California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill extending automatic voting by mail and three bills increasing election transparency and integrity.

The marquee bill signed Monday, Assembly Bill 31, requires county elections officials to mail a ballot to every active registered voter for all elections.

The bill additionally extended the window for mail ballots to be sent to elections offices to seven days after the election.

California automatically sent ballots to voters the starting in early days of the pandemic.

During the 2020 presidential election, California saw a record-breaking 70% participation, the highest voter turnout since 1952.

Assembly Bill 319 forbids foreign governments or foreign principals from making a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure in connection with a state or local ballot measure or election.

Assembly Bill 1367 would make a person who uses campaign funds in a manner that violates the provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 and results in an egregious personal benefit liable in an administrative or civil action brought by the commission for an amount of up to 2 times the amount of the unlawful expenditure.

Senate Bill 686 requires a limited liability company that qualified as a committee or a sponsor of a committee under the act, as specified, to file a statement of members with the Secretary of State.

The bill requires the statement to include a list of all persons who have a membership interest in the LLC of at least 10% or who have made a capital contribution of at least $10,000 to the LLC after it qualified as a committee or sponsor of a committee, or within the 12 months before it qualified.

These bills become effective January 1, 2022.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has announced that on October 21 the Commission will consider proposed regulations concerning behested payment reporting.

The regulation seeks to shed light on a growing problem occurring in California elections, large donations being made to candidate-controlled charities in place of trackable political contributions.

The regulation, prospectively codified as § 18424.3, would increase the reporting requirements to the behested payment report.

The regulations will require more detailed disclosures as to the name of the payor and the “single source” of the behested payment.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has defeated the recall effort utilizing a campaign focused on his pandemic efforts and threats of “Trumpism.”

Newsom had a large lead entering the final day of voting due to the enormous turnout of mail-in voters and Newsom’s unrestricted campaign fundraising.

In February, California passed a bill mandating all active registered voters be sent a ballot each election.

This increased voter turnout brought relief to many Democrats who feared voter apathy would allow Republican front-runner, Larry Elder, to win the governorship.

The recall election cost California roughly $300 million, a price tag officials are hoping to reduce by next year when Newsom faces reelection.

The California Legislature adjourned late last week, just in time for today’s recall election of Gov. Newsom.

The trifecta government passed close to 900 bills this year as Democratic lawmakers utilized a budget surplus to enact many progressive policies such as police reform, health care for undocumented immigrants, and climate change.

Assembly bills 319 and 1367 are on Newsom’s desk awaiting signature.

AB 319 prevents a foreign government or principal from making a contribution or expenditure to a candidate for state or local office.

While AB 1367, raises the penalty for a person who uses campaign funds that results in an egregious personal benefit to an amount up to three times the amount of the unlawful expenditure.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) met on July 15 to discuss new regulations concerning behested payments.

A campaign finance watchdog report noted in a report there has be a substantial rise in donations to charities that have a connection to a candidate or committee via behested payments.

Currently, there are no reporting requirements if a donation is given to a charity that has ties with a candidate or committee.

The pending regulations seek to shed light on who is making these donations and what candidate or committee is tied to the charity receiving the donation.

The FPPC only has the regulatory authority to make rules that require disclosure, any rules prohibiting such donations must come from the Legislature.

Formal voting and hearings over the proposed regulations are set to occur in September.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced the recall campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom had enough signatures to move forward.

The recall effort was able to collect 1,719,900 signatures for the election.

The election will most likely take place in October or November 2021.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced that the Cal-Access Replacement System, scheduled to roll out June 30, will be postponed.

The replacement system seeks to update the current paper driven system to an electronic system.

The city of San Diego has declined to renew their contract with Netfile, the city’s longtime online campaign disclosure vendor.

There have been reports that online campaign disclosures will be available for eFile-SD by June 2021.

During the outage of the reporting site, people wishing to file can call the office and request copies of the disclosure filings in PDF format.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order calling for a special election on August 31 to fill the vacancy in Assembly District 18.

Former Rep. Rob Bonta was sworn in as California’s attorney general on April 23.

The date of the special primary is set for June 29.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) issued an opinion finding the state’s new limits on contributions to local candidates passed in Assembly Bill 571 for jurisdictions that otherwise do not have a limit are not aggregated with contributions made before the effective date of the bill.

FPPC Opinion No. O-21-001 reverses earlier informal advice from staff stating contributions received before the January 1 effective date were aggregated for purposes of the new default limit of $4,900 per election.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has expanded a ban on political consultants lobbying him and his administration to include unpaid advisers, based on recommendations from the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

No consultant, whether paid or not, will be permitted to leverage their relationship with the governor to unduly benefit a client in connection with legislative or administrative actions.

Under the new rules, appointees with a high level of influence over administration policy decisions are prohibited from accepting gifts from lobbyists.

The rule applies to the governor, his wife, senior officials, policy advisers, and any equivalent position.

The new rules also prohibit influential appointees from working on specific bills in their first two years if they worked on substantially similar bills in the two years prior to joining the Newsom administration.

It will apply to appointees who joined the administration after March 1, 2021.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring a special election for the 54th Assembly District on July 20.

The seat was vacated by Sydney Kamlager who was voted to Senate District 30.

The special primary election will be held on May 18.

The City Ethics Commission announced the mandatory annual adjustments to limits and thresholds in the city’s campaign finance laws.

The new limits apply beginning with any city election for which the fundraising window opens after March 1, 2021.

The per person contribution limits for mayor, city attorney, and controller have been raised to $1,600.

The adjusted limits do not apply to elections for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) updated their regulations regarding local campaign contribution limits due to Assembly 571.

The updates will add language to the regulations regarding candidates for elective city or county offices subject to the state contribution limits.

Those local candidates and their committees will now be subject to the regulations regarding reporting of contributions and expenditures, establishing campaign accounts, solicitation of funds, loans, terminations, and other regulations related to campaign finance.

These regulations do not apply to candidates for an elective city or county office or the candidate’s controlled committee prior to January 1, 2021.