City of Sacramento
Law and Legislation Committee Report
915 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814
www.cityofsacramento.org
File ID: 2025-01753 11/18/2025
An Ordinance Amending Section 2.13.055 of the Sacramento City Code Relating to Filings by Large Political Committees
File ID: 2025-01753
Location: Citywide
Recommendation: Review an Ordinance amending Sacramento City Code Chapter 2.13.055, relating to Filings by Large Political Committees; and 2) pass a Motion forwarding to the City Council.
Contact: Matthew Ruyak, Assistant City Attorney, (916) 808-5346, [email protected], Office of the City Attorney; Mindy Cuppy, City Clerk, (916) 808-5442, [email protected], Office of the City Clerk
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Ordinance Clean
3-Ordinance Redline
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: Under the Political Reform Act, a committee that receives contributions of $2,000 or more in a calendar year must register with the Secretary of State and complete Statement of Organization Recipient Committee (California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 410).
The City of Sacramento requires additional information from a “large political committee,” which is defined as “a political committee of persons that has been in existence for more than six months, receives contributions from one hundred (100) or more persons and acting in concert makes contributions to one or more candidates for city elective office.” (Sacramento City Code, § 2.13.040.) The Sacramento City Code currently requires the following of large political committees:
“Not less than seven calendar days prior to making a contribution to a candidate in an amount that itself or in combination with other contributions previously made to the candidate exceeds the
File ID: 2025-01753 11/18/2025
amount that a person may contribute to a candidate pursuant to Sections 2.13.050(A)(1) and
2.13.050(B)(1), a large political committee shall file with the city clerk the following documents:
1. Statement of organization large political committee; and
2. A copy of the large political committee's most recent statement of organization recipient committee (FPPC Form 410) filed pursuant to the Act and the Regulations.” (Sacramento City Code, § 2.13.055.)
This means that the first time a large political committee intends to make a contribution to a councilmember candidate in excess of $2,200 (the personal contribution limit in section 2.13.050(A) (1)), or to a mayoral candidate in excess of $4,350 (the personal contribution limit in section 2.13.050 (B)(1)), the large political committee must, seven days before that contribution, complete the online Statement of Organization Large Political Committee, and submit a FPPC Form 410.
It also means the large political committee must do those two tasks for each subsequent contribution to that same candidate. For example, if a large political committee contributes $2,500 to a councilmember candidate, the committee must provide the information. If a month later that committee contributes another $200, it must again provide the information. And if the following month it decides to contribute another $200, it must do it once again. This is because the code as currently written requires the information for every contribution that, when combined with all previous contributions, exceeds the $2,200 limit. This is an unnecessary administrative burden on large political committees. Conversely, the transparency of which large political committees are making allowable “excess” (i.e., over the individual limit) contributions is achieved by having them report when they actually exceed the individual limit. Their identities are available to the public on the City Clerk’s “Reported Large Political Committee Contributions” webpage.
To simplify things, the proposed ordinance provides that large political committees need only provide the information when the individual limit is first exceeded. Their identity and date of contribution will be then available on the Office of the City Clerk webpage.
Additionally, the proposed ordinance changes the “seven-days-prior” requirement, to simply at any time prior to the triggering contribution.
Policy Considerations: The city’s campaign contribution provisions help protect the integrity of the electoral process and they ensure transparency by requiring disclosure of certain information about large contributors.
Economic Impacts: Not applicable.
Environmental Considerations: Not applicable.
File ID: 2025-01753 11/18/2025
Sustainability: Not applicable.
Commission/Committee Action: Not applicable.
Rationale for Recommendation: The proposal eases administrative burdens on large political committees, while maintaining the transparency of publicly identifying those committees that exceed the individual contribution limits.
Financial Considerations: Not applicable.
Local Business Enterprise (LBE): Not applicable.
Ordinance No.2006 Adopted on 1
1570277
ORDINANCE NO. 2025-xxxx
Adopted by the Sacramento City Council
Date Adopted
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2.13.055 OF THE SACRAMENTO CITY
CODE, RELATING TO FILINGS BY LARGE POLITICAL COMMITTEES
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO:
SECTION 1.
Section 2.13.055 of the Sacramento City Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
2.13.055 Filing of statement of organization large political committee prior to making contributions that exceed the contribution limits applied to persons.
The first time in every election cycle that a large political committee makes a contribution to a candidate in an amount that itself or in combination with other contributions previously made to the candidate exceeds the amount that a person may contrib ute to a candidate pursuant to sections 2.13.0 50(A)(1) and 2.13.050(B)(1), the large political committee shall file with the city clerk, prior to making the contribution, the following documents:
1. Statement of organization large political committee; and
2. A copy of the large political committee's most recent statement of organization recipient committee (California Fair Political Practices Commission Form 410) filed pursuant to the Act and the Regulations.
Ordinance No.2006 Adopted on 1
1570277
ORDINANCE NO.
Adopted by the Sacramento City Council
Date Adopted
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 2.13.055 OF THE SACRAMENTO CITY CODE, RELATING
TO FILINGS BY LARGE POLITICAL COMMITTEES
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SACRAMENTO:
SECTION 1.
Section 2.13.055 of the Sacramento City Code is hereby amended to read as follows:
2.13.055 Filing of statement of organization large political committee prior to making contributions that exceed the contribution limits applied to persons.
Not less than seven calendar days prior to making The first time in every election cycle that a large political committee makes a contribution to a candidate in an amount that itself or in combination with other contributions previously made to the candidate exceeds the amount that a person may contribute to a candidate pursuant to Ssections
2.13.050(A)(1) and 2.13.050(B)(1), athe large political committee shall file with the city clerk, prior to making the contribution, the following documents:
1. Statement of organization large political committee; and
2. A copy of the large political committee's most recent statement of organization recipient committee (California Fair Political Practices Commission Form 410) filed pursuant to the Act and the Regulations.