(Amended by Ord. No. 183,236, Eff. 10/30/14.)
The following terms have the meanings identified below. Other terms used in this Article have the meanings identified in the Political Reform Act.
A. “Behested” means made at the request of, at the suggestion of, with the cooperation of, in concert with, in consultation with, in coordination with, under the direction of, or under any arrangement with a candidate or candidate’s City controlled committee.
1. There is a rebuttable presumption that a communication is behested in any of the following circumstances:
a. The communicator and the candidate retain the same individual or entity to provide non-ministerial, campaign-related professional services, including but not limited to polling, campaign research, media consultation or production, direct mail consultation, and fundraising, in the same election cycle.
b. The communication reproduces or redistributes, in whole or substantial part, a campaign, officeholder, or legal defense communication.
c. The communication includes information about a candidate’s campaign plans, projects, or needs that is not generally available to the public or is provided directly or indirectly by the candidate.
d. The communicator discusses or negotiates the communication with the candidate.
e. The communicator is serving or has served in a formal advisory or policy-making position with the candidate or has participated in strategic or policy-making discussions with the candidate regarding the pursuit of nomination or election to office and, in the same election cycle, the candidate is pursuing the office that the campaign communication is intended to influence.
f. The communication is made in connection with fundraising events or campaign activities co-sponsored by the candidate and the communicator.
2. None of the following circumstances is sufficient in and of itself to constitute a behested campaign, officeholder, or legal defense communication:
a. The communicator interviews the candidate regarding legislative or policy issues that affect the communicator or discusses campaign-related issues with the candidate but does not communicate with the candidate regarding the communication.
b. The communicator solicits or obtains a photograph, biography, position paper, press release, or similar material from the candidate and, without the candidate’s prior knowledge, uses that material in the communication.
c. The communicator made a contribution to the candidate or the candidate’s City controlled committee.
d. The communicator communicates to the candidate the intent to make a communication but does not discuss or negotiate the communication with the candidate.
e. A member of a communicator organization provides volunteer services to or works for the affected candidate’s campaign. This exception does not apply if the member was also involved in the activities of the communicator’s political action committee, makes payments on behalf of the communicator, is serving or has served the candidate in a formal advisory or policy-making position, or is making or has engaged in strategic or policy-making discussions with the candidate.
f. The communication was made in response to an unsolicited request from a political party leader or an agent of the leader.
g. The communicator employs or is under contract with a political consultant or pollster who previously rendered services to the candidate.
3. “Communicator” means a person who makes or incurs an expenditure for a communication or causes a communication to be distributed or displayed. Reference to a communicator includes the communicator’s agent. Reference to a candidate includes the candidate’s agent and City controlled committees.
B. “Campaign communication” means a communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified City candidate or ballot measure or, taken as a whole and in context, unambiguously urges a particular result in a City election and is authorized, distributed, paid for, or behested by a candidate for elected City office, or by a City controlled committee, a City recall committee, or a City ballot measure committee. (Amended by Ord. No. 182,362, Eff. 1/30/13.)
C. “City controlled committee” means a committee created for City purposes and controlled by an elected City officer or a candidate for elected City office. The term includes City campaign committees, officeholder committees, legal defense committees, and recall and ballot measure committees. The term does not include a committee created for election to or the holding of a non-City office. (Amended by Ord. No. 183,414, Eff. 3/13/15.)
E. “Citywide office” means the offices of City Attorney, Controller, or Mayor.
F. “Communication” means a message that conveys information or views in a scripted or reproduceable format, including but not limited to paper, audio, video, telephone, electronic, Internet, Web logs, and social media.
G. “Elected City office” means the office of City Council member, City Attorney, Controller, or Mayor.
H. “Elected City officer” means a person who holds elected City office, whether appointed or elected.
I. “Fiscal Year” means the 12-month period beginning July 1 and ending June 30. (Added and subsequent subsections renumbered by Ord. No. 183,414, Eff. 3/13/15.)
J. “Fundraising event” means an event designed for political fundraising, at which contributions for an elected City officer, a candidate for elected City office, or a City controlled committee are solicited or received.
K. “General election” means a regular or special general municipal election at which an elected City office or a City measure is on the ballot.
L. “Independent expenditure communication” means a communication that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified City candidate or ballot measure or, taken as a whole and in context, unambiguously urges a particular result in a City election and is not authorized, distributed, paid for, or behested by the affected candidate or committee. The term includes member communications, as defined in the Political Reform Act, if any of the following applies: (Amended by Ord. No. 182,362, Eff. 1/30/13.)
1. The communication is not a type that is routinely distributed by the member organization;
2. The communication is not directed solely to and intended only for the member organization’s own members; or
3. The cost of the communication exceeds the amount that the member organization routinely spends for that type of communication.
M. “Legal defense communication” means a communication authorized, distributed, paid for, or behested by a legal defense committee or the person who controls the committee. (Amended by Ord. No. 183,414, Eff. 3/13/15.)
N. “Non-participating candidate” means a candidate for elected City office who has not agreed to participate in the public matching funds program, has subsequently declined to participate in the public matching funds program, or has been disqualified from participating in the public matching funds program.
O. “Officeholder communication” means a communication authorized, distributed, paid for, or behested by an officeholder committee or the person who controls the committee. (Amended by Ord. No. 183,414, Eff. 3/13/15.)
P. “Participating candidate” means a candidate for elected City office who has agreed to participate in the public matching funds program, has filed a statement of acceptance of matching funds, has not subsequently declined to participate in the matching funds program, and has not been disqualified from participating in the matching funds program.
Q. “Political communication” means a campaign communication, an independent expenditure communication, a legal defense communication, or an officeholder communication.
R. “Political Reform Act” means the California Political Reform Act of 1974 (California Government Code Sections 81000 et seq.) and the related regulations of the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
S. “Primary election” means a regular or special primary nominating election at which an elected City office or a City measure is on the ballot.
T. “Qualified contribution” means a contribution meets all of the following criteria:
1. The contribution is lawful under federal, state and City law.
2. The contribution was received by a participating candidate.
3. The contribution was not received from the participating candidate or the participating candidate’s immediate family.
4. The contribution was received from an individual residing within the City.
5. The contribution is monetary and is not a loan or pledge.
6. The contribution was received no later than three months after the date of the election, no earlier than the opening of the applicable fundraising window in Section 49.7.10, and no earlier than the date on which the candidate filed a Declaration of Intent to Solicit and Receive Contributions for that election. (Amended by Ord. No. 185,923, Eff. 1/28/19.)