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Gov. Code, § 89511 · Article 4. Campaign Funds

Gov. Code, § 89511

Verbatim from the official edition

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

(a) This article applies to campaign funds held by candidates for elective office, elected officers, controlled committees, ballot measure committees, committees opposed to a candidate or measure, and any committee which qualifies as a committee pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 82013.

(b) (1) For purposes of this chapter, “campaign funds” includes any contributions, cash, cash equivalents, and other assets received or possessed by a committee as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 82013.

(2) For purposes of this chapter, “committee” means a controlled committee, ballot measure committee, committee opposed to a candidate or measure, and any committee which qualifies as a committee pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 82013.

(3) For purposes of this chapter, “substantial personal benefit” means an expenditure of campaign funds which results in a direct personal benefit with a value of more than two hundred dollars ($200) to a candidate, elected officer, or any individual or individuals with authority to approve the expenditure of campaign funds held by a committee.

(4) For purposes of this article, “household” includes the candidate’s or elected officer’s spouse, dependent children, and parents who reside with the candidate or elected officer.

(5) (A) For purposes of this article, “attorney’s fees and other costs” includes only the following:

(i) Attorney’s fees and other legal costs related to the defense of the candidate or officer.

(ii) Administrative costs directly related to compliance with the requirements of this title.

(B) “Attorney’s fees and other costs” does not include expenses for fundraising, media or political consulting fees, mass mailing or other advertising, or, except as expressly authorized by subdivision (c) of Section 89513, a payment or reimbursement for a fine, penalty, judgment or settlement, or a payment to return or disgorge contributions made to any other committee controlled by the candidate or officer.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 884, Sec. 3. (AB 1692) Effective January 1, 2015.

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=89511.
Text hash
sha256 0b3d6d202982e60c5ff28de35f6f353021a1c22511ae03f3286dc9f04cf90b39
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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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