Campaign Rules

Step 1.Determine if Campaign Rules Apply

• Are you a candidate?
• Are you raising or spending money for a ballot measure?
• Are you making independent expenditures?

If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, congratulations, the campaign rules apply to you!

Types of Committees

• Recipient Committee: Receives contributions of $2,000 or more per year for political purposes. This includes candidate controlled committees; committees primarily formed to support or oppose candidates or ballot measures; political party committees; and other general purpose committees (generally formed to support or oppose more than one candidate or ballot measure).
• Independent Expenditure Committee: Makes independent expenditures of $1,000 or more per year on California  candidates or ballot measures. An expenditure is independent if it is not made in consultation, cooperation or coordination with the affected candidate or committee. These committees do not receive contributions.
• Major Donor Committee: Makes contributions of $10,000 or more per year to or at the request of California candidates or ballot measures. A business, individual, or multi-purpose organization (including a nonprofit organization) may qualify as a major donor committee. These committees do not receive contributions.

The following steps and more can be found in the Campaign Disclosure Manual 2 – Information for Local Candidates, Superior Court Judges, Their Controlled Committees, and Primarily Formed Committees for Local Candidates. 

Step 2.Getting Your Campaign Started

Before raising or spending money in connection with an election, candidates and committees primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate(s) should consider the amount of fundraising that will take place. Those who do not plan to raise or spend $2,000 or more in a calendar year, including personal funds, will file Forms 501 and 470, while those who do intend to raise and spend $2,000 or more in a calendar year, including personal funds, will file Forms 501 and 410 in addition to establishing a campaign bank account. 

Required filings may include:

• Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501): The Form 501 is filed each election by candidates for state or local office.
• Statement of Organization (Form 410): The Form 410 must be filed within 10 days of receiving $2,000 in contributions. When filing the Form 410, include a $50 payment made payable to the Secretary of State. If your committee has not yet reached the $2,000 threshold, mark the “not yet qualified” box. The $50 fee is requested at this time but is not legally required until the group qualifies as a committee.
• Recipient Committee Campaign Statement (Form 460): The Form 460 is filed by recipient committees to report expenditures and contributions. The Form 460 can be used to file a pre-election statement, semi-annual statement, quarterly statement, termination statement, special odd-year report, or an amendment to a previously filed statement.
• Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement—Short Form (Form 470):  The Form 470 may be filed by a candidate or officeholder who does not anticipate raising or spending $2,000 or more in a calendar year.
• Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700): Elected and appointed officials and candidates listed in Government Code Section 87200 must file the Form 700 which is used to disclose an individual’s personal financial interests that could potentially be affected by the individual’s decision making.

   

Reference: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2 section(s): Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2. 

Manage Campaign Finances

One of the fundamental purposes of the Political Reform Act (Act), an initiative passed by the voters, is to ensure that receipts and expenditures in election campaigns are truthfully and fully disclosed. In order to do so, an individual that chooses to act as a committee treasurer, assistant treasurer, or principal officer must know and practice the finance and recordkeeping requirements and responsibilities. 

Every committee must have a treasurer before the committee may accept contributions or make expenditures. An individual must be at a minimum 18 years of age to serve as a treasurer, assistant treasurer, responsible officer, or principal officer. In order to adequately perform the duties, the treasurer must understand the campaign finance laws and their responsibilities under the Act. The candidate controlling the committee may be the treasurer or assistant treasurer for their own committee. No individual should accept the position of a committee treasurer as a mere figurehead.

Contributions may not be accepted and expenditures may not be made if the treasurer’s post is vacant at any time, even if the committee has an assistant treasurer. If the treasurer is unavailable to carry out their duties, a new treasurer must be designated and the committee’s Statement of Organization (Form 410) amended. The individual listed on the most recent Form 410 filed with the Secretary of State continues to be liable until an amendment is filed to designate a new treasurer.

Culver City Contribution Limits

The CPI-U for the 12-month period ending December 2024 was 3.4%. Adjusted contribution limits to candidates are as follows:

A. Except as provided for a Small Contributor Committee, no person other than a candidate in aid of himself or herself, shall make, and no person, including a candidate, shall solicit or accept any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such person to a candidate to exceed One Thousand, One Hundred and Sixty Dollars ($1,160.00) with respect to a single election.

B. No Small Contributor Committee shall make, and no candidate shall solicit or accept from any Small Contributor Committee, any contribution which will cause the total amount contributed by such committee to exceed Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Twenty Dollars ($2,320.00) with respect to a single election.

Contribution limits to candidates shall remain in effect until the next adjustment, scheduled to occur February 2027 or as soon thereafter as practicable.

Acceptable Contributions

A “contribution” is a monetary or nonmonetary payment received by a candidate or committee for which the candidate or committee has not provided full and adequate consideration in return. A contribution may take any of the following forms:

• Money (cash, check, credit card, wire transfers, text contributions).
• Nonmonetary items (donated goods or services, discounts, cryptocurrency).
• Payments made by a third party for advertising or other communications coordinated with the committee.
• Loans (including loan guarantees, co-signing, and lines of credit).
• Money, nonmonetary items, and loans from the candidate to their own committee or from the candidate’s family.
• Enforceable promises to make a payment (for example, a contributor promises, in writing, to pay for specific goods or services and, based on that written promise, the committee expends funds or enters into a legally-enforceable contract to purchase the goods or services). 
  
  

Contribution Restrictions

Although the Political Reform Act (Act) is primarily a disclosure law, there are several important restrictions and prohibitions on receiving contributions.

• Reporting the True Donor: If a contribution of $100 or more is received from a single source in a calendar year, the source must be identified on the committee’s Form 460. Failure to disclose the true source of a contribution is often referred to as campaign money laundering, which is a serious violation of the Act.
• Cash Contributions: The committee may not accept a cash contribution of $100 or more. Such a contribution will not be deemed “received” if it is not deposited or spent and is returned to the contributor prior to the end of the reporting period of the campaign statement on which the contribution would otherwise be reported.
• Anonymous Contributions: Anonymous contributions of $100 or more are prohibited. If a committee receives a cash contribution of $100 or more from an unknown source, it must be sent to the Secretary of State for deposit in the State General Fund.
• Contributions Made by Money Orders/Cashier’s Checks/ Traveler’s Cheques: Contributions of $100 or more made by money order, cashier’s check, or traveler’s cheque are prohibited and must be returned to the contributor, or, if made anonymously, sent to the Secretary of State for deposit in the State General Fund.
• Commingling Funds: Campaign funds may not be commingled with any individual’s personal funds; they must be kept in an account separate from any account that contains personal funds. In general, campaign funds may not be used for personal expenses. 
• Soliciting Contributions from Public Employees: Government Code Section 3205 prohibits a local candidate from knowingly, directly or indirectly, soliciting a political contribution from any employees of their agency or from a person on an employment list of that agency.

   

Recordkeeping

An accurate and organized record must be kept of all campaign contributions and expenditures. All individuals who handle contributions and make expenditures must be aware of and practice the recordkeeping procedures required by the Act and FPPC regulations. While others may be involved, the candidate, treasurer, and principal officer(s) as listed on the committee’s Statement of Organization (Form 410), remain legally responsible for the accuracy of the records.

Candidates and committees must keep all records, including original source documentation such as bank statements and other records reflecting account activity, and copies of completed campaign statements, for a period of four years from the date the campaign statement relating to the records was filed.

Two types of records are required for receipts:

• a daily record, showing how much money was received on any given day
• contributor record, with detailed information on each contributor of $25 or more.

The daily record requirement may be met simply with bank statements, copies of checks received, or other documentation that provides required information.

Campaign Bank Account Requirements

Primarily Formed Committees: A non-candidate controlled “primarily formed committee” is not required to maintain a separate bank account; however, it is recommended that they do so. Pre-numbered and pre-printed checks with the committee’s name are helpful in meeting the recordkeeping requirements discussed in this chapter. Committees may not commingle campaign contributions with any individual’s personal funds.

Candidate Controlled Committees: Candidates who anticipate soliciting or receiving contributions from others, or who anticipate spending $2,000 or more of their personal funds in connection with their election, must open a campaign bank account. A candidate’s personal funds used to pay the filing fee or the ballot statement fee do not count toward the $2,000 threshold.

The campaign bank account may be established at any financial institution (i.e., bank, credit union) located in California. Under the Act’s one bank account rule, a candidate or officeholder may only have one controlled committee with one bank account per election. Candidates running for one office while holding another must establish a separate campaign bank account for each office, but may not have more than one bank account per office per election.

All campaign contributions must be deposited into the campaign bank account and all campaign expenditures must be made from the campaign bank account. Candidates must deposit personal funds to be used for the campaign in the campaign bank account before making campaign expenditures.

Reference: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2 Chapter(s): Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5.

Step 3.Campaign Communications

Campaigns reach the voters through political communications including television, radio, and Internet advertising, mailers, billboards, precinct-walking, and flyers. The Political Reform Act (Act) requires that committees report most payments in connection with political communications as direct expenditures, nonmonetary contributions to the campaign, or independent expenditures.

Advertisement Disclosures

A disclosure is the portion of a political message that identifies the committee that paid for and authorized the communication. The basic disclosure for a communication made by a candidate’s committee for their own election is “paid for by [committee name].” The disclosure ensures that the committee paying for the ad is identified.

Under the Act, a candidate controlled committee must include a disclosure on mass mailings and certain telephone calls advocating the candidate’s own election. In addition, radio and television advertisements require a “paid for by” disclosure. The Act does not require a specific disclosure on other communications, such as billboards and yard signs, when they are paid for by a candidate controlled committee in support of the candidate’s own campaign. However, the FPPC recommends placing “paid for by [committee name]” and the committee’s ID number on all public campaign materials.

Under the Act, committees that are primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate must include a disclosure on the following communications:

• Mailings, including emails 
• Paid telephone calls
• Radio ads
• Television and video ads
• Electronic media ads, including audio only ads
• Newspaper and magazine ads
• Billboards
• Yard signs
• Door hangers
• Flyers
• Posters

Reference: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2 Chapter(s): Chapter 7 and Chapter 8.

Step 4.Report Campaign Activity

Generally, candidate controlled committees and committees primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate(s) use the Recipient Committee Campaign Statement (Form 460) to report campaign activity for all semi-annual and preelection statements. The Form 460 is the main campaign disclosure statement and provides the public with an overview of the committee’s activity, including money coming in and money going out, during a specified reporting period.

The statement must include all activity during the specified reporting period, even if it was previously reported. For example, a contribution that was already reported on the Form 497 (24-Hour/10-Day Contribution Report) must still be reported on the committee’s next Form 460.

Reference: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2 Chapter(s): Chapter 9, Chapter 10, and Chapter 12.