Government operations
Political Reform Act of 1974: candidate trainings
Starting in 2029, candidates and treasurers of candidate-controlled committees must complete state campaign-law training before their committees can accept contributions.
The law ties fundraising eligibility to completing Political Reform Act training, aiming to ensure campaign officials understand applicable rules.
What the law does
- Requires candidates with registered candidate-controlled committees to complete office-specific campaign-law training by February 28, 2029, or within 30 days of registering a new committee.
- Requires committee treasurers to complete commission-developed training by the same deadlines, with a four-year lookback for previously completed treasurer training.
- Bars a committee from accepting contributions until its candidate or treasurer completes the required training.
- Requires the commission to develop, maintain, and offer convenient online training courses capped at 90 minutes for candidates and 120 minutes for treasurers.
- Exempts people who timely complete comparable training required by a local government ethics agency, subject to the commission's determination that the training is similar.
Who it affects
- Candidates for elective office who have registered candidate-controlled committees.
- Treasurers of candidate-controlled committees.
- Candidate-controlled committees seeking to accept campaign contributions.