Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign statements.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires elected officers, candidates, and campaign committees to file periodic campaign statements that include prescribed information, including the name, address, occupation, and employer of each person who made a cumulative amount of contributions of $100 or more to the campaign statement filer. Under the act, campaign statements are public records and are required to be open for public inspection. This bill would prohibit a committee that is not controlled by a candidate from disclosing in a campaign statement the name and address of a person who has made a cumulative amount of contributions to that committee in an amount less than $5,000. The bill would require, upon the request of the Fair Political Practices Commission, that the committee provide the withheld information to the Commission, but that information would not be a public record and would not be open for public inspection. The bill would also make conforming changes. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the act a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By creating additional crimes, 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. 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.