Political Reform Act of 1974: contributions.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates contributions to public officials and also regulates conflicts of interests on the part of public officials while carrying out their respective duties. Among its provisions, the act prohibits an officer of an agency from accepting, soliciting, or directing a contribution of more than $250 from a party or participant in a proceeding involving a license, permit, or other entitlement for use while that proceeding is pending before the agency and for 3 months following the final decision in the proceeding. For these purposes, "officer" is defined to include any elected or appointed officer of the agency. This bill would change the definition of "officer" for these purposes to exclude an elected officer of the agency. 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.