Last Updated July 2023
July 14 is the last day for policy committees to meet and report bills. The Legislature will be on summer recess from July 15 to August 14.
Chaptered Bill
SB 25: was signed into law on June 29, 2023, and permits a candidate who will not be in California during the candidate nomination period to appear before a notary public of another state to complete their declaration of candidacy.
New Bills or Bill Language Introduced
AB 334: clarifies the circumstances under which, for purposes of Section 1090, an independent contractor is not an “officer,” and, if the independent contractor is an officer, when the independent contractor did not participate in the making of a subsequent contract such that they may be hired for the subsequent contract.
AB 1688: requires the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to facilitate the availability of death statistics from the federal Social Security Administration (SSA) for use in canceling the voter registrations of deceased persons. Requires SOS and county elections officials to use such data to cancel the affidavits of registration of deceased persons beginning on January 1, 2026.
SB 569: transfers responsibility for conducting audits of lobbying disclosure reports and statements from the Franchise Tax Board to the FPPC, beginning with lobbying firms and lobbyist employers that are selected for audits in February 2025. Requires that lobbying firms and lobbyist employers with less than $1 in payments or contributions be excluded from being selected for an audit.
SB 632: clarifies the information that a candidate for State Senate or Assembly may
include in a candidate statement that appears in the voter information guide, and requires an elections office to notify a candidate within 24 hours whether their candidate statement has been approved or rejected.
SB 789: moves SCA 2 of the 2021-2022 Legislative Session from the March 5, 2024 election to the November 5, 2024 general election. SCA 2 would repeal Article 34 of the Constitution that requires majority approval by the voters of a city or county for the development, construction, or acquisition of a publicly funded affordable housing project.
Amendments to Existing Bills
AB 37, on the use of campaign funds for security systems and personal security, has been amended to conform to Sections 89512 and 89512.5 of the Government Code relating to expenditures that confer substantial personal benefit by striking language stating the costs must be “reasonably related to the candidate or elected officer’s status as a candidate or elected officer” and replacing it with “directly related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose.” The bill now also requires the return of a security system to the committee that paid for it, or reimbursement by the candidate, elected officer, immediate family, or staff, to the campaign fund account of the committee that paid for the security system and reporting of the reimbursement to the FPPC. This is due within 1 year of when the elected officer leaves the office for which the security system was purchased, or when the candidate is no longer a candidate for the office for which the security system was purchased, or upon sale of the property on which the security system is installed, whichever occurs sooner.
AB 421 now makes different changes to the way a statewide referendum is presented on the ballot and is now an urgency statute. It revises the ballot title and summary and ballot label requirements by instead requiring that the title and summary be posed in the form of a question asking whether the state should keep or overturn the law that is proposed to be overturned, followed by a summary of the chief purposes and points of the law. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would additionally require the measure’s top funders to be listed on the ballot label. It also requires the ballot label for be followed by the choices “Keep the law” and “Overturn the law.” The bill also changes when a statewide referendum measure is certified from the date the SOS receives a referendum petition certified to have been signed by the requisite number of qualified voters to a date closer to the election.
AB 868 (DATA Act) has been amended to add a $1,000 threshold for a committee to report information on digital ads to the FPPC. The amendments also require online platforms information on digital ads disseminated on their platform by a committee that purchased $500 or more in advertisements during the previous 12 months.
AB 1248 has been amended to make the threshold for school districts or community college districts 500,000 residents, instead of 300,000 residents, to establish an independent redistricting commission.
SB 248, requiring any candidate for elective office to submit a candidate experience disclosure form to disclose their prior education, work, and military service history, now has an effective date of January 1 after the Secretary of State certifies a CAL-ACCESS Replacement.
SB 328, applying state contribution limits to candidates for school district, community college district, and other special district elections, now has an effective date of January 1, 2025.
SB 678, regarding disclaimers on paid third-party social media posts, has been amended to exempt content that already is subject to disclosures, that is posted on the committee’s own website, profile, or landing page, and that is posted by a compensated employee of the committee on the employee’s own social media page or account, unless posting content on the employee’s own social media comprise the employee’s principal duties.
SB 681, regarding the requirements for amending the Political Reform Act, has been amended to change the notice period for PRA bills from 12 to 8 days, instead of 7.
The following bills are not moving forward this year: SB 888 (PRA Omnibus bill), AB 83 (prohibition on contributions and expenditures by foreign-influenced business entities), SB 858 (preparation of measure summaries for the ballot pamphlet).