California 2013-2014 Regular Session Status: Passed Senate

SB 2 — Political Reform Act of 1974.

Last action — From Assembly without further action.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed Assembly
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill died with 2013-2014 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Senate” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.

This bill is no longer active — its legislative session has ended, so there is no live prognosis. It would have to be reintroduced in the current session to move again.

Summary

(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. The act also imposes administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties for violations of its provisions. This bill would increase certain administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties imposed by the act, as specified. (2) The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements. In addition to other penalties imposed by the act, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement can be imposed on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would require that television, video, or audio broadcast advertisements supporting or opposing a candidate or soliciting contributions in support of that purpose that are authorized by a candidate include a specified disclosure statement made by the candidate. The bill would increase the maximum penalty for a violation of these provisions to 6 times the amount of the costs of the advertisement. (3) The act regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would additionally require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer as a result of a payment made by a 3rd party be designated by an "**," and would require the notice to voters included on a slate mailer be revised to describe this new requirement. The bill would require that a slate mailer that is produced in a language other than English provide the notice to voters in that same language. The bill would require that a slate mailer provide the notice in both English and another language if a substantial portion of a slate mailer is produced in the other language. (4) The act requires a ballot measure committee, within 30 days of designating the numerical order of propositions appearing on the ballot, to identify itself as committee for or against that numbered proposition in all required references. This bill would reduce the amount of time in which a ballot measure committee must reference itself as a committee for or against a numbered proposition to within 10 days of designating the numerical order of propositions. (5) The act makes a knowing or willful violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (6) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. From Assembly without further action.

  2. Died on the inactive file.

  3. Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez.

  4. Ordered to third reading.

  5. From inactive file.

  6. Notice of intention to remove from inactive file given by Assembly Member Atkins.

  7. Ordered to inactive file on request of Assembly Member Atkins.

  8. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  9. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (August 21).

  10. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  11. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.) (August 13). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  12. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E. & R.

  13. Referred to Com. on E. & R.

  14. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  15. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 28. Noes 11. Page 1154.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  16. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  17. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 1004.) (May 23).

  18. Set for hearing May 23.

  19. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  20. Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  21. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  22. Set for hearing May 13.

  23. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1. Page 748.) (April 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  24. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

  25. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

  26. Set for hearing April 30.

  27. Re-referred to Coms. on E. & C.A. and E., U., & C.

  28. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS.

  29. Referred to Com. on RLS.

  30. From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 3.

  31. Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • Lieu · Primary
  • Yee · Cosponsor

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 1 co-sponsors · 120 not signed on · 2 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Lieu

Co-sponsors (1)

  • Yee

Not signed on (120)

120 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 120 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Do pass.

Passed 12 Yea · 5 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 11500
Democratic 1000
Total 12500
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (17)
Member Party Vote
Bradford — Yea
Linder — Nay
Quirk — Yea
Weber — Yea
Hall — Yea
Bocanegra — Yea
Holden — Yea
Pan — Yea
Gatto — Yea
Gomez — Yea
Campos — Yea
Harkey — Nay
Bigelow — Nay
Donnelly — Nay
Eggman — Yea
Wagner — Nay
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 28 Yea · 11 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 251100
Democratic 3000
Total 281100
% of votes cast 72%28%0%0%
How each member voted (39)
Member Party Vote
Anderson — Nay
Beall — Yea
Hill — Yea
Huff — Nay
Knight — Nay
Lieu — Yea
Price — Yea
Torres — Yea
Walters — Nay
Corbett — Yea
Hancock — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
De León — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Block — Yea
Lara — Yea
Leno — Yea
Liu — Yea
Monning — Yea
Pavley — Yea
Roth — Yea
Steinberg — Yea
Wolk — Yea
Wright — Yea
Emmerson — Nay
Cannella — Nay
Wyland — Nay
Nielsen — Nay
Correa — Yea
Evans — Yea
DeSaulnier — Yea
Fuller — Nay
Galgiani — Yea
Yee — Yea
Beth Gaines — Nay
Bill Berryhill — Nay
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 5 Yea · 2 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 4200
Democratic 1000
Total 5200
% of votes cast 71%29%0%0%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Lara — Yea
Steinberg — Yea
Walters — Nay
De León — Yea
Hill — Yea
Beth Gaines — Nay
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

Subjects

elections
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 2 do?
(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. The act also imposes administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties for violations of its provisions. This bill would increase certain administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties imposed by the act, as specified. (2) The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements. In addition to other penalties imposed by the act, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement can be imposed on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would require that television, video, or audio broadcast advertisements supporting or opposing a candidate or soliciting contributions in support of that purpose that are authorized by a candidate include a specified disclosure statement made by the candidate. The bill would increase the maximum penalty for a violation of these provisions to 6 times the amount of the costs of the advertisement. (3) The act regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would additionally require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer as a result of a payment made by a 3rd party be designated by an "**," and would require the notice to voters included on a slate mailer be revised to describe this new requirement. The bill would require that a slate mailer that is produced in a language other than English provide the notice to voters in that same language. The bill would require that a slate mailer provide the notice in both English and another language if a substantial portion of a slate mailer is produced in the other language. (4) The act requires a ballot measure committee, within 30 days of designating the numerical order of propositions appearing on the ballot, to identify itself as committee for or against that numbered proposition in all required references. This bill would reduce the amount of time in which a ballot measure committee must reference itself as a committee for or against a numbered proposition to within 10 days of designating the numerical order of propositions. (5) The act makes a knowing or willful violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (6) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Who sponsors SB 2?
SB 2 is sponsored by Lieu and Yee.
What is the current status of SB 2?
This bill died with 2013-2014 Regular Session. It reached “Passed Senate” and never advanced before the session ended, so it can no longer move — a new version would have to be reintroduced in the current session.
Where can I track SB 2?
Track SB 2 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

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