California 2017-2018 Regular Session Status: Enacted

AB 2155 — Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 777, Statutes of 2018.

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

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 12, 2018. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 70% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 6 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. Existing law under the act requires advertisements to include prescribed disclosure statements, and defines an advertisement for these purposes. Existing law excludes a number of communications from the definition of advertisement, including electronic media communications for which the inclusion of specified disclosures regarding the funding of the communication is impractical or incompatible with the technology used. Existing law also defines "top contributors" for these purposes to mean the persons from whom a committee paying for an advertisement has received its three highest cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more, and provides that if two or more contributors of identical amounts qualify as top contributors, the most recent contributor shall be listed in disclosures of top contributors for advertisements paid for by committees. Existing law specifies the formatting of disclosures for advertisements that are disseminated as a video, print advertisements, and electronic media advertisements. This bill would exclude additional types of communications from the definition of advertisement, including certain electronic media communications requested by the recipient, communications solicited by the recipient, or communications for which inclusion of disclosures would be impracticable or severely interfere with the committee's ability to convey the intended message, as determined by regulations of the Fair Political Practices Commission. The bill would delete the exemption from the definition of advertisement for electronic media communications for which the inclusion of disclosures would be impractical or incompatible with the technology used. The bill would require that a tie in the determination of top contributors be resolved by determining the contributor who made the most recent contribution. For committee advertisements that support or oppose a candidate, the bill would exclude certain nonprofit entities and persons who have prohibited the use of their contributions to support or oppose candidates from the determination of top contributors. The bill would make specified changes to the formatting requirements for disclosures included in advertisements that are disseminated as a video, print advertisements, and electronic media advertisements. The bill would exclude email messages from the disclosure and disclosure formatting requirements applicable to electronic media, except for requirements relating to the size, placement, and color of specified disclosures. (2) Existing law defines an "expenditure" for purposes of the act to include any monetary or non-monetary payment made by specified persons that is used for communications that expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate or candidates, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified ballot measure. Existing law prohibits a candidate, candidate controlled committee, established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, or political party committee from sending a mass mailing or a mass electronic mailing unless it discloses specified information, and defines "mass electronic mailing" to mean sending more than 200 substantially similar pieces of electronic mail within a calendar month. Existing law prohibits a candidate, candidate controlled committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for certain telephone calls that are similar in nature and aggregate 500 or more in number unless specified disclosures are made to the recipient of the call. Existing law prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked for a contribution to any other particular committee, ballot measure, or candidate unless the contribution is fully disclosed, as specified. This bill would prohibit the Commission from interpreting or construing these provisions, and the provisions described above relating to advertisement disclosures, as allowing the Commission to establish any threshold in quantity or amount that are not specified in those provisions. (3) Existing law under the act requires certain advertisements paid for by committees to disclose that it is paid for by the committee, by including in the advertisement the words "Paid for by," followed by the name of the committee, as specified. This bill would require those advertisements to instead use the words "Ad paid for by," but would continue to allow an advertisement that is a printed letter, Internet Web site, or email message to use the words "Paid for by." Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84504.2 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1239 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1239 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84504.3 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2188 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2188 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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. 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 777, Statutes of 2018.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12 p.m.

  4. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 66. Noes 6.).

  5. Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6773.)

  6. In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.

  7. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 5. Page 5839.).

  8. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  9. Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  10. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  11. From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.

  12. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  13. From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  14. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

  15. Referred to Com. on E. & C.A.

  16. In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

  17. Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 5437.)

  18. Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.

  19. From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 23).

  20. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  21. Read second time and amended.

  22. From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 25).

  23. In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  24. Re-referred to Com. on E. & R.

  25. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended.

  26. Re-referred to Com. on E. & R.

  27. From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended.

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

  29. From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.

  30. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

  • Mullin · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 121 not signed on · 4 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Mullin

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (121)

121 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 121 →

"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

AB 2155 MULLIN Concurrence in Senate Amendments

Passed 66 Yea · 6 Nay · 8 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 48406
Democratic 16000
Republican 2202
Total 66608
% of votes cast 83%8%0%10%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Acosta — Yea
Baker — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Brough — Nay
Kiley — Not Voting
Low — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
Mathis — Not Voting
Quirk — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Waldron — Nay
Wood — Yea
Chávez — Not Voting
Frazier — Yea
Gloria — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Medina — Yea
Gonzalez Fletcher — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Salas — Yea
Chau — Yea
Chu — Yea
Daly — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Thurmond — Yea
Ting — Yea
Weber — Yea
Gray — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Rivas — Yea
Harper — Nay
Burke — Yea
Holden — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Kamlager-Dove — Not Voting
Levine — Yea
Fong — Not Voting
McCarty — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Obernolte — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Steinorth — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Not Voting
Mark Stone — Yea
Travis Allen — Nay
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Gabriel, Jesse Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Not Voting
Choi, Steven S. Republican Nay
Dahle, Megan Republican Nay
Flora, Heath Republican Not Voting
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea

Official roll call →

3rd Reading AB2155 Mullin By Hill

Passed 28 Yea · 5 Nay · 7 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 24506
Democratic 4001
Total 28507
% of votes cast 70%13%0%18%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Anderson — Nay
Bradford — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Lara — Yea
Morrell — Nay
Pan — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Vidak — Nay
Wilk — Not Voting
Delgado — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Fuller — Not Voting
Cannella — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Chang — Yea
Allen — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Portantino — Yea
Hill — Yea
De León — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Monning — Yea
Roth — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Bates — Nay
Beall — Yea
Moorlach — Not Voting
Nielsen — Not Voting
Beth Gaines — Not Voting
Bill Berryhill — Not Voting
Mark Stone — Nay
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Not Voting
Stern, Henry I. Democratic Yea
Wiener, Scott D. Democratic Yea

Official roll call →

AB 2155 MULLIN Consent Calendar Second Day

Passed 78 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 57000
Democratic 15000
Republican 6000
Total 78000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (78)
Member Party Vote
Acosta — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Brough — Yea
Harper — Yea
Kamlager-Dove — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Ting — Yea
Voepel — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Chau — Yea
Low — Yea
Gonzalez Fletcher — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Fong — Yea
Salas — Yea
Medina — Yea
Chu — Yea
Melendez — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Thurmond — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Gray — Yea
Holden — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Kiley — Yea
Levine — Yea
Burke — Yea
Maienschein — Yea
McCarty — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Chávez — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Obernolte — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Baker — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Steinorth — Yea
Weber — Yea
Wood — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Cunningham — Yea
Daly — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Gloria — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Travis Allen — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Aguiar-Curry, Cecilia M. Democratic Yea
Arambula, Joaquin Democratic Yea
Berman, Marc Democratic Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Caballero, Anna M. Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Cervantes, Sabrina Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Grayson, Timothy S. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Kalra, Ash Democratic Yea
Limón, Monique Democratic Yea
Muratsuchi, Al Democratic Yea
Quirk-Silva, Sharon Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Chen, Phillip Republican Yea
Choi, Steven S. Republican Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Flora, Heath Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass. To Consent Calendar.

Passed 16 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 13000
Democratic 2001
Republican 1000
Total 16001
% of votes cast 94%0%0%6%
How each member voted (17)
Member Party Vote
Bigelow — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Mathis — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
Friedman — Yea
Fong — Yea
Gonzalez Fletcher — Yea
Obernolte — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Chau — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Wendy Carrillo — Yea
Bonta, Mia Democratic Not Voting
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Reyes, Eloise Gómez Democratic Yea
Gallagher, James Republican 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 AB 2155 do?
(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. Existing law under the act requires advertisements to include prescribed disclosure statements, and defines an advertisement for these purposes. Existing law excludes a number of communications from the definition of advertisement, including electronic media communications for which the inclusion of specified disclosures regarding the funding of the communication is impractical or incompatible with the technology used. Existing law also defines "top contributors" for these purposes to mean the persons from whom a committee paying for an advertisement has received its three highest cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more, and provides that if two or more contributors of identical amounts qualify as top contributors, the most recent contributor shall be listed in disclosures of top contributors for advertisements paid for by committees. Existing law specifies the formatting of disclosures for advertisements that are disseminated as a video, print advertisements, and electronic media advertisements. This bill would exclude additional types of communications from the definition of advertisement, including certain electronic media communications requested by the recipient, communications solicited by the recipient, or communications for which inclusion of disclosures would be impracticable or severely interfere with the committee's ability to convey the intended message, as determined by regulations of the Fair Political Practices Commission. The bill would delete the exemption from the definition of advertisement for electronic media communications for which the inclusion of disclosures would be impractical or incompatible with the technology used. The bill would require that a tie in the determination of top contributors be resolved by determining the contributor who made the most recent contribution. For committee advertisements that support or oppose a candidate, the bill would exclude certain nonprofit entities and persons who have prohibited the use of their contributions to support or oppose candidates from the determination of top contributors. The bill would make specified changes to the formatting requirements for disclosures included in advertisements that are disseminated as a video, print advertisements, and electronic media advertisements. The bill would exclude email messages from the disclosure and disclosure formatting requirements applicable to electronic media, except for requirements relating to the size, placement, and color of specified disclosures. (2) Existing law defines an "expenditure" for purposes of the act to include any monetary or non-monetary payment made by specified persons that is used for communications that expressly advocate the nomination, election, or defeat of a candidate or candidates, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified ballot measure. Existing law prohibits a candidate, candidate controlled committee, established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, or political party committee from sending a mass mailing or a mass electronic mailing unless it discloses specified information, and defines "mass electronic mailing" to mean sending more than 200 substantially similar pieces of electronic mail within a calendar month. Existing law prohibits a candidate, candidate controlled committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for certain telephone calls that are similar in nature and aggregate 500 or more in number unless specified disclosures are made to the recipient of the call. Existing law prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked for a contribution to any other particular committee, ballot measure, or candidate unless the contribution is fully disclosed, as specified. This bill would prohibit the Commission from interpreting or construing these provisions, and the provisions described above relating to advertisement disclosures, as allowing the Commission to establish any threshold in quantity or amount that are not specified in those provisions. (3) Existing law under the act requires certain advertisements paid for by committees to disclose that it is paid for by the committee, by including in the advertisement the words "Paid for by," followed by the name of the committee, as specified. This bill would require those advertisements to instead use the words "Ad paid for by," but would continue to allow an advertisement that is a printed letter, Internet Web site, or email message to use the words "Paid for by." Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84504.2 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1239 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1239 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84504.3 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2188 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2188 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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. 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Who sponsors AB 2155?
AB 2155 is sponsored by Mullin.
What is the current status of AB 2155?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 12, 2018. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 2155?
Track AB 2155 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on AB 2155

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of AB 2155

Last checked for changes 2 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →