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Gov. Code, § 85500 · Article 5. Independent Expenditures

Gov. Code, § 85500

Verbatim from the official edition

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

(a) In addition to any other report required by this title, a committee, including a political party committee, that is required to file reports pursuant to Section 84605 and that makes independent expenditures of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more during an election cycle in connection with a candidate for elective state office or state ballot measure, shall file online or electronically a report with the Secretary of State disclosing the making of the independent expenditure. This report shall disclose the same information required by subdivision (b) of Section 84204 and shall be filed within 24 hours of the time the independent expenditure is made.

(b) An expenditure may not be considered independent, and shall be treated as a contribution from the person making the expenditure to the candidate on whose behalf, or for whose benefit, the expenditure is made, if the expenditure is made under any of the following circumstances:

(1) The expenditure is made with the cooperation of, or in consultation with, the candidate on whose behalf, or for whose benefit, the expenditure is made, or any controlled committee or any agent of the candidate.

(2) The expenditure is made in concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, the candidate on whose behalf, or for whose benefit, the expenditure is made, or any controlled committee or any agent of the candidate.

(3) The expenditure is made under any arrangement, coordination, or direction with respect to the candidate or the candidate’s agent and the person making the expenditure.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 241, Sec. 12. Effective September 4, 2001. Note: This section was added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 102, and approved in Prop. 34 on Nov. 7, 2000.

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=85500.
Text hash
sha256 585e65c4b544a72d258f5aa341f70c6a2c758f45656dd5023dc119a2761b624f
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

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