Law Cuts Fund-Raising Time for L.A. Hopefuls

The state’s new campaign finance law will reduce by at least half the fund-raising period for candidates leading up to Los Angeles city elections, and will ban city commissioners and lobbyists from making a variety of political contributions, according to an Ethics Commission report scheduled for release today.

The most severe impact will come in the amount of time candidates are allowed to raise campaign funds. While people running for City Council now may solicit money for 18 months before an election, next year that period will drop to six months.

Candidates for citywide offices, including mayor, city attorney and controller, will see their preelection fund-raising season slashed in half, from two years to one year.

In both cases, the campaign fund-raising period after an election will remain three months.

In addition, candidates will have a smaller pool of potential donors. Commissioners will be banned from giving money to the elected officials who appoint them--most of the 200 citizen volunteers in Los Angeles are named by the mayor--and lobbyists will not be allowed to give money to those who serve on the agencies they lobby.

Proposition 208 also prohibits bundling of contributions, in which someone acts as an intermediary, collecting money for a candidate beyond the limits on an individual’s donation.

Finally, the new law reduces the amount officeholders are allowed to collect from $75,000 a year to $10,000, and cuts the amount of an individual’s annual donation to a sitting officeholder from $1,000 to $250 a year.

The Ethics Commission is scheduled to discuss the report at its 10 a.m. meeting in City Hall today.