California 2015-2016 Regular Session Status: Enacted

AB 1544 — Political Reform Act of 1974: behested payments.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 756, Statutes of 2015.

Track this bill free

No card. One bill, free forever — alerts when it moves.

  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 July 15, 2015. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 72% · 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.

  • 2 sponsors

    1 primary, 1 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 4 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

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions, as defined. Under existing law, a payment made at the behest of a candidate for elective office is considered a contribution unless the payment is made for purposes unrelated to the candidate's candidacy. Under the act, a payment made by a government agency or an exempt nonprofit organization is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy. Likewise, a payment made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy, and such payments are required to be reported by a candidate who is an elected officer if they total $5,000 or more in the aggregate from a single source in a calendar year. For purposes of the act, an elected officer retains his or her status as a candidate for that office until the officer has terminated all of his or her committees and no longer holds the office, as specified. This bill would provide that the provision relating to payments made by a government agency exclusively governs a payment by a governmental agency that is made principally for legislative or governmental purposes at the behest of a candidate who is an elected officer, and consequently the payment would not be subject to the reporting requirement that applies generally to payments made for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 82015 of the Government Code proposed by both this bill and AB 10, which would become operative only if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 756, Statutes of 2015.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.

  4. In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling.

  5. Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2741.).

  6. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  7. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (September 9).

  8. Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 2510.)

  9. Joint Rule 61(a)(12) suspended. (Page 2510.)

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

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

  12. Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 2777.).

  13. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  14. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (August 24).

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

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

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

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

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

  20. From printer. May be heard in committee August 15.

  21. (Introduced pursuant to Joint Rule 54)

  22. Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

  • Jones · Cosponsor
  • Cooley · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

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

Sponsors (1)

  • Cooley

Co-sponsors (1)

  • Jones

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

3rd Reading AB1544 Cooley By Anderson Urgency Clause

Passed 37 Yea · 1 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 35002
Democratic 2100
Total 37102
% of votes cast 93%3%0%5%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Anderson — Yea
Beall — Yea
Hancock — Not Voting
Liu — Yea
Fuller — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Glazer — Yea
Allen — Yea
Cannella — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
De León — Yea
Runner — Yea
Hall — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Bates — Yea
Block — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Hill — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Huff — Yea
Lara — Yea
Leno — Yea
Leyva — Yea
Mendoza — Yea
Monning — Not Voting
Moorlach — Yea
Morrell — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Pan — Yea
Pavley — Yea
Roth — Yea
Vidak — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Wolk — Yea
Beth Gaines — Yea
Bill Berryhill — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Jackson, Corey A. Democratic Yea
McGuire, Mike Democratic Yea
Nguyen, Stephanie Democratic Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass

Passed 5 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5000
Total 5000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (5)
Member Party Vote
Anderson — Yea
Liu — Yea
Allen — Yea
Hertzberg — Yea
Hancock — Yea

Official roll call →

AB 1544 COOLEY Third Reading Urgency

Passed 74 Yea · 0 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 65006
Democratic 4000
Republican 5000
Total 74006
% of votes cast 93%0%0%8%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Achadjian — Yea
Baker — Yea
Bloom — Yea
Brough — Yea
Brown — Yea
Jones-Sawyer — Yea
Kim — Not Voting
Mathis — Yea
McCarty — Yea
Olsen — Yea
Perea — Yea
Quirk — Yea
Santiago — Yea
Ting — Yea
Wagner — Yea
Wilk — Yea
Eggman — Yea
Chávez — Yea
Cooper — Yea
Frazier — Yea
Gatto — Yea
Harper — Yea
Salas — Yea
Bonilla — Yea
Alejo — Yea
Low — Yea
Mayes — Yea
Medina — Yea
Obernolte — Yea
Rendon — Yea
Gomez — Yea
Gordon — Yea
Gray — Yea
Lopez — Yea
Holden — Yea
Levine — Yea
Linder — Not Voting
Maienschein — Yea
Burke — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Melendez — Not Voting
Campos — Yea
Chang — Yea
Bigelow — Yea
Chau — Yea
Chiu — Yea
Chu — Yea
Cooley — Yea
Dababneh — Yea
Daly — Yea
Dodd — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Nazarian — Yea
O'Donnell — Yea
Ridley-Thomas — Yea
Rodriguez — Yea
Steinorth — Yea
Thurmond — Yea
Waldron — Yea
Weber — Yea
Williams — Yea
Wood — Yea
Hadley — Not Voting
Beth Gaines — Yea
Cristina Garcia — Yea
Eduardo Garcia — Yea
Jim Patterson — Not Voting
Lorena Gonzalez — Yea
Mark Stone — Yea
Roger Hernández — Yea
Travis Allen — Not Voting
Bonta, Mia Democratic Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Gipson, Mike A. Democratic Yea
Irwin, Jacqui Democratic Yea
Dahle, Megan Republican Yea
Gallagher, James Republican Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Yea
Lackey, Tom Republican Yea

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 6 Yea · 0 Nay · 1 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 5001
Republican 1000
Total 6001
% of votes cast 86%0%0%14%
How each member voted (7)
Member Party Vote
Gatto — Yea
Gordon — Yea
Mullin — Yea
Perea — Yea
Ridley-Thomas — Yea
Travis Allen — Not Voting
Grove, Shannon 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 1544 do?
The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions, as defined. Under existing law, a payment made at the behest of a candidate for elective office is considered a contribution unless the payment is made for purposes unrelated to the candidate's candidacy. Under the act, a payment made by a government agency or an exempt nonprofit organization is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy. Likewise, a payment made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy, and such payments are required to be reported by a candidate who is an elected officer if they total $5,000 or more in the aggregate from a single source in a calendar year. For purposes of the act, an elected officer retains his or her status as a candidate for that office until the officer has terminated all of his or her committees and no longer holds the office, as specified. This bill would provide that the provision relating to payments made by a government agency exclusively governs a payment by a governmental agency that is made principally for legislative or governmental purposes at the behest of a candidate who is an elected officer, and consequently the payment would not be subject to the reporting requirement that applies generally to payments made for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 82015 of the Government Code proposed by both this bill and AB 10, which would become operative only if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Who sponsors AB 1544?
AB 1544 is sponsored by Jones and Cooley.
What is the current status of AB 1544?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced July 15, 2015. Enacted.
Where can I track AB 1544?
Track AB 1544 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on AB 1544

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 1544

Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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

Track this bill →