7/29/2019 Long Beach City Atty Office Memo to Mayor, Council re
Intra-Fund Campaign Transfers
1/1
Date :
To:
F r om :
Sub j e c t :
City of Long BeachWorking Together to Serve
Office o f the City Attorney
September 6, 2013Honorable Mayor and City CouncilLarry Herrera,
City ClerkMichael J. Mais, Assistant City Attorney jftft^Oll.Intra
Fund Campaign Transfers
Memo r a n d um
Recently the City Attorney's Office and the City Clerk's office
have received inquiresfrom several parties regarding the ability of
a candidate for the April 2014 election totransfer campaign funds
from one controlled campaign committee account to anothercontrolled
campaign committee account. For example, the question has arisen as
towhether a person who currently has campaign funds remaining from
a state electedoffice can transfer those funds directly into the
controlled committee account for a Cityof Long Beach election
without regard to the City's current campaign contributionl imitat
ions.
This issue raises important constitutional questions and brings
into question thevalidity of significant portions of the City's
Campaign Reform Act which was approvedby the voters as "Proposition
M" in the 1994 election. The issues being raised are notunlike the
constitutional issues raised in the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce
v.City of Long Beach case, wherein the Federal 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals ultimatelyfound that certain portions of the City's
Campaign Finance Act (Proposition M) wereunconstitutional and not
enforceable by the City.The questions being raised could
potentially involve the City Attorney election race.As such,
outside counsel has been retained to provide the City with guidance
as tothese issues. It is expected that the Fair Political Practices
Commission will also beconsulted with regard to these matters. As
part of this process, we will request thatthe outside legal opinion
be released directly to the City Clerk. Because these mattersare
complex and significant, it is expected that an opinion will not be
issued forapproximately two weeks.Ifyou should have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact
me.MJM:kjmA13-1709I:\apps\ctylaw32\wpdocs\d006\p020\00408408.doc
