency.
Transparency is one key to restoring public trust in government.
The current campaign filing system does not provide enough
timely disclosure of campaign activity and the number of
reports required makes it more difficult for the public to
access the information. A new system based on quarterly
filing for state officials accomplishes increased disclosure
with fewer reporting statements.
2.Related Legislation . SB 1102 (Padilla) which is also before
this committee, would lower the reporting threshold for
24-hour election cycle reports from $1,000 to $100; lower the
reporting threshold for non-election cycle reports from $5,000
to $100; and, reduce the deadline for the non-election cycle
reports from 10 business days of receipt of the contribution
to five days.
3.Technical Amendments . This bill contains some technical and
other drafting errors that the author's staff has indicated
will be addressed in the Appropriations Committee.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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