BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1442
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1442 (Lara) - As Amended: August 4, 2014
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to modify the
frequency and timing of campaign disclosure reporting to the
Secretary of State (SOS) and requires development of a new
system for filing reports electronically with the SOS.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SOS, in consultation with the Fair Political
Practices Commission (FPPC), to develop a web-based system for
electronic filing and public display of all records filed with
the SOS pursuant to the PRA, including statements of
organization, campaign statements, reports, registrations and
certifications.
2)Requires the system to provide data-driven and user-friendly
search capabilities and regular availability of all filings in
a downloadable, machine-ready format.
3)Requires elected state officers, candidates for elective state
office and their controlled committees, committees primarily
formed to support or oppose a candidate for elective state
office or statewide ballot measures, and state general purpose
committees to file quarterly, instead of semi-annual campaign
statements in accordance with a specified schedule.
4)States legislative intent to enact legislation providing for
monthly, instead of quarterly filing of campaign statements
when the electronic filing system is operational.
5)Reduces, from two to one, the number of pre-election reports
to be filed by committees required to file quarterly per the
above.
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6)Eliminates requirements for committees to file certain special
reports, including supplemental pre-election statements,
supplemental independent expenditure reports, and odd-numbered
year reports.
7)Requires contributions and independent expenditures of $1,000
or more that are made on election day to be reported within 24
hours of the time that the contribution or expenditure is
made. (Currently law requires such reporting for contributions
and expenditures made in the 90 days before election day.)
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Developing a new campaign filing system is preliminarily
estimated to cost in the range of $12 million to $15 million
(General Fund), with ongoing costs of around $1.7 million to
operate and maintain the system.
2)The net increase in filed reports will increase the SOS's
workload for processing these documents, requiring three to
four additional positions at an annual cost of $300,000 to
$400,000.
3)The SOS indicates that fulfilling legislative intent for
monthly, instead of quarterly filing of campaign reports, even
with a new system in place, will require additional staff
related to additional processing, reviewing, and fine
assessment.
4)The FPPC will incur General Fund costs of $150,000 for new
regulations, revision to forms and manuals, and increased
requests for advice.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Current law requires candidates and committees
generally 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
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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 the
year, based on the particular campaign finance activity of the
candidate or committee.
2)Purpose . This bill requires elective state officers,
candidates for elective state office, and other state
committees to file quarterly reports, instead of semi-annual
reports, while reducing the number of pre-election reports to
one such report per election (the new quarterly reports would,
in effect, replace the first pre-election report that is
required to be filed under existing law). For many state
candidates and committees, this change will result in a small
increase in the number of reports that must be filed over a
given period of time. Some state candidates and committees
will file fewer campaign reports under this bill, however, due
to the elimination of certain special activity-based reports.
According to the author, "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."
3)Cal-Access . Created in 1999, Cal-Access is a database and
filing system the SOS has used to make much of the lobbying
and campaign finance information available online at no cost
to users. In November 2011, the Cal-Access system went down,
and the system was unavailable for most of the month of
December.
While the office has funding to maintain the existing hardware
and software, according to the SOS, "finding parts and
qualified people to do the maintenance on such outdated
equipment has been increasingly difficult... The cost of an
entirely new system and the speed with which it can be
deployed will depend on many factors and ultimately can only
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be borne out through the state's IT procurement process, which
history has shown to be lengthy and expensive."
4)Prior Legislation . SB 3 (Yee & Lieu) of 2013, which in part
required the SOS to develop a feasibility study report to
outline the technology requirements and the costs of a new
statewide electronic campaign filing and disclosure system,
was vetoed. In his veto message, the Governor argued that
other provisions of the bill were "costly and unnecessary,"
but also acknowledged that the current campaign filing and
disclosure system needed to be upgraded.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081