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California Political Treasurers Association
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Greetings!
The 4th Quarter CPTA meeting will be held in Sacramento on Friday, November 17th.
The meeting will start at 11:00 am at the FPPC office at 1102 Q Street. Lunch will be from 12:30 to 3:00 at the Firehouse, 1112 Second Street, Old Sacramento.
After lunch David Montgomery and the Netfile staff will lead a training session on the new Netfile Pro campaign finance system. Be sure to bring your laptops so you can access and demo the program.
The lunch selections are as follows:
Baked Organic Chicken
Grilled Salmon
Grilled Pork Loin
Vegetarian Polenta
Please r.s.v.p. to Tom Howard (thomas@olsonhagel.com) by Thursday, November 2nd.
All the Best!
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Legislative Update
Despite the FPPC remaining neutral on AB 249, known as the California Disclose Act, Governor Brown has signed the legislation, which is effective January 1, 2018.
Although many provisions of the legislation may seem redundant, AB 249 will implement new on advertisement disclosure requirements that are quite technical with the aim of providing the public with the committees' funding sources at the time the advertisements are communicated. For example, an advertisement that is paid for by a recipient committee and that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure must include the words “committee major funding from” followed by the names of the top-three contributors of $50,000 or more to the committee paying for the advertisement. There are specific disclosure requirements for the type of advertising such as radio, on-line, TV/video, print and electronic.
Generally, all electronic media ads must include a link that states, “Who funded this ad?” That link must contain information according to the disclosure requirements of this Act, such the top-three donors to the committee.
To review the legislation, please click on this link:
The FPPC is currently updating guidance materials which should be available by January 1st.
The Governor also signed
AB 895
regarding Campaign Statements and Electronic Filing. This bill was sponsored by CPTA and is our first legislative victory. As you know, currently, the PRA requires certain individuals and entities to file campaign statements with the Secretary of State including requiring some to file online while others file online voluntarily. The PRA requires electronic filers to continue to file in paper format until the Secretary of State determines online filing is secure and effective. The Act also requires paper filing be considered the official filing for audits and other legal purposes.
This bill eliminates the requirement of certain filers to file in the paper format if they file online. The bill will be implemented upon certification by the Secretary of State of the new CalACCESS system. However, since the Secretary of State just recently completed its RFP for the design and implementation, it may be several years before the the certification is complete.
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FYI
Note that according to the Constant Contact analytics, only 67% of our members are opening the Newsletter email. In order for the analytics to capture all the "opening" data, please be sure to open the email completely - not in a preview pane.
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The
San Francisco Ethics Commission
approved
the 2017 San Francisco Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance which will revise city campaign and government conduct laws. The ordinance creates new rules to reduce the incidence of pay-to-play politics by increasing the applicability of current pay-to-play laws to encompass more parties seeking contracts with the city. The ordinance also sets new limits and disclosure requirements on contributions and behested payments. After failing to pass the ordinance by a vote of 3-2 on September 25th, the Commission voted 5-0 to remand the ordinance to staff for further review which was subsequently approved October 23rd. The revised ordinance will now go to the Board of Supervisors for final review and possible enactment. According to Kyle Kundert @ the SFEC, the Board must pass the ordinance on a super majority of at least 8-3.
The
Anaheim, California City Council adopted an ethics and lobbying ordinance on August 15th. The ordinance imposes a two-year revolving door restriction and requires lobbyist registration and quarterly reporting. The ordinance is will go into effect 30 days after passage on September 14. City Council is also expected to consider additional amendments to broaden the new ordinance in 90 days.
The
FPPC has updated the Candidate Toolkit to be more user friendly. It’s divided into 4 sections: Getting Started, Campaign Reports, Campaign Communications, and After the Election. Click the link below to access it
or go to the Campaign Rules page.
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CPTA Web Site: www.cpta.info
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Please check out the new and improved CPTA website. And if you need the password to access the Members Only section, please contact Stacy Owens. Stacy's email address is stacy@hlgcpa.com.
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CPTA has been in existence for so long now that members are now creating their own campaign finance dynasties. Laura Stephen and her daughter Danielle Stephen may be our first mother/daughter members.
Laura is the manager of the accounting firm of J. Richard Eichman, CPA. Starting out as teenager fresh out of school, Laura has almost 30 years of experience with the California Political Reform Act and specializes in preparing federal, state and local campaign and lobby disclosure reports. Laura also handles the firm's bookkeeping and payroll, along with the taxes for various clients' state, federal and non-profit organizations. As manager, Laura is responsible for over 250 political action committees, 200 major donor committees and close to 1000 lobbying entities, and supervises the firm's political reports specialists. Laura is a founding member of the California Political Treasurer's Association and is currently serving as Vice President of Legislation. She works closely with our lobbyist Branche Jones and has helped pass our first bill to eliminate paper filings. Laura has also worked closely with the Secretary of State's Online Task Force where she assisted with the testing and implementation of online disclosure. But more importantly, Laura unselfishly shares her vast knowledge with fellow CPTA members to assist with lobbying or campaign finance questions. Laura loves the outdoors, traveling, visiting her children in San Diego and watching the Dallas Cowboys.
Daughter Danielle Stephen was born to be a political reporting specialist. Born at the end of September in an election year, Danielle went to the office everyday where not only did Laura feed her and change her but so did the rest of the staff, including Rich Eichman. "If I was busy trying to get the Federal Expresses out, I would take Danielle back to Rich's office and tell him to feed her," recalls Laura. "She was definitely part of the office". In April of 2014, Danielle put away her basketball shoes and started to intern for Nancy Haley at Scott & Cronin. She became a full-time employee in September of 2016 after she graduated with a Bachelors in Accounting in June 2016. Danielle enjoys the outdoors, just like her mama! She loves going to the beach and enjoys the San Diego sun. She also loves spending time with her friends and family in her spare time.
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Make a note - the 2018 CPTA Conference will be held in June in San Diego
and the First Quarter 2018 meeting will be in Southern California -
either in Los Angeles or Long Beach. Date not yet determined.
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If you need to add a new member for your firm or revise your current members - contact Rita Copeland, the CPTA Treasurer. Rita's email address is rc@rcbs.us
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