Ben Allen

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including imposing reporting requirements on elected officials and campaign committees. Under the act, a behested payment is a payment that is made at the behest of a committee, an elected officer, or a member of the Public Utilities Commission, under specified circumstances, that is made principally for personal, charitable, legislative, or governmental purposes. The act requires officers and members of the Public Utilities Commission to report behested payments within 30 days of the payment or payments exceeding $5,000 in the aggregate from the same source in the same calendar year in which they are made.

This bill would exempt a behesting officer or member of the Public Utilities Commission from these reporting obligations if they make a public appeal for payment unless the officer or member of the Public Utilities Commission, or a member of their immediate family, campaign staff, or officeholder staff, holds a position with the payee organization, other than a governmental organization, as specified.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84224 of the Government Code proposed by AB 808, to be operative only if this bill and AB 808 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

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.