SEC. 1.122. SOLICITATION OR ACCEPTANCE OF CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS - LIMITATIONS.
§ 1.122
Candidates seeking San Francisco elective office must file a declaration of intent with the Department of Elections before soliciting or accepting campaign contributions, and may run for only one office at a time. Campaign funds may be used only for the declared candidacy or related expenses with a legislative, governmental, or political purpose; candidates holding City office cannot control general-purpose committees, and surplus or withdrawn campaign funds must be returned to contributors, donated to charity or the City, used for outstanding debts, or allocated through other Ethics Commission-approved purposes.
Before a candidate can ask for or take campaign money, they must tell the Department of Elections which city office they're running for. A candidate can only run for one office at a time. Once they have a campaign account, the money can only be spent on that specific race or job-related expenses that serve a political purpose. Candidates who win office and already had a general-purpose fund must get rid of that money within 90 days. If a candidate drops out or has leftover money after the election, they have to do one of these things: give the money back to the people who donated it (in reverse order), give it to charity, give it to the city, pay off campaign debts, or pay costs to close down their campaign committee.
- Controversial:Campaign contribution rules are routinely debated in San Francisco politics; restrictions on use, surplus handling, and candidate-controlled committees are areas of public disagreement.
- Complex:Subsection (b) contains multiple interrelated rules about fund use, committee control, withdrawal scenarios, and surplus disposition with cross-references to other regulations and Ethics Commission authority.
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Official text
SEC. 1.122. SOLICITATION OR ACCEPTANCE OF CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS – LIMITATIONS.
(a) DECLARATION OF INTENT REQUIRED. No candidate or candidate committee shall solicit or accept, or cause to be solicited or accepted, any contribution unless and until the candidate has filed a declaration of intention to become a candidate for a specific City elective office with the Department of Elections on a form prescribed by the Director of Elections.
No person shall file a declaration of intention to become a candidate for more than one City elective office.
(b) USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS.
(1) GENERAL. Except as otherwise provided in this Chapter, funds in a candidate committee's campaign account may be used only on behalf of the candidacy for the office specified in the candidate's declaration of intention filed under Subsection (a) or for expenses associated with holding that office, provided that such expenditures are reasonably related to a legislative, governmental, or political purpose. Contributions solicited or accepted under this Section for one candidate shall not be expended for the candidacy of any other candidate for local, state or federal office, in support of or opposition to any measure or in support of or opposition to any state ballot proposition, or for donations to a charitable organization. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a candidate committee for a candidate in a ranked choice election from expending funds to support the ranking of another candidate if the primary purpose of the expenditure is to further the candidate's own campaign.
(2) PROHIBITING CANDIDATE-CONTROLLED GENERAL PURPOSE COMMITTEES. No candidate holding City elective office may control a candidate-controlled general purpose committee. Any candidate who controls a candidate-controlled general purpose committee prior to assuming City elective office shall return, use, or dispose of all funds held by the committee using the means specified in subsection (b)(4) within 90 days of the date that the candidate assumes office.
(3) WITHDRAWAL FROM CANDIDACY. If a candidate has withdrawn his or her candidacy, campaign funds held by that candidate's committee's Campaign Contribution Trust Account shall be:
(A) returned on a "last in, first out" basis to those persons who have made said contributions;
(B) donated to the City and County of San Francisco;
(C) donated to a charitable organization;
(D) used to pay outstanding campaign debts or accrued expenses;
(E) used to pay expenses associated with terminating the committee, such as bookkeeping, legal fees, preparation of campaign statements, and audits; or
(F) used for other permissible purposes established by the Ethics Commission by regulation.
(4) SURPLUS FUNDS. Surplus funds held by a candidate or committee shall be:
(A) returned on a "last in, first out" basis to those persons who have made said contributions;
(B) donated to a charitable organization;
(C) donated to the City and County of San Francisco;
(D) used to pay outstanding campaign debts or accrued expenses;
(E) used to pay expenses associated with terminating the committee, such as bookkeeping, legal fees, preparation of campaign statements, and audits; or
(F) used for other permissible purposes established by the Ethics Commission by regulation.
(c) TRANSFER OF FUNDS. Subject to the restrictions set forth in Subsection (b), at any time, funds held in a candidate committee's Campaign Contribution Trust Account may be transferred to any legally constituted committee established by the candidate under the California Political Reform Act, California Government Code section 81000 et seq. Contributions transferred under this subsection shall be attributed to specific contributors using a "first in, first out" or "last in, first out" accounting method.
(Added by Ord. 71-00, File No. 000358, App. 4/28/2000; amended by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; Ord. 141-03, File No. 030034, App. 6/27/2003; Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009; Ord. 157-16 , File No. 160669, Eff. 9/3/2016)