Political Reform Act of 1974: campaign statements.

Existing law, 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 requires elected officers, candidates, committees, and slate mailer organizations to file various reports, including semiannual reports, preelection statements, and supplemental preelection statements. The act requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop online and electronic filing processes for specified entities. This bill would require elected state officers, candidates for elective state office and their controlled committees, committees primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate for elective state office or a statewide ballot measure, and state general purpose committees to file quarterly statements each year instead of semiannual statements, as specified. The bill would recast or repeal other specified reporting requirements, including supplemental preelection statements, supplemental independent expenditure reports, and odd-numbered year reports. The act defines "late contributions" and "late independent expenditures" for purposes of the act to include certain contributions and independent expenditures, respectively, that are made within 90 days before the date of the election. This bill would revise the definitions to specify that those terms also include contributions and independent expenditures that are made on the date of the election. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop a statewide Internet-based system for the electronic filing and public display of all records filed by or for specified entities. This bill would make all other changes to existing law effected by the bill operative on January 1 of the year following the year in which this system becomes operative, as certified by the Secretary of State. A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of a crime, 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 and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.