Last updated April 2022
Fair Political Practices Commission News
In its newly-released 2021 Annual Report, staff from the Fair Political Practices Commission asserts that the FPPC has taken “numerous, first-ever steps in 2021 to remain ahead of political trends.”
In March, the Fair Political Practices Commission approved Opinion No. O-22-001. The Leiderman Opinion concludes that when a committee hires a vendor to create and sell non-fungible token (“NFT”) trading cards, the entire purchase price of the NFT must be reported on the committee’s campaign statements.
Federal Election Commission News
The Federal Election Commission has fined Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign for violating election laws and hiding funding.
The FEC found that Clinton campaign and DNC payments to Fusion GPS were funneled through the law firm of Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the former general counsel for the Clinton Campaign and partner at Perkins Coie.
Long Beach Ethics Commission News
The City of Long Beach Ethics Commission has issued its 2021 Annual Report. Of note in the Annual Report is that the Long Beach City Clerk created a Disclosure Reports and Ethics portal webpage that centralizes various reporting resources and forms to make them readily accessible to the public. The portal includes Form 700 filings, 800 series filings, and a campaign finance database.
Los Angeles City Ethics Commission News
As of March 9, 2022, both the expenditure ceiling and the aggregate limit on non-individual contributions were lifted in the 2022 primary election race for Los Angeles Mayor. The expenditure ceiling is lifted and no longer applies when a candidate who is not participating in the City’s matching funds program makes or incurs expenditures that exceed the expenditure ceiling in that race. The limit on non-individual contributions is lifted and no longer applies when a candidate who is not participating in the matching funds program receives, incurs, or spends more than the expenditure ceiling for matching funds candidates in that race.
City of Oakland Public Ethics Commission News
Public Ethics Commission staff has published the Limited Public Financing Program Guide for the November 2022 Election.
San Francisco Ethics Commission News
At its February meeting, the San Francisco Ethics Commission unanimously elected Yvonne Lee as Chair of the Commission for 2022. Larry Bush was elected to serve as Vice-Chair. Both terms began on March 1, 2022. Under Commission Bylaws, the Commission elects its officers on an annual basis to serve from March 1 of the current year through February 28 of the following year.