Assembly Bill 481, recently signed by Governor Jerry Brown, is the latest amendment to the Political Reform Act of 1974. The changes are an effort to increase accountability and transparency by requiring faster disclosure of major contributions and independent expenditures occurring shortly before an election.

Definitions for late contributions and late independent expenditures have been expanded to include any aggregated contributions or expenditures of $1,000 or more made within 90 days before the date of the election. Disclosure of these late transactions is required within 24 hours of delivery. The law also requires advertisements to contain a disclosure of the two top contributors of the committee making the independent expenditure.

The Fair Political Practices Commission is currently revising the 2013 filing schedules in preparation of the January 1, 2013 effective date.

The city council’s rules committee has tentatively approved amendments to the city’s campaign finance laws that would increase the contribution limits for citywide offices from $500 to $1,000.

Limits for elections within districts would remain at $500.

If the entire city council approves the amendments, the new contribution limits would be in effect for the 2014 election cycle.

Seal of San Diego courtesy of Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

City Council has approved campaign reform measures for candidates and political committees. The new ordinance raises contribution limits to candidate campaigns from $500 to $700 in council races and from $1,000 to $1,300 in citywide races.

Beginning in 2015, public matching funds will be given for donations raised only within city limits. To be eligible for the city money, candidates will have to collect contributions from at least 200 people living in the district they hope to represent.

Beginning next year, candidates will also be eligible for increased matching funds, including four public dollars for every dollar contributed during the general election and two dollars for every dollar contributed during the primary. Donors will also be able to give to campaigns via text message.

The ordinance is scheduled for a final vote next week.

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Governor Brown has ordered a special election resulting from the resignation of Senator Doug LaMalfa.

The special election for the 4th Senate District will be held on January 8, 2013. The special election’s primary will be held on November 6, 2012.

Photo of the California State Capitol by Henri Sivonen on Wikipedia.

The Board of Supervisors has adopted an ordinance limiting campaign contributions for all county elective office candidates, and increasing public disclosure requirements for independent expenditures.

The new ordinance limits contributions to $3,900 per election cycle from a single source, including corporations, special interest groups, and individuals. The ordinance also requires all county candidates and independent expenditure committees to electronically report contributions and expenditures exceeding $10,000.

The ordinance goes into effect January 1, 2013.

Seal of San Bernardino County courtesy of Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Lobbyists and political committees will be paying more for registration when Governor Jerry Brown signs Senate Bill 1001 into law. The bill passed both houses with the two-thirds majority required to amend the state’s Political Reform Act. Political committees would pay $50 to register and lobbyists would pay $100 to register for a biennial session.

The increased revenue will help with maintaining California’s Cal-Access website, which tracks lobbying activity and campaign finance reports. Political committees currently have no registration fee and lobbyists currently pay $50 to register for the biennial session.

The Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved campaign contribution limits to take effect January 1, 2013. The ordinance subjects supervisors and countywide candidates to the same limits as state legislative candidates at $3,900 per election cycle from individuals and $7,800 from small contributor committees.

Contributions or expenditures of $10,000 or more to candidates and independent expenditure committees will now be disclosed electronically. Currently, state law requires disclosure for amounts greater than $50,000 for state and independent committees, but no requirements are in place for local races.

The ordinance goes before the board again Tuesday, August 28, 2012 for adoption.

Seal of San Bernardino County, California by Jetijones on Wikipedia.

California: “Bill would let voters impose greater disclosure requirements on political campaign spending” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

Hawaii: “Cashing In: Hawaii’s Top Ten Campaign Donors” by Lindsey Txakeeyang in the Honolulu Civil Beat.

Louisiana: “Lee Zurik Investigation: Politicians owe the state thousands in fines” by Lee Zurik on WVUE Fox 8 News.

Nebraska: “Campaign finance donation removed from state tax return” in the Lincoln Journal Star.

“Romney’s campaign coffers have $60 million more than Obama’s” by T.W. Farnam in the Washington Post.

“Ask Kim Barker Anything About Campaign Finance (a Reddit Chat)” by Amanda Zamora in ProPublica.

Governor Jerry Brown has told legislative leaders he intends to call a special session to deal with issues related to the federal healthcare law signed by President Obama in 2010.

The special session, planned for December, will give the governor and lawmakers an opportunity to keep working on healthcare proposals that have failed in the current session, which ends August 31, 2012.

Bills passed in a special session can take effect within 90 days of passage rather than at the beginning of the following calendar year.

Photo of the California State Capitol by Henri Sivonen in Wikipedia.

Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill allowing the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to enforce new campaign finance rules in the county. This is the first time the FPPC has been authorized by statute to contract with a county to enforce its campaign contribution limits.

County Supervisor Janice Rutherford originally proposed contracting with the FPPC to enforce a proposed county campaign law in lieu of creating a county ethics commission. Now with statutory permission in place, the county may proceed to craft a campaign finance law and negotiate contractual terms with the FPPC. Rutherford plans to bring her previous proposal to limit campaign contributions to $3,900 back before the board on August 21, 2012 for consideration.

Seal of San Bernardino County by Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Governor Jerry Brown has approved Assembly Bill 2452, which changes the criteria local government agencies must meet in order to require campaign and lobbying reports to be filed electronically. The bill was chaptered in the Political Reform Act as section 84615.

A local government agency requiring campaign committees and lobbyists to file electronically must provide a secure, standardized, and free filing system. In addition, if a local ordinance requires a statement or report to be filed electronically, local officials can no longer require an additional copy to be filed in paper format.

The law becomes effective January 1, 2013.

A citizens’ oversight committee to take on ethics-related issues will be studied by a committee of city council. City coalitions, including a group of organizations that are pushing a sunshine ordinance, are pushing for a city ethics commission in order to review issues having to do with campaign finance, regulation of lobbyists, and transparency.

Proponents say the ethics commission could be created by voters or the council. David Tristan, deputy executive director of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, will talk about what his commission does, and the forum will take up the possibility of creating an ethics commission in Santa Ana.

For information about the July 26, 2012 forum, email info@santaanacoalition.org.

The Fair Political Practices Commission has approved a change to simplify lobbyist reporting requirements for “drop-in” events.

The amendment to regulation 18640 allows appetizers and beverages to be excluded from the gift valuation for an official who does not stay for any meal or entertainment. The value of the gift is now any specific item, other than food, presented to the official and guest accompanying the official, if the official notifies the lobbyist in writing that the official did not stay for any meal or entertainment.

The amendment provides consistency with regulation 18946.2(e), which was previously amended to exclude the value of appetizers and drinks from the value of a gift received by an official who briefly appears or drops by an invitation-only event. Prior to the amendment, the value of the gift received was limited to the actual value of the food and beverages consumed by the official and guest, along with the value of any specific item received at the event.

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The San Diego Ethics Commission is meeting June 14, 2012 to discuss a prepared draft of municipal code amendments concerning campaign related issues, including one which pertains to the lobbying ordinance. Decision point 14 would amend applicable provisions of the lobbying ordinance to require the disclosure of contributions provided to, and fundraising performed for, committees that are primarily formed to support city candidates.

The draft amendments are available on the commission’s website.

The public is invited to provide comment on the proposed amendments at the June 14, 2012, meeting, which will be held at 5:00 p.m. in the committee room on the 12th floor of the city administration building. Correspondence may also be sent by e-mail at: ethicscommission@sandiego.gov.

Photo of the San Diego skyline by Tomcio77 on Wikipedia.