AB 700 — Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign disclosures.

Summary

(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act requires a committee that supports or opposes ballot measures to name and identify itself using a name or phrase that clearly identifies the economic or other special interests of its major donors of $50,000 or more. The act also requires that if the major donors share a common employer, the identity of the employer be disclosed. This bill would repeal these provisions. (2) The act defines "expenditure" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a third party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. This bill would describe circumstances in which a payment would be made for political purposes within the meaning of the definition of "expenditure." (3) The act prohibits a candidate, committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for specified telephone calls that advocate support of, or opposition to, a candidate, ballot measure, or both, unless the name of the organization that authorized or paid for the call is disclosed to the recipient of the call during the course of each call. This bill would instead make these requirements applicable to a candidate, a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, a political party committee, and a slate mailer organization that expends campaign funds to pay for such telephone calls. (4) The act also requires advertisements, as defined, to include prescribed disclosure statements, including, among others, a requirement that the disclosure statements include the names of the persons who made the 2 highest cumulative contributions, as defined, to the committee paying for the advertisement. This bill would repeal and recast provisions of the act relating to advertisement disclosure statements. Among those changes, this bill would revise the definition of "advertisement" to exclude a number of communications, including communications paid for by a person who is not a committee and communications that involve wearing apparel, sky writing, and certain electronic media communications, as specified. The bill would prohibit specified entities from sending a mass electronic mailing, as defined, unless the name of the candidate or committee are shown in the electronic mailing preceded by the words "Paid for by" in at least the same size font as a majority of the text in the mass electronic mailing. The bill would also replace existing advertisement disclosure statements with newly prescribed disclosure statements that identify the name of the committee paying for the advertisement and the top contributors to the committee paying for the advertisement. The bill would define "top contributors" for purposes of these provisions as the persons from whom the committee paying for the advertisement received its 3 highest cumulative contributions, as specified. The bill would exempt certain committees, including committees that make independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year, from the requirement to disclose the top contributors in advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would also prescribe location and format criteria for the disclosure statements that are specific to radio and telephone, television and video, print, and electronic media advertisements. (5) The act prohibits a person from making a contribution as an intermediary on behalf of another person without disclosing to the recipient of the contribution specified information about both the intermediary and the source of the contribution. The act also prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed to a particular candidate unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with those requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. This bill would revise the latter provision to prohibit a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked for a contribution to another committee, ballot measure, or candidate, unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with the requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. The bill would also describe circumstances in which a contribution is deemed to be earmarked. (6) Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, 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. (7) 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

• Amended 08/17/16 - Amended Senate Current pdf August 17, 2016
• Amended 06/30/16 - Amended Senate pdf June 30, 2016
• Amended 06/20/16 - Amended Senate pdf June 20, 2016
• Amended 01/14/16 - Amended Assembly pdf January 14, 2016
• Amended 01/12/16 - Amended Assembly pdf January 12, 2016
• Amended 01/07/16 - Amended Assembly pdf January 07, 2016
• Amended 05/21/15 - Amended Assembly pdf May 21, 2015
• Amended 04/14/15 - Amended Assembly pdf April 14, 2015
• Introduced 02/25/15 - Introduced pdf February 25, 2015
• AB700 View text html

Action History

1. August 31, 2016

   Read third time. Refused passage. (Ayes 26. Noes 11. Page 5601.).

2. August 30, 2016

   Reconsideration granted. (Ayes 27. Noes 8. Page 5521.)

3. August 30, 2016

   Motion to reconsider made by Senator Allen.

4. August 30, 2016

   Read third time. Refused passage. (Ayes 26. Noes 12. Page 5520.).

5. August 17, 2016

   Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading.

6. August 16, 2016

   From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 11).

7. August 01, 2016

   In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

8. June 30, 2016

   Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

9. June 29, 2016

   From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 21).

10. June 20, 2016

    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.

11. February 04, 2016

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

12. January 27, 2016

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

13. January 27, 2016

    Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 60. Noes 15. Page 3499.)

14. January 21, 2016

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

15. January 21, 2016

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 0.) (January 21).

16. January 21, 2016

    In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

17. January 15, 2016

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

18. January 14, 2016

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

19. January 13, 2016

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

20. January 12, 2016

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

21. January 11, 2016

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

22. January 07, 2016

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

23. May 22, 2015

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

24. May 21, 2015

    Read second time and amended.

25. May 20, 2015

    From committee: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (May 20).

26. April 29, 2015

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

27. April 15, 2015

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

28. April 14, 2015

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

29. March 09, 2015

    Referred to Com. on E. & R.

30. February 26, 2015

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 28.

31. February 25, 2015

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Gomez · Primary
• Levine · Cosponsor

Votes

Subjects