(a) AUDIT. The Ethics Commission shall audit all candidate committees whose candidates have received public financing under this Chapter. Audits of candidate committees conducted under this Subsection shall begin within 60 days after the date the candidate committees' first post-election campaign disclosure report is required to be filed pursuant to Section 1.106 of this Chapter. In his or her discretion, the Executive Director may initiate additional targeted or randomly selected audits of any committee, irrespective of whether the committee received any public funds. At the request of the Executive Director, the Controller shall assist in conducting these audits.
(b) REPAYMENT.
(1) If the Ethics Commission determines that any portion of the payments made to a candidate from the Election Campaign Fund exceeded the aggregate amount of payments to which the candidate was entitled under this Chapter, the Commission shall notify the Controller and the candidate. In addition to any other penalties, the candidate shall pay to the City and County of San Francisco, and deliver to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the amount of the excess payments, and if the Commission determines that any amount of any payment made to a candidate from the Election Campaign Fund was used for something other than qualified campaign expenditures, the candidate shall pay to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the improper expenditure.
(2) Any candidate who receives public funds under this Chapter and exceeds his or her Individual Expenditure Ceiling by ten percent or more shall, in addition to any other penalties, pay to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the amount of public funds the candidate received under this Chapter.
(3) All payments delivered to the Ethics Commission under this Section shall be deposited in the Election Campaign Fund.
(Added by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; amended by Ord. 141-03, File No. 030034, App. 6/27/2003; Ord. 31-06, File No. 051773, App. 2/23/2006; Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 268-07, File No. 071003, App. 11/26/2007; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009)