FPPC Orders Its Own Vote Funds Reform Bill

The state Fair Political Practices Commission ordered its staff on Wednesday to draft legislation to grant Californians income tax credits for making campaign contributions to candidates for the Legislature.

The commission also instructed the staff to have such a campaign finance reform bill introduced in the Legislature but said it would await pushing for its passage until it had reviewed other bills.

However, the plan represented the latest effort to reduce the heavy dependence by Assembly and Senate candidates on well-heeled special interests.

“The present system has some very unsavory aspects to it,” said Commissioner Stan M. Roden of Santa Barbara, who made the motion. It passed 3 to 0.

Own Versions

At the same time, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) asked the commission to endorse their own versions of campaign funding reform in bills they are pushing.

“I don’t see any harm in putting another alternative into the hopper,” Roden said.

The commission will review all three campaign financing proposals at Its next meeting later this month or in early April, said John Keplinger, commission executive director.

In brief, the commission proposal calls for granting income tax credits to individuals who make contributions to legislative candidates who voluntarily accept spending limits on their election campaigns.

Contributors could receive a personal income tax credit of up to $100 on an individual tax return and $200 on a joint return or, if they did not owe any state tax, would be eligible for a $100 tax rebate if they made a $100 contribution. Married couples could receive up to $200.

In order to receive the tax credits, contributors would have to file with their state return a special voucher obtained from the candidate.

Violations of the tax credit and voucher provisions would be felonies.

Limits Outlined

Election campaign limits would be $150,000 for the primary election and $250,000 for the general election for Assembly candidates, and $250,000 for the primary election and $350,000 for the general election for Senate candidates.

Violation of the expenditure limits by candidates also would be felonies.

Contribution limits on candidates are also contained in the FPPC proposal. During a non-election year, no legislative candidate could receive more than $250 from any single source. During an election year, the limit would be raised to a maximum of $2,000. However, candidates could also receive up to $200,000 in combined contributions from legislative caucuses and political parties during election years.

Brown’s plan, scheduled for its first hearing March 19, would limit campaign contributions and expenditures, ban donations during non-election years, outlaw the transfer of political funds from one legislator to another and implement partial public financing of legislative campaigns.

The California Commission on Campaign Financing, a privately financed bipartisan group, developed Brown’s plan. Some members of the group have launched an initiative drive to place it on the November ballot for voter consideration.

Lockyer’s Plan

Under the Lockyer plan, legislative candidates would select one of two options: contribution limits and no spending limits or spending limits and no contribution limits. It has already passed the Senate.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra), sponsor of a defeated 1984 campaign finance reform ballot measure, called Brown’s plan “so full of holes it should be printed on Swiss cheese.”

“Willie Brown is the all-time undefeated heavyweight campaign fund-raising champ,” Johnson said. “If he really wants to retire, to hang up his gloves, he (Brown) should go out and qualify the initiative himself. There’s no need to go through the drill in the Legislature.”