San Francisco County Municipal Code § 1.114 Contributions – Limits and Prohibitions

(a) LIMITS ON CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES. No person other than a candidate shall make, and no campaign treasurer for a candidate committee shall solicit or accept, any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such person to such candidate committee in an election to exceed $500. (b) PROHIBITION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FROM CORPORATIONS. No corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership organized pursuant to the laws of the State of California, the United States, or any other state, territory, or foreign country, whether for profit or not, shall make a contribution to a candidate committee, provided that nothing in this subsection (b) shall prohibit such a corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership from establishing, administering, and soliciting contributions to a separate segregated fund to be utilized for political purposes by the corporation, limited liability company, or limited liability partnership, provided that the separate segregated fund complies with the requirements of Federal law including Sections 432(e) and 441b of Title 2 of the United States Code and any subsequent amendments to those Sections. (c) EARMARKING. No person may make a contribution to a committee on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed to any particular candidate or committee to circumvent the limits established by subsections (a) and (b). (d) PROHIBITION ON CONTRIBUTIONS FOR OFFICIAL ACTION. No candidate may, directly or by means of an agent, give, offer, promise to give, withhold, or offer or promise to withhold his or her vote or influence, or promise to take or refrain from taking official action with respect to any proposed or pending matter in consideration of, or upon condition that, any other person make or refrain from making a contribution. (e) AGGREGATION OF AFFILIATED ENTITY CONTRIBUTIONS. (1) General Rule. For purposes of the contribution limits imposed by this Section 1.114 and Section 1.120, the contributions of an entity whose contributions are directed and controlled by any individual shall be aggregated with contributions made by that individual and any other entity whose contributions are directed and controlled by the same individual. (2) Multiple Entity Contributions Controlled by the Same Persons. If two or more entities make contributions that are directed and controlled by a majority of the same persons, the contributions of those entities shall be aggregated. (3) Majority-Owned Entities. Contributions made by entities that are majority-owned by any person shall be aggregated with the contributions of the majority owner and all other entities majority-owned by that person, unless those entities act independently in their

decisions to make contributions. (4) Definition. For purposes of this Section 1.114, the term “entity” means any person other than an individual and “majority- owned” means a direct or indirect ownership of more than 50%. (f) FORFEITURE OF UNLAWFUL CONTRIBUTIONS. In addition to any other penalty, each committee that receives a contribution which exceeds the limits imposed by this Section 1.114 or which does not comply with the requirements of this Section shall pay promptly the amount received or deposited in excess of the permitted amount to the City and County of San Francisco by delivering the payment to the Ethics Commission for deposit in the General Fund of the City and County; provided that the Ethics Commission may provide for the waiver or reduction of the forfeiture. (g) RECEIPT OF CONTRIBUTIONS. A contribution to a candidate committee or committee making expenditures to support or oppose a candidate shall not be considered received if it is not cashed, negotiated, or deposited, and in addition is returned to the donor before the closing date of the campaign statement on which the contribution would otherwise be reported, except that a contribution to a candidate committee or committee making expenditures to support or oppose a candidate made before an election at which the candidate is to be voted on but after the closing date of the last campaign statement required to be filed before the election shall not be considered to be deemed received if it is not cashed, negotiated, or deposited, and is returned to the contributor within 48 hours of receipt. For all committees not addressed by this Section 1.114, the determination of when contributions are considered to be received shall be made in accordance with the California Political Reform Act. (Added by Ord. 71-00, File No. 000358, App. 4/28/2000; amended by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; Ord. 141-03, File No. 030034, App. 6/27/2003; Ord. 3-06, File No. 051439, App. 1/20/2006; Ord. 126-06, File No. 060033, Eff. 6/23/2006; Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009; Ord. 102-15 , File No. 150294, App. 6/25/2015, Eff. 7/25/2015; Ord. 129-18, File No. 180280, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 1/1/2019; Proposition F, 11/5/2019, Eff. 12/20/2019)

(a) CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION REQUIRED. If the cumulative amount of contributions received from a contributor is $100 or more, the committee shall not deposit any contribution that causes the total amount contributed by a person to equal or exceed $100 unless the committee has the following information: the contributor’s full name; the contributor’s street address; the contributor’s occupation; and the name of the contributor’s employer or, if the contributor is self-employed, the name of the contributor’s business. (1) A committee will be deemed not to have had the required contributor information at the time the contribution was deposited if the required contributor information is not reported on the first campaign statement on which the contribution is required to be reported. (2) If a committee collects the information required under this subsection (a) on a form signed by the contributor stating that the contributor has not made a prohibited source contribution, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the committee has not accepted a prohibited source contribution. (b) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEES AND COMMITTEES MAKING INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES. (1) In addition to the requirements in subsection (a), any person making contributions that total $5,000 or more in a single calendar year at the behest of a City elective officer, to a ballot measure committee or committee making independent expenditures must disclose to the committee receiving the contribution the office and the name of the City elective officer who requested the contribution. (2) Committees receiving contributions subject to subsection (b)(1) must report the names of the City elective officers who requested those contributions at the same time that the committees are required to file campaign statements with the Ethics Commission disclosing the contributions. (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection (b), no committee shall be required to make the disclosure required in subsection (b)(2) for any contribution that constitutes a contribution to the City elective officer at whose behest the contribution was made. (4) Exception for public appeals. No person or committee shall be required to make any disclosures required under this subsection (b) for any contribution, if the contribution was made solely in response to a public appeal. (c) ASSUMED NAME CONTRIBUTIONS. (1) No contribution may be made, directly or indirectly, by any person or combination of persons, in a name other than the name by which they are identified for legal purposes, or in the name of another person or combination of persons. (2) No person may make a contribution to a candidate or committee in his, her, or its name when using any payment received from another person on the condition that it be contributed to a specific candidate or committee. (d) FORFEITURE OF UNLAWFUL CONTRIBUTIONS. In addition to any other penalty, each committee that receives a contribution which does not comply with the requirements of this Section 1.114.5 shall pay promptly the amount received or deposited to the City and County of San Francisco by delivering the payment to the Ethics Commission for deposit in the General Fund of the City and County; provided that the Ethics Commission may provide for the waiver or reduction of the forfeiture. (Added by Ord. 129-18, File No. 180280, App. 5/30/2018, Eff. 6/30/2018, Oper. 1/1/2019)