Assembly Panel OKs Bill on Public Financing of Campaigns

L.A. Times Archives

May 28, 1987 12 AM PT

United Press International

SACRAMENTO —

A bill that would for the first time establish public financing for legislative election campaigns and set spending limits on candidates sailed through the Assembly Elections Committee on Wednesday.

The vote was 6 to 1, split strictly along party lines, and just to make sure the bill passed, its author, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), appointed himself to the committee at the last minute.

For the record:

12:00 a.m. June 3, 1987 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 3, 1987 Home Edition Part 1 Page 2 Column 1 Metro Desk 2 inches; 65 words Type of Material: Correction
A United Press International story published in last Thursday’s editions of The Times incorrectly stated that the Assembly Elections Committee virtually assured defeat of a campaign financing reform bill by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) by making it an urgency measure requiring a two-thirds vote for passage. In fact, any bill that seeks to change the voter-approved Political Reform Act of 1974 would require a two-thirds vote for passage.

But the same committee members who voted for Brown’s measure then all but ensured its defeat by declaring it an urgency measure, meaning it will require a two-thirds vote when it reaches the Assembly floor.

“It will not get Republican votes, that’s for sure,” Assemblyman Richard L. Mountjoy (R-Monrovia), said afterward. Mountjoy was the only Republican to attend the committee meeting and provided the only dissenting vote.

Measures similar to the Brown bill have been introduced regularly over the last few years and been just as regularly defeated. Gov. George Deukmejian has voiced his opposition to public financing of campaigns and could be expected to veto it even if it did pass.

Brown’s bill would limit individual contributions to $1,000 per candidate and contributions from organizations to $5,000.