Political Reform Act of 1974: security expenses.

In Section 1.5, the phrase 'campaign statement report' was changed to 'campaign report,' removing the word 'statement.' This is a minor terminology correction in the reporting requirement.

Old amendment markup showing the struck-through language ('a relative, within the third degree of consanguinity') and the old lifetime maximum provision were fully removed from Section 1.5, leaving only the clean final text with the specific list of exempt relatives and the new cap structure.

Formal enrollment details were added: passage dates (Assembly September 13, 2025; Senate September 12, 2025), a chapter number placeholder, and a Governor receipt line. The bill is now designated as Chapter 93.

New Section 89517.5 of the Government Code authorizes candidates and elected officers to use campaign funds for security expenses (electronic security systems, personal security, tangible security items) when the threat arises from their political activities or status.

Vote requirement changed from simple majority to two-thirds supermajority of each house, reflecting that the bill now amends the Political Reform Act of 1974 (an initiative measure).

Eliminates the existing $10,000 lifetime cap on campaign fund expenditures for security until January 1, 2029. Beginning January 1, 2029, replaces it with a $10,000 per-calendar-year-per-individual limit.

Requires return or reimbursement of security systems to the campaign fund within one year of when the officer leaves office or the candidate is no longer running (or when a verified threat ceases), at fair market value. Immediate family and staff are not personally liable for reimbursement.

Removes the entire Section 1385.03 amendment that established detailed health insurance rate filing requirements, including specific data disclosures by benefit category, geographic regions, review timelines (60 days for most, 15 days before open enrollment for individual plans), and consequences for failure to file.

Requires candidates and elected officers to report security expenditures and reimbursements on campaign statements, submit a sworn form verifying the threat to the Fair Political Practices Commission, and maintain detailed records including evidence of the threat.

Adds Assembly Member Rivas as principal coauthor and includes a legislative finding that the bill furthers the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974.

Header changed from enrolled bill format (with passage dates and clerk signatures) to chaptered law format with 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' and 'CHAPTER 621' designation.

Governor approval date filled in as October 11, 2025, replacing the previously blank signature line.

Page headers and numbering changed from 'AB 789' / page 93 format to 'Ch. 621' / page 92 format, consistent with standard chaptered law pagination.

New Section 1.5 adds a conditional version of Section 89517.5 that incorporates amendments proposed by both AB 789 and AB 808. This section only becomes operative if both bills are enacted, both amend Section 89517.5, and AB 789 is enacted after AB 808.

New Section 2 explains the interplay between the two bills: if AB 789 is enacted last, its own Section 1 remains operative only until AB 808's operative date, at which point Section 1.5 of this bill takes over.

The legislative findings and declarations section was renumbered from Section 2 to Section 3 to accommodate the new sections.

All provisions amending Health and Safety Code Section 1385.01 and Insurance Code Section 10181 were removed. These sections would have redefined 'unreasonable rate increase' from a federal PPACA-based standard (requiring a CMS determination) to a state-level standard where the DMHC Director or Insurance Commissioner could independently determine a rate increase is excessive, unjustified, unfairly discriminatory, or otherwise unreasonable.

The vote requirement language was changed from 'Vote: majority 2/3' to 'Vote: 2/3', removing the contradictory word 'majority.'

A typo was introduced in the legislative counsel's digest where 'per calendar year per individual. year.' duplicates the word 'year.'

The exemption for payments to relatives was expanded from 'a relative within the third degree of consanguinity' to an explicit list that now includes in-laws (parent-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law) and the spouse of any listed relative. This broadens who can be paid with campaign funds for security without triggering the monetary cap.

Corrected a drafting error in the post-2029 spending limit language: changed 'per calendar year per individual. year.' to simply 'per calendar year.'

Senator Ashby was added as a coauthor of the bill.

The definition of 'unreasonable rate increase' was changed from a federal standard (requiring CMS to make the determination under PPACA) to a state standard where the DMHC Director or Insurance Commissioner can independently determine that a rate increase is excessive, unjustified, unfairly discriminatory, or otherwise unreasonable. This gives California regulators direct authority over rate reasonableness determinations without depending on federal action.

A new Section 1385.01 of the Health and Safety Code was added providing definitions for rating methods (blended, community rated, experience rated), geographic regions with specific county groupings, large and small group contract definitions, and the PPACA reference.

A new Section 10181 of the Insurance Code was added, extending the same definitions (including the state-level 'unreasonable rate increase' standard) to health insurers regulated by the Department of Insurance, not just health care service plans regulated by DMHC.

The bill's stated purpose expanded from amending only Section 1385.03 of the Health and Safety Code to also amending Section 10181 of the Insurance Code, broadening applicability from health care service plans to include health insurers.

The original Section 1385.03 content was renumbered as Section 2 of the bill and had minor formatting changes (removal of bold inline labels like 'Company,' 'Number,' 'Plan' from the disclosure requirements list).