Political Reform Act of 1974.

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 is enforced by the Fair Political Practices Commission, and existing law requires that each member of the Commission, during their tenure on the Commission, refrain from holding or seeking other public office, serve as an officer of any political party or partisan organization, or participate in or contribute to an election campaign. This bill would require a member of the Commission who declares a candidacy for elective office to resign from the Commission. The bill would also prohibit the chair of the Commission from filing to be a candidate for elective office until at least one year after their service in this position expires. The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires a committee that receives contributions totaling $2,000 or more in a calendar year to file a statement of organization with the Secretary of State and, if applicable, a local filing officer. This bill would authorize a committee to redact the bank account number on a copy of a statement of organization filed with a local filing officer, and it would require the Secretary of State to redact the bank account number on a statement of organization filed with the Secretary of State before making the statement available to the public in any form. The bill would also require the Secretary of State or local filing officer, as applicable, to redact the street name and building number on a campaign statement or report before making it available to the public in any form. The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires certain political advertisements to make specified disclosures and specifies the required form, content, and presentation of the disclosures depending on the medium in which the advertisement appears. This bill would clarify the required form and content of disclosures on print advertisements. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, as well as by imposing new duties on local officers, 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.