Contribution requirements: recurring contributions.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including contribution limitations and requirements. This bill would require a candidate or committee to obtain affirmative consent from a person making a recurring contribution at the time of the initial contribution, and would require any solicitation for a recurring contribution to be in a form that requires affirmative consent from the person making the contribution. The bill would make violation of these provisions subject to a fine of up to three times the aggregate amount of the subsequent recurring contributions received if certain specified conditions are met. This bill would also require a candidate or committee that accepts a recurring contribution to provide a receipt for each contribution, to provide information necessary to cancel the recurring contribution, and to immediately cancel a recurring contribution upon request. The bill would require a recurring contribution accepted in response to a solicitation that did not require affirmative consent or accepted after a contributor requested to cancel a recurring contribution to be returned within 14 days, as specified. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor. By creating a new 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.