Contribution and gift ban: Senate or Assembly confirmation.

(1) The Political Reform Act of 1974 establishes certain limits on the amount of contributions that a person or group can make to a candidate for elective state office or to a committee. This bill would prohibit a person appointed by the Governor to an office subject to Senate or Assembly confirmation from making to a Senator or Assembly Member or a controlled committee of the Senator or Assembly Member a gift or contribution during the period between the appointment by the Governor and confirmation by that house. The bill would also apply this prohibition to certain candidates for the Senate or Assembly, as specified. (2) Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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. (4) 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.