Political Reform Act of 1974: electioneering and issue lobbying communications: disclosures.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. Among other things, the act requires specified disclosures in advertisements regarding the source of the advertisement. The act defines "advertisement" for these purposes to mean a general or public communication that is authorized and paid for by a committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate or candidates for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act also requires certain advertisements paid for by certain committees to disclose the names of the top contributors, which is defined for these purposes to mean the persons from whom the committee paying for an advertisement has received its three highest cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more. This bill would require a person who makes payments of $10,000 dollars or more for "electioneering communications" or "issue lobbying communications" to make specified disclosures in connection with those communications. The bill would define "electioneering communication" to mean any public communication that clearly identifies a candidate for elective state office, but does not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of the candidate, and that is disseminated, broadcast, distributed, or published during a specified period before an election. It would define "issue lobbying communication" to mean any public communication that clearly refers to and reflects a view on the subject matter, description, or name of one or more clearly identified pending state legislative or administrative actions, and that meets other specified criteria. The bill would also require a person who makes payments for electioneering or issue lobbying communications to disclose the names of the persons providing the funding for those payments, as specified, and to maintain records to verify the accuracy of the required disclosures. Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.