California Common Cause v. Fair Political Practices Commission

Opinion

PUGLIA, P. J.

Government Code section 85300, enacted in 1988 as part of Proposition 73, amends the Political Reform Act of 1974 (Gov. Code, § 81000 et seq.) to prohibit the use of public money for political campaigns. (Hereafter all citations to sections of an undesignated code are to the Government Code.) In this original proceeding (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 10), petitioners California Common Cause, League of Women Voters, and Walter Zelman seek a determination that section 85300 is unconstitutional and therefore does not override other provisions of law which we are asked to command respondents fully to enforce. Petitioners contend section 85300 is unconstitutional because it binds future legislatures from enacting any laws regarding the public funding of political campaigns. We find no merit in petitioners’ position and accordingly shall deny their application for writ of mandate.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 (Act) was an initiative measure intended to correct election abuses in California. (§§ 81001, 81002; see Diamond et al.,

California’s Political Reform Act: Greater Access to the Initiative Process

(1975) 7 Sw.U. L.Rev. 453, 463-464; hereafter cited as

California’s Political Reform Act.)

The drafters designed the Act to provide California voters a greater degree of governmental supervision over the political process.

{Ibid.)

The Act was deemed necessary as the legislative and executive departments had been generally unresponsive to political reform.

(California ’s Political Reform Act, supra,

at p. 464.) It is the intent of the Act that “[s]tate and local government . . . serve the needs and respond to the wishes of all citizens equally, without regard to their wealth.” (§ 81001, subd. (a).)

At the June 1988 general election, the voters approved two initiative measures, Propositions 68 and 73, both of which amended the Act but, in some instances, in conflicting ways. Proposition 68, supported by petitioners, created a mechanism for the public financing of candidates seeking election to the state Legislature by the establishment of a campaign reform fund to be funded by taxpayers. Proposition 73 added section 85300 to the Act which prohibits the use of public money in all political campaigns.