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HomeMy WebLinkAbout00-04ORDINANCE NO. 2000-04 ADDING CHAPTER 2 -27 TO THE DANVILLE MUNICIPAL CODE REGARDING CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING DISCLOSURE FOR INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE COMMITTEES The Danville Town Council does ordain as follows: SECTION 1. ADDING CHAPTER 2 -27 TO THE DANVILLE MUNICIPAL CODE. Chapter 2 -27 is hereby added to the Danville Municipal Code to read as follows: CHAPTER 2 -27 Campaign Advertising Disclosure 2 -27.1 Purpose. Under the California Political Reform Act, independent expenditure committees may send mass mailings to voters for the purpose of calling for the election or defeat of candidates for Town Council. These mass mailings are only required to identify the name of the committee and not the names of those who contribute to or fund the cost of the mailings. Requiring disclosure of funding sources for such mass mailings by independent committees will further two important interests. First, it will help ensure an informed electorate by providing the Town's voters with the names and business interests of those individuals or entities advocating the election or defeat of Town Council candidates. Second, such disclosures help to avoid corruption in the electoral process by allowing the public to identify those who spend money to support or oppose a candidate. 2 -27.2 Definitions. Unless otherwise specifically provided below or required by the context, the words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the same meanings as in the California Elections Code and in the Political Reform Act (Government Code Section 81000 et seq.) and regulations adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission. 2 -27.3 Disclosure of contributors to independent expenditure committees. (a) Any committee that makes, during the calendar year in which the election is held, more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in independent expenditures for or against a candidate for town office shall list the following information in a clear and legible manner on the bottom one -third (1/3) of the front page of any mass mailing by the committee in the election for which the independent expenditures were made: (1) The names and occupations of individuals and the names and business interests of non - individuals of the five larges contributors to the committee during the twelve months immediately preceding the date of distribution of the mass mailing, listed in order of the amount of contributions. If two or more of the largest contributors have contributed the same amount, they shall be listed according to chronological sequence of contribution. The disclosure shall read: "Major funding by: (name and occupation or business interest)." In the case of contributions from committees, the disclosure shall read: "Major funding by: (name of committee); Expenditures directed by: (name and occupation or business interest of persons or entities who direct or control the expenditures of the committee); and (2) If the committee has received at least one third of its total contributions during the twelve months immediately preceding the date of distribution of the mass mailing from large out of town contributor(s), the whole top one third of the disclosure shall state "Major funding from large out of town contributors." •` Large out of town contributors" means those contributors (a) who either are not residents of the Town of Danville or do not have a principal place of business in the Town of Danville, and (b) whose cumulative contributions to the committee are one hundred dollars ($100) or more for the twelve month period immediately preceding the date of distribution of the mass mailing. (b) When making the disclosures required in subsection (a)(1), the committee must use the same type size for all words in that disclosure. When making the disclosures required in subsection (a)(2), the committee must use the same type size for all words in that disclosure. The left and right and top and bottom margins of the disclosures shall not exceed one -half inch. The space between lines of type shall not be more than one half of the type size. The committee must list each contributor on a new line. The committee shall use the bottom one -third of the front page of the mass mailing solely for the purpose of making the disclosure required in subsection (a). (c) For purposes of this chapter, "front page" shall mean the envelope, page or panel where the address is, or in the case of unaddressed items, any outside panel. (d) This chapter does not apply to communications from an organization to its members. SECTION 2. CODIFICATION. Section 1 of this ordinance shall be codified in the Danville Municipal Code. SECTION 3. PUBLICATION AND EFFECTIVE DATE. The City Clerk shall have this ordinance published once within 15 (fifteen) days after adoption in a newspaper of general circulation. This ordinance shall become effective 30 days after adoption. PAGE 2 OF ORDINANCE NO. 2000-04 The foregoing Ordinance was introduced on September 19, 2000 and approved and adopted by the Danville Town Council at an adjourned regular meeting held on September 26, 2000, by the following vote: AYES: Greenberg, Doyle, Arnerich, Shimansky, Waldo NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MAYOR %4 R / O � V � ED AS TO FORM: ATTEST: rg -- t 4✓ } _ r CITY ATTORNEY CLERK CLERK'S CERTIFI / CATE I, Rochelle Flotten, Deputy City Clerk of the Town of Danville, hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and accurate copy of Ordinance No. 2000 -04 of said Town and that said ordinance was published according to flaw. Dated: q I Deputy ty Clerk of the Town of Danville PAGE 3 OF ORDINANCE NO. 2000-04