Bill requiring non-profits to reveal their secret donors
when they spend $50,000 on California elections passes
Assembly floor on overwhelming vote of 58-18.
SACRAMENTO - SB 27, a bill that requires greater
transparency from non-profit organizations that spend
significant amounts on California campaigns, passed the
full Assembly today in an overwhelming and bipartisan 58-18
vote for increased disclosure.
The fact that out-of-state non-profit organizations were
able to funnel $11 million into California races in the
final days of the 2012 election without revealing their
donors illustrated the need to strengthen California's
disclosure laws. The Fair Political Practices Commission
imposed a record $1 million fine, but current law does not
require all the original funders to be revealed. SB 27 will
prevent such secretive spending in future races beginning
in this November's election.
"It should not require last-minute Supreme Court
rulings or year-long FPPC investigations for voters to
learn the names of major funders of California
campaigns," said Trent Lange, President of the
California Clean Money Campaign. "Voters deserve to
know who's trying to influence their votes."
SB 27, authored by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and
sponsored by the Fair Political Practices Commission,
addresses the problem by requiring non-profits that spend
$50,000 or more in California races to become a formal
campaign committee and report the contributors that make up
their campaign expenditures. Those contributions then would
be available for the public to see on the Secretary of
State website. It has reasonable protections for real
non-profits and donors whose money is not used for campaign
purposes.
"If you're going to give money to a nonprofit and you
know it's going to be used for campaign purposes, just
disclose it," Correa said after the vote. "It's a
very simple concept, which is that people need to know who
is supporting what causes or which candidates."
Nearly 20,000 Californians signed petitions urging the
Assembly to pass SB 27. It has support not only from good
government groups in California like the California Clean
Money Campaign, California Common Cause, and the League of
Women Voters of California, but also national organizations
like Courage Campaign, Maplight, the Money Out Voters In
Coalition, Progressives United, Public Citizen,
Represent.Us, and the Sunlight Foundation.
"Passing SB 27 is crucial to closing the loopholes that
let billionaires and other special interests hide behind
secretive non-profits. We're grateful to Senator Correa for
his leadership," said Lange. "Now, the Assembly
must take the next and equally important step of passing SB
52, the California DISCLOSE Act, so that political ads must
use the information unveiled by SB 27 to show who really
pays for them."
SB 27 achieved the required 2/3 majority with four votes to
spare, as all 55 Democratic Assemblymembers voted Yes,
joined by Republican Assemblymembers Katcho Achadjian
(R-San Luis Obispo), Jeff Gorell (R-Camarillo), and Kirsten
Olsen (R-Riverbank). SB 27 now moves back to the Senate so
it can vote to concur with the amendments made in the
Assembly, before moving on to the Governor's desk. If
signed, it will take effect on July 1st.
AB 800, authored by Assemblymember Rich Gordon (D-Menlo
Park), a bill that strengthens the ability of the FPPC to
audit campaign spending, also passed its hurdle in the
Senate today.
SB 52, the California DISCLOSE Act, authored by
Senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Jerry Hill (D-San
Mateo) and sponsored by the California Clean Money
Campaign, passed the Senate in 2013 and will have its votes
in the Assembly later this year. Senator Correa is also a
Principal Coauthor of SB 52, along with Senator Mark
DeSaulnier (D-Concord) and Assembly Elections Committee
Chair Paul Fong (D-Mountain View). Speaker John Perez
(D-Los Angeles) recently endorsed SB 52.
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The California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan
501(c)(3) organization that has been dedicated to educating
the public about the need to lessen the unfair influence of
Big Money on election campaigns since 2001.e For further
information, visit www.CAclean.org
