Political Reform Act of 1974.

(1) Existing law defines a "statewide election" and "campaign expenditures" for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974. This bill would repeal the section of the act defining "statewide election" and would revise the definition of "campaign expenditures." (2) Existing law requires that print advertisements paid for by a committee, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee, as specified, include a disclosure with text in an Arial equivalent type. This bill would revise the permissible text type in print advertisement disclosures to standard Arial Regular and require that the disclosure area not contain any text or image that is not required by any applicable law. (3) Existing law requires a local government agency to post a copy of any statement, report, or other document required to be filed with the agency under the Political Reform Act of 1974, as specified, within 72 hours of receiving the filing in paper format. This bill would additionally require the local government agency to post a copy of any statement, report, or other document, as specified, received by email or fax and to post statements, reports, or documents received after the filing deadline within 72 hours of receipt of the statement, report, or document. The bill would also require a local government agency that receives a filing that was required to be filed with a different agency or person, and not the agency that received the filing, to notify the filer of the error. By increasing the duties of local officials receiving filings under the Political Reform Act of 1974, as specified, the 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. 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.