County of San Benito Registrar of Voter's Candidate Information

Following are highlights of some recent changes to the Political Reform Act and Commission regulations:

• Reporting Contributions/Expenditures to Support or Oppose State Ballot Measures. Effective January 1, 2007, recipient committees required to file electronically with the Secretary of State must file an online report within 10 business days of making contributions or independent expenditures totaling $5,000 or more to support or oppose the qualification or passage of a single state ballot measure. Contributions to a general purpose committee (including a political party committee) may trigger this report. (See Gov. Code Section 84204.5 and FPPC Regulation 18466.) No paper copies are required and no copies are required to be filed with other filing officers. In addition to disclosing contributions and independent expenditures made, the report must disclose contributions received of $100 or more since the committee’s last report. (Use Form 496 or 497, as applicable.)



• Bank Accounts for Committees Making Contributions to State Candidates. Contributions received for the purpose of making contributions to candidates for elective state office are subject to limits. (See the contribution limits chart on the FPPC website.) A committee that receives contributions for the purpose of making contributions to state candidates must have a separate bank account for its state candidate contributions (an “all purpose” account). When making contributions to state candidates, the committee must include information on its check that indicates the contribution is from the committee’s “all purpose” account. (See Gov. Code Section 85303 and FPPC Regulation 18534.) If contributions over the limits are received, the committee must place them in a separate “restricted use” account, which can be used for other activities, such as independent expenditures and ballot measures. Committees that only receive contributions within the applicable limits, or that do not make contributions to state candidates, are not required to have more than one bank account.



• Candidate-Controlled Committee Names. Effective for committees formed on or after July 1, 2007, the name of an election committee established by one or more candidates must include the last name of the controlling candidates. (See FPPC Regulation 18402.)



• Telephone Advocacy. Candidates and committees that use campaign funds to make 500 or more telephone calls must disclose the name of the person or organization that authorized or paid for the call. A script of the call or a copy of a recorded telephone message must be retained by the committee. (See Gov. Code Section 84310 and FPPC Regulation 18440.)



• Reduction in Paper Filings. Committees filing copies of campaign statements with county filing officers will file one copy (rather than two) with each filing officer beginning January 1, 2008. In addition, committees (other than candidate-controlled election committees) are no longer required to file copies of campaign statements in their county of domicile. For example, a state general purpose committee will file campaign reports with Secretary of State (original and one copy and, if required, electronically), City and County of San Francisco (one copy), and County of Los Angeles (one copy). (See Gov. Code Section 84215, as amended by Ch. 54, Stats. 2007.)