Gov. Code, § 85200 · Article 2. Candidacy

Gov. Code, § 85200

Review required

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

Prior to the solicitation or receipt of any contribution or loan, an individual who intends to be a candidate for an elective state office, as that term is defined by Section 82024, shall file with the Secretary of State an original statement, signed under penalty of perjury, of intention to be a candidate for a specific office.

An individual who intends to be a candidate for any other elective office shall file the statement of intention with the same filing officer and in the same location as the individual would file an original campaign statement pursuant to subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) of Section 84215.

For purposes of this section, “contribution” and “loan” do not include any payments from the candidate’s personal funds for a candidate filing fee or a candidate statement of qualifications fee.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 18, Sec. 7. (AB 1181) Effective January 1, 2011. Superseded on operative date of amendment by Stats. 2018, Ch. 662. Note: This section was added on June 7, 1988, by initiative Prop. 73.

Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel

Conditionally operative on date prescribed by Stats. 2018, Ch. 662, Sec. 44.

Prior to the solicitation or receipt of any contribution or loan, an individual who intends to be a candidate for an elective state office, as that term is defined by Section 82024, shall file online or electronically with the Secretary of State an original statement, signed under penalty of perjury, of intention to be a candidate for a specific office.

History (another version listed by the Legislative Counsel)

Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 662, Sec. 29. (SB 1239) Effective January 1, 2019. Conditionally operative on date prescribed by Stats. 2018, Ch. 662, Sec. 44. Conditionally superseded; see amendment by Stats. 2025, Ch. 278. Note: This section was added on June 7, 1988, by initiative Prop. 73.

Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel

Conditionally operative pursuant to Sec. 78 of Stats. 2025, Ch. 278.

(a) Before becoming a candidate for a specific office, an individual shall file a statement of intention to be a candidate, signed under penalty of perjury.

(1) An individual who intends to be a candidate for elective state office shall file the statement of intention online or electronically with the Secretary of State.

(2) An individual who intends to be a candidate for any other elective office shall file the statement of intention with the same filing officer and in the same location as the individual would file an original campaign report pursuant to subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) of Section 84215.

(b) Candidates and officeholders who do not intend to qualify as a committee pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 82013 shall indicate this status on the statement of intention.

(1) Each candidate or officeholder who has indicated their intention to not qualify as a committee pursuant to this subdivision, but thereafter qualifies as a committee by receiving contributions or making expenditures totaling two thousand dollars ($2,000) or more in a calendar year, shall amend their statement of intention with the Secretary of State or their local filing officer within 48 hours of qualifying and register as a committee pursuant to Section 84101.

(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, in calculating whether two thousand dollars ($2,000) in expenditures have been made, payments for a filing fee or for a statement of qualification shall not be included if the payments are made from the candidate’s personal funds.

(c) For purposes of this section, “contribution” does not include any payments from the candidate’s personal funds for a candidate filing fee or a candidate statement of qualifications fee.

History (another version listed by the Legislative Counsel)

Amended (as amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 662, Sec. 29) by Stats. 2025, Ch. 278, Sec. 57. (AB 808) Effective January 1, 2026. Conditionally operative pursuant to Sec. 78 of Stats. 2025, Ch. 278. Note: This section was added on June 7, 1988, by initiative Prop. 73.

Source of truth

Edition: As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&sectionNum=85200.
Text hash: sha256 5782fce9a1769ec337c21ae47e316028c959d8179a4715d0e94a06f315c6312c
Composed by: compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

the Legislative Counsel lists 3 versions of this section; the version shown is the one in force by its history, the other is under "Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel" (conditional)
the Legislative Counsel lists 3 versions of this section; the version shown is the one in force by its history, the other is under "Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel" (conditional)

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