(a) DECLARATION OF INTENT REQUIRED. No candidate or candidate committee shall solicit or accept, or cause to be solicited or accepted, any contribution unless and until the candidate has filed a declaration of intention to become a candidate for a specific City elective office with the Department of Elections on a form prescribed by the Director of Elections.
No person shall file a declaration of intention to become a candidate for more than one City elective office.
(b) USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS.
(1) GENERAL. Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, funds in a candidate committee's campaign account may be used only on behalf of the candidacy for the office specified in the candidate's declaration of intention filed under Subsection (a) or for expenses associated with holding that office, provided that such expenditures are reasonably related to a legislative, governmental, or political purpose. Contributions solicited or accepted under this Section for one candidate shall not be expended for the candidacy of any other candidate for local, state or federal office, in support of or opposition to any measure or in support of or opposition to any state ballot proposition, or for donations to a charitable organization. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a candidate committee for a candidate in a ranked choice election from expending funds to support the ranking of another candidate if the primary purpose of the expenditure is to further the candidate's own campaign.
(2) PROHIBITING CANDIDATE-CONTROLLED GENERAL PURPOSE COMMITTEES. No candidate holding City elective office may control a candidate-controlled general purpose committee. Any candidate who controls a candidate-controlled general purpose committee prior to assuming City elective office shall return, use, or dispose of all funds held by the committee using the means specified in subsection (b)(4) within 90 days of the date that the candidate assumes office.
(3) WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDIDACY. If a candidate has withdrawn his or her candidacy, campaign funds held by that candidate's committee's Campaign Contribution Trust Account shall be:
(A) returned on a "last in, first out" basis to those persons who have made said contributions;
(B) donated to the City and County of San Francisco;
(C) donated to a charitable organization;
(D) used to pay outstanding campaign debts or accrued expenses;
(E) used to pay expenses associated with terminating the committee, such as bookkeeping, legal fees, preparation of campaign statements, and audits; or
(F) used for other permissible purposes established by the Ethics Commission by regulation.
(4) SURPLUS FUNDS. Surplus funds held by a candidate or committee shall be:
(A) returned on a "last in, first out" basis to those persons who have made said contributions;
(B) donated to a charitable organization;
(C) donated to the City and County of San Francisco;
(D) used to pay outstanding campaign debts or accrued expenses;
(E) used to pay expenses associated with terminating the committee, such as bookkeeping, legal fees, preparation of campaign statements, and audits; or
(F) used for other permissible purposes established by the Ethics Commission by regulation.
(c) TRANSFER OF FUNDS. Subject to the restrictions set forth in Subsection (b), at any time, funds held in a candidate committee's Campaign Contribution Trust Account may be transferred to any legally constituted committee established by the candidate under the California Political Reform Act, California Government Code section 81000 et seq. Contributions transferred under this subsection shall be attributed to specific contributors using a "first in, first out" or "last in, first out" accounting method.
(Added by Ord. 71-00, File No. 000358, App. 4/28/2000; amended by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; Ord. 141-03, File No. 030034, App. 6/27/2003; Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009; Ord. 157-16
, File No. 160669, Eff. 9/3/2016)