.010 City Candidates. Except as provided in subsection .020 of this section, no person shall make, and no city candidate or treasurer of any controlled committee of any city candidate shall solicit or accept, any contributions which would cause the total amount contributed by such person to such candidate or his or her controlled committee to exceed the contribution limit set forth in subsection .050 of this section during any election cycle for any city office.
.020 Candidates with Outstanding Debt From Prior Election. No person shall make, and no indebted former candidate, or treasurer of any controlled committee of any indebted former candidate shall solicit or accept, any contributions for the purpose of retiring outstanding debt from a prior city election, which would cause the total amount contributed by such person to such indebted former candidate, or to his or her controlled committee, to exceed the contribution limit set forth in subsection .050 of this section for the election in which the outstanding debt was incurred, regardless of when the contribution(s) is made or received.
.030 Recall Elections. The contribution limit set forth in subsection.050 of this section shall not apply to any committee which collects contributions for the purpose of making expenditures in support of or opposition to the recall of an elective city officer, but shall apply to contributions received by such elective city officer and to candidates running to replace the elective city officer, during a recall election cycle as defined in Section 1.09.060 of this chapter.
.0301 In the event any recall effort fails, any funds remaining in the elective city officer’s recall account after all expenses associated with the proposed recall are discharged shall be disposed of by either of the following two methods:
.01 Repayment of the contributions on a “last in - first out” basis, or
.02 Donation to any bona fide charitable, educational, civic, religious, or similar tax-exempt nonprofit organization, where no substantial part of the proceeds will have material financial effect on the elective city officer, or any member of his or her immediate family, or his or her campaign treasure or campaign consultant.
.0302 In the event any recall effort fails, the recall account and committee shall be terminated within ninety (90) days of paying all expenses associated with the recall.
.040 Candidate’s Personal Funds. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a city candidate’s contribution of his or her personal funds to his or her own controlled committee. Contributions from community property owned jointly by a city candidate and his or her spouse shall be deemed contributions by the city candidate. Contributions by the spouse of a city candidate from such spouse’s separate property shall be subject to the contribution limitations set forth in subsection .050 of this section.
.050 Contribution Limit. The term ‘Contribution Limit’ as used in this chapter shall means as follows:
.0501 The Contribution Limit in effect for the period commencing on the effective date of this subsection through December 31, 2006, shall be one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500).
.0502 The City Council shall, by ordinance, adjust the contribution limitations in January of odd-numbered years to reflect any cumulative increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Urban Area as announced by the United States Department of Labor since the last adjustment. Such adjustments shall be rounded off to the nearest hundred dollars for the limitations on contributions.
The City Clerk shall notify all candidates for city office of the amount of the Contribution Limit then in effect. (Ord. 5704 § 2 (part); October 19, 1999; Ord. 5835 § 1; October 29, 2002; Ord. 5858 § 1 (part); May 20, 2003; Ord. 5965 § 1; April 26, 2005; Ord. 6049 § 1: March 6, 2007: Ord. 6197 § 2; November 16, 2010; Ord. 6567 § 3; February 27, 2024.)