Law on Ballot Initiative Fund Raising Voided

A California law designed to control the way organizations raise contributions to campaign for ballot initiatives was declared unconstitutional Friday by a Sacramento Superior Court judge.

Ruling from the bench after a five-hour hearing, Judge James T. Ford held that the law written by Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco) improperly restricted the initiative process and violated the free speech rights of organizations that sponsor initiatives.

Ford’s ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental organization which had argued that the law would unfairly limit its ability to raise funds for a series of initiatives. The league has successfully sponsored initiatives that authorize bond issues to pay for park projects and rail transit.

In a statement filed with the court, Kopp said that his purpose in writing the law had been to curb what he called “quid pro quo” fund-raising techniques used by the league. He said the league had raised funds for some of its initiatives by agreeing to include language seeking voter approval for specific projects favored by large contributors.

For example, he said, the Southern Pacific railroad pledged up to $5,000 to a 1990 rail bond initiative “in exchange for a number of projects that would benefit the railroad giant.”

“At its heart the practice amounts literally to selling off parts of a measure in exchange for campaign favors,” Kopp said in his court statement.

League Executive Director Jerry Meral said the organization accepted contributions from groups that favored particular projects, but said contributions never got in the way of serving the public.