04/25/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/25/2024 11:59
Effective Jan. 1, 2023, California expanded its "pay-to-play" rules1 to include directly elected officials in addition to appointed members of boards and commissions running for elective office.
The rule prohibits parties, participants, and their respective agents in a proceeding involving a license, permit, or other entitlement for use from contributing more than $250 to an officer of the agency during a 12-month period.
A proceeding includes all business, professional, trade, and land use licenses and permits and all other entitlements for use, including all entitlements for land use, all contracts (except competitive bids, labor, or personal employment), and all franchises.
A party is the one directly applying for a permit or license. A participant is not a party, but actively supports or opposes a particular decision in a proceeding and has a financial interest in that decision. An agent is someone who represents a party for compensation and appears before or communicates with the government agency for the purpose of influencing the proceeding.
An officer of an agency is an elected or appointed officer of an agency or any candidate for elected office in an agency.
You must disclose the contribution. The timing of that disclosure depends on when in relation to the proceeding the contribution(s) occurred. If it was made prior to the proceeding, it is not a violation of the statute, but it must be disclosed. If it is made during the pending proceeding, it is in violation of Section 84308 and it must be disclosed.
A violation may result in a civil action for a penalty of up to $5,000 per violation. A knowing or willful violation may be deemed a misdemeanor subject to a fine of up to the greater of $10,000 or three times the amount of the unlawful contribution.
1 Government Code Section 84308 of the Political Reform Act (the Levine Act).