Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign statements.

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. The act requires elected officers, candidates, and committees to file various reports, including semiannual reports, preelection statements, and supplemental preelection statements. This bill would recast the requirements for filing preelection statements and would repeal other reporting requirements, including supplemental preelection statements and supplemental independent expenditure reports. The act defines "committee" to include a person or combination of persons who receives contributions or makes independent expenditures of $1,000 or more in a calendar year. The act defines "late contributions" and "late independent expenditures" for purposes of the act to include certain contributions and independent expenditures, respectively, that are made within 90 days before the date of the election. This bill would revise the definition of "committee" by increasing the qualifying monetary threshold to $2,000 for contributions received by a person or combination of persons. This bill would revise the definitions of "late contributions" and "late independent expenditures" to specify that those terms also include contributions and independent expenditures that are made on the date of the election. The bill would also make conforming changes. A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of a crime, 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.