California’s Political Reform Act sets the rules for campaign money, lobbying, government ethics, and financial-interest disclosure across every level of state and local government in California. If you run for office, hold office, work for a government agency in a decision-making role, lobby the state, or manage a political committee, this law applies to you. It is codified at Government Code Sections 81000 through 91014, and the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) enforces it.1California Fair Political Practices Commission. About the Political Reform Act What follows is what compliance actually looks like, cycle by cycle, and what happens when it slips.
Who Has to Comply
The Act reaches nearly every participant in California politics. Candidates for any state or local office, from Governor down to school board, are covered, as is anyone currently holding one of those offices. Every type of political committee falls under the same transparency standards: candidate-controlled committees, ballot measure committees, independent expenditure committees, and general purpose committees.1California Fair Political Practices Commission. About the Political Reform Act
Lobbyists and lobbying firms seeking to influence state legislation or administrative decisions must register and report. Public employees who make or influence government decisions must disclose their personal financial interests. The coverage is deliberately broad. A statewide officeholder and a small-county planning commissioner face the same underlying rules, even if the dollar figures and disclosure categories differ.
Contribution Limits for the 2025–2026 Cycle
The Act caps how much any person, business, committee, or political party can give a candidate per election. Limits are set by statute and adjusted for inflation every odd-numbered year. For 2025–2026:
- Legislative and other non-statewide candidates: $5,900 per election from any person.2California Fair Political Practices Commission. Contribution Limits – City and County Candidates
- Statewide candidates other than Governor: $9,800 per election from any person.
- Governor: $39,200 per election from any person.
Small contributor committees and political party committees may give at higher thresholds depending on the race.3California Legislative Information. California Government Code 85301 City and county candidates default to the $5,900 per-election limit unless the local jurisdiction has enacted its own contribution ordinance.2California Fair Political Practices Commission. Contribution Limits – City and County Candidates The limits apply per election, so a primary and general each carry a separate cap.
Campaign Filings and Records
Once a committee receives or spends $2,000 in a calendar year, it must file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) with the Secretary of State or the appropriate local filing officer.4Fair Political Practices Commission. Form 410 – Supplemental Instructions for Multipurpose Organizations Including Nonprofits Ongoing activity is then reported on Form 460, the Recipient Committee Campaign Statement.
For every contribution of $100 or more, the committee reports the contributor’s full name, address, occupation, and employer. Self-employed contributors require the name of their business. Every expenditure over $100 must include the payee’s name and address and a description of what the payment covered. Accrued expenses, meaning obligations agreed to but not yet paid, also need documentation.
Campaign statements follow a semi-annual schedule. Committees file by July 31 for the period ending June 30, and by January 31 for the period ending December 31.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 84200 Pre-election statements are required in the weeks before an election. Missing a deadline triggers an automatic $10-per-day late fee.6California Secretary of State. Guidelines for Waiver of Liability of Late Filing Fines
State-level filers submit electronically through the Secretary of State’s free Cal-Online system or an approved third-party vendor.7California Secretary of State. How to File Electronically Local candidates typically file with their city or county clerk, often through electronic portals. Paper filings are still accepted in some circumstances but require a wet signature from the candidate or treasurer and must be delivered by the deadline. All filed data becomes public record.
Records, receipts, bank statements, and original source documents must be kept for at least four years after filing the campaign statement they relate to.8Fair Political Practices Commission. Regulation 18401 – Required Recordkeeping for Chapters 4 and 5 Elected state officers serving a four-year term face a five-year retention period for records tied to statements filed during the first year after election.
Form 700 for Officials and Employees
Every elected official and public employee who makes or influences government decisions must file a Statement of Economic Interests, known as Form 700.9California Fair Political Practices Commission. Statements of Economic Interests – Form 700 Government Code Section 87200 lists categories that must file, including elected state and local officers, judges, court commissioners, and planning commissioners. Each agency’s Conflict of Interest Code designates additional employees who must file based on the decision-making authority of their position.
The form requires disclosure of investments in business entities, interests in real property, and sources of income, including loans. What must be disclosed depends on the disclosure category assigned to your role. A planning commissioner discloses different financial interests than the agency’s IT director because their decisions affect different areas.
Elected state officers, judges, and state board members file their annual statement by March 3. Most other filers file by April 1. Officials assuming or leaving a position must file within 30 days.9California Fair Political Practices Commission. Statements of Economic Interests – Form 700 Candidates file no later than the final filing date for their declaration of candidacy.
Gift Limits and Behested Payments
State and local officials and employees may not accept gifts totaling more than $630 from a single source in a calendar year. That limit took effect January 1, 2025, and runs through December 31, 2026, when the FPPC will adjust it again for inflation.10California Fair Political Practices Commission. Gifts, Honoraria, Travel Payments, and Loans For elected state officials, the prohibition covers gifts from virtually any source, with narrow exceptions like gifts from family members. For officials and employees who file Form 700 under an agency’s Conflict of Interest Code, the limit applies only to gifts from individuals and entities that fall within the filer’s disclosure categories.
A behested payment is a payment made at the request of an elected official that primarily benefits a third party rather than the official personally, such as a donation to a nonprofit the officeholder publicly urged. When payments from a single source reach $5,000 or more in a calendar year, the official must report them on Form 803 within 30 days, and all subsequent payments from that source during the same year must also be reported within 30 days.11California Fair Political Practices Commission. Reporting Behested Payments – Form 803 California Public Utilities Commission members face the same obligation.
Starting January 1, 2026, there is no reporting duty when an elected official makes a purely public appeal through television, radio, billboards, online platforms, or public speeches. That exception does not apply if the appeal involves a fundraising event, a featured solicitation, or if the official holds a role at the organization receiving the payment.11California Fair Political Practices Commission. Reporting Behested Payments – Form 803
Lobbyist Registration and Reporting
Anyone meeting the legal definition of a lobbyist must register before attempting to influence state legislation or administrative action. Registration happens through Form 601, which identifies the lobbyist, the lobbying firm, and the clients the firm represents.12Fair Political Practices Commission. Lobbying Firm Registration Statement – Form 601 After registration, lobbyists and lobbying firms file quarterly disclosure reports covering payments received for lobbying services, expenses incurred, the agencies and legislative bodies they attempted to influence, and any gifts or campaign contributions made to state officials.
Registered lobbyists must also complete an ethics orientation course. A lobbyist who was registered during the previous legislative session and re-qualifies for the next session must finish the course by June 30 of the odd-numbered year the new session begins. A lobbyist registering for the first time, or one who missed the previous session, has 12 months from filing their certification to complete the course.13Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 2 18603.1 – Lobbyist Ethics Orientation Course Current ethics training is a condition of maintaining active registration.
Advertisement Disclaimers
Every political ad in California must tell the audience who paid for it. The baseline requirement is a “Paid for by [committee name]” disclosure on the communication.14California Fair Political Practices Commission. Campaign Advertising Requirements and Restrictions Print, television, radio, and digital ads each carry formatting requirements around font size, duration of display, and placement.
Online ads have their own rules. A paid ad on a social media platform that allows user engagement, or a graphic or image ad where the platform doesn’t permit a hyperlink to a disclosure page, qualifies as an “online platform disclosed advertisement” with separate formatting standards.14California Fair Political Practices Commission. Campaign Advertising Requirements and Restrictions The FPPC publishes detailed disclosure charts covering candidate committee ads, independent expenditure ads on candidates, independent expenditure ads on ballot measures, and non-independent expenditure ads. A missing or incorrect disclaimer is treated as its own violation, even if the underlying spending was properly reported.
Winding Down a Committee
A committee cannot simply stop operating and disappear. To formally terminate, it must have stopped receiving contributions and making expenditures, hold a zero account balance, have filed every required campaign statement covering all transactions including the disposition of leftover money, and have either paid off all debts or have no ability or foreseeable ability to pay them.15Fair Political Practices Commission. Manual 3 Chapter 12 – After the Election
The general rule is that surplus campaign money must be spent on something reasonably related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose. Ballot measure committees have additional options: returning funds to contributors on a pro-rata basis, donating to a nonprofit, contributing to another committee or political party, or retaining funds for a future campaign on the same subject. State candidate-controlled ballot measure committees face tighter restrictions and must disburse surplus funds within 60 days before termination, limited to donations to qualified nonprofits with no financial ties to the candidate or their family, contributions to a political party committee that won’t use the money for candidate-specific purposes, or returns to contributors.15Fair Political Practices Commission. Manual 3 Chapter 12 – After the Election
Penalties, Audits, and How Enforcement Starts
Consequences under the Act come in three tiers. Late filing fees run $10 per day per statement, imposed automatically without any complaint.6California Secretary of State. Guidelines for Waiver of Liability of Late Filing Fines Administrative fines can reach $5,000 per violation after a hearing, and multiple reporting errors on a single filing can each count as a separate violation.16California Legislative Information. California Government Code 83116 Anyone who knowingly or intentionally violates the Act is guilty of a misdemeanor, and a court can impose a fine of up to $10,000 per violation or three times the amount improperly handled, whichever is greater.17California Legislative Information. California Government Code 91000
Members of the public can file complaints directly with the FPPC, which investigates and decides whether enforcement is warranted. Civil lawsuits are also available and can produce judgments beyond the administrative cap.
Enforcement does not depend on someone filing a complaint. The FPPC runs an active audit program after each election cycle. Some audits are mandatory:
- Statewide candidates who raised or spent $25,000 or more are automatically audited.
- State ballot measure committees that spent more than $10,000 are automatically audited.
- CalPERS board candidates who received $5,000 or more in contributions are automatically audited.
Everyone else faces a random draw. The FPPC selects 25% of lobbying firms and lobbyist employers for audit. For legislative and contested superior court races, 25% of districts are selected, and any candidate in those races who raised or spent $15,000 or more gets audited. Statewide candidates below the mandatory threshold face a 10% random selection rate. The FPPC also picks 20 local jurisdictions each cycle, mixing counties, cities, school districts, and special districts.18California Fair Political Practices Commission. Audits and Assistance Division Your books can be examined even if nobody complains, so treasurers should reconcile bank statements against donor and expenditure ledgers throughout the cycle rather than reconstructing records after the fact.