September 18th, 2003

SCHWARZENEGGER LAYS OUT AGENDA FOR SWEEPING POLITICAL REFORM IN SACRAMENTO

Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to Sacramento today to unveil a sweeping proposal for open government and political reform.

“The people of this state do not trust their government,” Schwarzenegger said. “They feel it is corrupted by dirty money, closed doors and backroom deals. They see the contributions go in, the favors go out, and they get punished with wasteful spending and high taxes.

“For democracy to be strong, we must bring the trust back to government,” Schwarzenegger said.

Schwarzenegger discussed the four principal planks of his political reform proposal – an expedited Sunshine Act, a blackout period for fundraising, instant campaign disclosure, and fair redistricting.

Expanded Sunshine Act: Schwarzenegger said he is endorsing Senate Constitutional Amendment (SCA) 1, which would take the state’s open records and open meetings laws and make access to them a civil right protected by the California Constitution. But Schwarzenegger’s plan expands the scope of the measure by making its provisions apply to the Legislature and its employees as well as the Executive Branch.

Drafted by the California Newspaper Association and the California First Amendment Coalition, SCA 1 was endorsed by the League of Women Voters and Common Cause. The measure passed the Senate on June 30 by a unanimous 34-0 vote, but died last week when the Assembly failed to bring the measure to a vote.

In addition, Schwarzenegger said that he will not sign any bill that has not received a full public hearing before the policy committees of both the Assembly and the Senate. Schwarzenegger said the policy is aimed at ending the long-standing process of “gut and amend” in the Legislature – when a bill’s content is erased, replaced with new language, and brought to a vote with no public hearing or public comment.

“Nearly 400 bills were amended during the last week of this year’s session,” Schwarzenegger said. “Bills are passed in a rush, in the middle of the night. There is no such thing as democracy in the dark,”

Fundraising Blackout – Schwarzenegger’s plan proposed a complete blackout period – covering the governor, the lieutenant governor, and all members of the Legislature – on raising campaign funds. The blackout period would run from the day the governor submits his budget proposal to the Legislature to the day the budgets is signed and certified as balanced by the state controller.

In June 2003, when the budget was under debate in Sacramento, a total of 66 fundraisers – in some cases, as many as 10 in a single day – were held by state lawmakers.

“It’s no coincidence that during the budget season from January to the summer is when the Sacramento politicians raise their money,” Schwarzenegger said. “As governor, I will ban all fundraising by state officials during the budget process.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 28 states have passed legislation applying some form of fundraising blackout period.

Instant Campaign Disclosure with Enhanced Penalties for Violation: Schwarzenegger proposed requiring disclosure of all contributions – with no dollar threshold – within 24 hours, using a simple electronic system that integrates with software currently used by campaigns to manage their records.

Current law requires campaigns to report only contributions more than $1,000 within 24 hours during the 90-day period before an election.

Additionally, Schwarzenegger proposed stiffening the penalties for certain campaign disclosure violations, changing them from their current classification of misdemeanors to felonies. These violations are:

• An intentional and knowing coordination between an independent expenditure committee and a candidate committee to evade contribution limits.

• Intentional and knowing money laundering to hide the true source of a contribution.

Fair Redistricting – To get politicians out of the process of drawing legislative district boundaries, Schwarzenegger’s proposal includes a constitutional amendment that would direct the Judicial Council – the administrative arm of California’s court system – to select three retired judges by lottery to serve as “Special Masters” who would draw district boundaries.

“Reapportionment of state Assembly and state Senate seats should be done fairly, so that no political party uses the process to distort democracy,” Schwarzenegger said. “Electoral districts should be drawn for the benefit of voters, not political intrigue and advantage.”

CLICK HERE to view and/or download a policy briefing with further details on Schwarzenegger’s political reform proposal as a PDF.