Sacramento, CA – Today Assemblyman Marc Steinorth (R-Rancho Cucamonga) introduced AB 2558 to permanently authorize San Bernardino County’s existing contract with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to enforce local campaign finance laws.
“The FPPC provides strong and trustworthy enforcement of our local campaign finance laws,” said Steinorth. “My county’s ability to maintain this contract is critical to upholding a transparent and ethical government, a top priority of both our voters and elected officials.”
In 2012, San Bernardino County established a campaign finance ordinance featuring contribution limits similar to those applied to State Senate and Assembly candidates. However, appointing an ethics commission to enforce the ordinance could have created financial and conflict-of-interest challenges to the County. Instead, AB 2146 (Cook, 2012) allowed the County to contract with the FPPC for enforcement of their local ordinance.
“Since 2012, the partnership established between San Bernardino County and the FPPC has proven to be both successful and cost-effective,” stated James Ramos, Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors. “We are confident that this continued partnership will provide increased transparency in local campaign finances as well as help further our goal of governing in an open and ethical manner.”
“I am thankful Assemblyman Steinorth has introduced this legislation to solidify our agreement with this tenacious watchdog,” said San Bernardino County Second District Supervisor Janice Rutherford, who proposed contracting with the FPPC. “We were faced with a choice: create more government by forming an ethics commission or contract with the agency that’s been doing the job at the state level for more than 40 years. We chose the latter.”
AB 2558 will remove the 2018 sunset date from statute, permanently authorizing the County to contract with the FPPC, upon mutual agreement of the two entities. The FPPC is set to publish a report to the Legislature in March detailing the status and efficacy of the partnership.
Assemblyman Steinorth represents the 40th Assembly District which includes Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, Highland, Loma Linda, and Redlands.
