Political Reform Act of 1974.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the regulation of political campaign financing, including the reporting and disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures. Under the act, elected officers, candidates for elective office, and campaign committees are required to file periodic campaign statements that disclose specified information for specified reporting periods, including the amount of contributions and loans received, the amount of expenditures made, and the identities of donors and recipients of expenditures. This bill would require that a campaign statement filed by a committee primarily formed for the qualification or support of, or opposition to, an initiative or ballot measure also disclose the amount of each expenditure made in connection with a poll or survey used in a communication to influence voters regarding the qualification or passage of an initiative or ballot measure, as well as the amount of each expenditure made in connection with a poll or survey used to gauge the public's opinion of the ballot title and summary of an initiative or ballot measure. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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 and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.