Burbank Municipal Code Art. 2 Campaign Reform Act

This Article shall be known as the City of Burbank Campaign Reform Act. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

Except as herein provided, the definitions set forth in the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Government Code Section 81001 et seq.) shall govern the interpretation of this act.

ADVERTISEMENT: Any general or public advertisement which is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate. “Advertisement” does not include campaign buttons, bumper stickers, T-shirts or yard signs.

CANDIDATE: An individual who is listed on the ballot or has qualified to have write-in votes on their behalf counted by Election Officials, for the offices of City Council, City Treasurer, City Clerk, or who receives contributions or makes an expenditure or gives their consent for any other person to receive a contribution or make an expenditure with a view to bringing about their nomination or election to the offices of City Council, City Treasurer, or City Clerk, whether or not the specific elective office for which they will seek nomination or election is known at the time the contribution is received or the expenditure is made and whether or not they have announced their candidacy or filed a declaration of candidacy at such time. An individual who becomes a candidate shall retain their status as a candidate until such time as that status is terminated pursuant to Government Code Section 84214. “Candidate” does not include any person within the meaning of 2 USCS Section 431(2).

COMMITTEE: Any person or combination of persons who directly or indirectly receives contributions or makes expenditures or contributions of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) or more for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the action of voters for or against the election of one or more candidates. “Committee” includes controlled committees, primarily formed committees and independent committees.

CONTROLLED COMMITTEE: A committee which is controlled directly or indirectly by a candidate or which acts jointly with or in coordination with a candidate or controlled committee in connection with the making of expenditures. A candidate controls a committee if such candidate, or the candidate’s agent, or any other committee such candidate controls, has a significant influence on the actions or decisions of the committee or if such committee coordinates its expenditures with the expenditures of a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate, whether or not such candidate is personally aware of such coordination.

ELECTION: Any Primary, General, or Special Election for the offices of City Council Member, City Treasurer, or City Clerk.

INDEPENDENT COMMITTEE: Any committee which makes expenditures in support or opposition to any candidate or group of candidates which is neither controlled by a candidate nor coordinates its expenditures with the expenditures of a candidate or a committee controlled by a candidate.

PRIMARILY FORMED COMMITTEE: Any committee that is formed or exists primarily to support or oppose a single candidate or a group of candidates whether said support is through contributions and/or independent expenditures. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

ELECTION YEAR CYCLE:

A. No candidate or officeholder, the controlled committee of such a person, or an independent committee or primarily formed committee which will make any contribution to a candidate and/or a candidate’s controlled committee in a municipal election, shall accept any contribution except between six (6) months prior to an election and December 31st immediately following an election.

B. A committee may not change its status from the type of committee that is reported on its statement of organization to any other type of committee between the period that is six (6) months prior to an election and December 31st immediately following an election. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A. In addition to the disclosure requirements of the Political Reform Act of 1974, as amended, candidates, their controlled committees, and all other committees as defined by the Political Reform Act of 1974 shall disclose all contributions of one hundred dollars ($100.00) or more, by providing the amount of the contribution as well as the name, address, occupation, and employer of each such contributor.

B. No contribution shall be deposited into a campaign checking account unless the name, address, occupation and employer of the contributor is on file in the records of the recipient of the contribution.

C. In addition to the disclosure and record keeping requirements of the Political Reform Act of 1974, as amended, every candidate who accepts a contribution of one hundred dollars ($100.00) or more shall file with the City Clerk the form prescribed by the City Clerk pursuant to Section 2-3-214 of this Article.

D. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any candidate or all committees who receive contributions or have expenditures of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) or less.

E. Electronic Filing of Campaign Disclosure: Any elected officer, candidate, committee or other person required to file specified statements, reports or other documents with the City Clerk pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 84100) of Title 9 of the California Government Code, also known as the Political Reform Act, and that has received contributions or made expenditures of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) or more, shall electronically file such statement using the City Clerk’s online system according to procedures established by the City Clerk.

In any instance in which the original statement, report, or other document is required to be filed with the Secretary of State and a copy of that statement, report, or other document is required to be filed with the local government agency, the filer may, but is not required, to file the copy electronically.

If the City Clerk’s system is not capable of accepting a particular type of statement, report or other document, an elected officer, candidate, committee or other person shall file that document in paper format with the City Clerk. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A. All advertisements generated by the candidate or the candidate’s controlled committee shall contain the name, address and identification number of the sender.

B. The identifying information required in subsection A of this section shall, if in printed form, be in no less than 10-point type, printed in color or typeface that contrasts with the background. If the advertisement is broadcast or via telephone, the information shall be spoken so as to be clearly audible and understood by the intended public. If the advertisement is via internet or other computer electronic mail, the identifying information shall be displayed in a conspicuous manner. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

In addition to the campaign statements required to be filed pursuant to the Political Reform Act of 1974, and the provisions of this Article, candidates, their controlled committees, independent committees and primarily formed committees shall file a pre-election statement by five o’clock (5:00) P.M. on the Friday immediately before the election. This statement shall disclose all contributions received and expenditures made by the Wednesday before the election. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A. No person shall make to any candidate and/or the controlled committee of such a candidate and no such candidate and/or the candidate’s controlled committee shall accept from a person a contribution or contributions totaling more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each election in which the candidate is on the ballot or is a write-in candidate.

B. Any primarily formed committee that makes contributions or independent expenditures supporting or opposing a candidate or group of candidates shall not accept from any person a contribution or contributions totaling more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each election in which the candidate or candidates are on the ballot or are a write-in candidate. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A. Contributions by a husband and wife shall be treated as separate contributions and shall not be aggregated.

B. Contributions by children under eighteen (18) years of age shall be treated as contributions by their parents and attributed proportionately to each parent (1/2 to each parent or the total amount to a single custodial parent). [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A. Except as provided in subsection D of this Section, a loan shall be considered a contribution from the maker and the guarantor of the loan and shall be subject to the contribution limitations of this Article.

B. Every loan to a candidate or the candidate’s controlled committee shall be by written agreement and such written agreement shall be filed with the candidate’s or committee’s campaign statement on which the loan is first reported.

C. The proceeds of a loan made to a candidate by a commercial lending institution in the regular course of business on the same terms available to members of the public and which is secured or guaranteed shall not be subject to the contribution limitations of this Article.

D. During the election cycle, no candidate shall personally make loans to the candidate’s campaign or the candidate’s committee which total more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00).

E. Extensions of credit (other than loans pursuant to subsections C and D of this section) for a period of more than thirty (30) days are subject to the contribution limitations of this Article.

F. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a candidate from making unlimited contributions to the candidate’s campaign. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

A candidate shall have no more than one campaign committee and one checking account out of which all expenditures shall be made. This section shall not prohibit the establishment of savings accounts, but no qualified campaign expenditures shall be made out of these accounts. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a petty cash fund established pursuant to Title 2 Section 18524(d) of the California Code of Regulations as amended from time to time by the Fair Political Practices Commission. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

No candidate and no committee controlled by a candidate or officeholder shall make any contribution from the checking account established pursuant to Section 2-3-210 of this Article to any other candidate running for office or to any committee supporting or opposing a candidate for office. This section shall not prohibit a candidate from making a contribution from the candidate’s own personal funds to the candidate’s campaign or to the campaign of any other candidate for elective office. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

For purposes of the contribution limitations in Section 2-3-207 of this Article the following shall apply:

A. All payments made by a person, as defined in the Political Reform Act of 1974, as amended, whose contribution or expenditure activity is financed, maintained or controlled by any corporation, labor organization, association, political party or any other person or committee, including any parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department or local unit of the corporation, labor organization, association, political party or any other person, or by any group of such persons shall be considered to be made by a single person or committee.

B. Two (2) or more entities shall be treated as one person when any of the following circumstances apply:

1. The entities share the majority of members of their boards of directors.

2. The entities share two (2) or more officers.

3. The entities are owned or controlled by the same majority shareholder or shareholders.

4. The entities are in a parent-subsidiary relationship.

C. An individual and any general partnership in which the individual is a partner, or an individual and any corporation in which the individual owns a controlling interest, shall be treated as one person. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

Any campaign funds in excess of expenses incurred for the campaign received by or on behalf of an individual who seeks nomination for election, or election to office, or any independent committee or primarily formed committee with funds in excess of expenses incurred for the campaign of a candidate or group of candidates seeking nomination for election or election to office, shall be deemed to be surplus campaign funds and shall be distributed within ninety (90) days from the City Council Certification of the Election for that Office, returned to contributors on a pro rata basis, donated to any bona fide charitable, educational, civic, religious, or similar tax exempt, nonprofit organization, where no substantial part of the proceeds will have a material financial effect on the former candidate or elected officer, any member of their immediate family, or their campaign treasurer, or turned over to the General Fund of the City of Burbank. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

The City Clerk shall prescribe the necessary forms for filing the appropriate statements required by Section 2-3-204 of this Article. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

Any person who violates any provision of this Article is guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who causes any other person to violate any provision of this Article, or who aids and abets any other person in the violation of any provision of this Article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Prosecution for violation of any provision of this Article shall be commenced within four (4) years after the date on which the violation occurred. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

Any person who intentionally or negligently violates the contribution provisions of this Article shall be liable in a civil action brought by the City Attorney or by a person residing within the jurisdiction for an amount not more than three (3) times the amount of the unlawful contribution. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]

Any person residing in the jurisdiction, including the City Attorney, may sue for injunctive relief to enjoin violations or to compel compliance with the provisions of this Article. [Added by Ord. No. 20-3,933, eff. 4/17/20.]