SEC. 1.148. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS; UNEXPENDED PUBLIC FUNDS.
§ 1.148
Candidates receiving public campaign financing may use the funds only for qualified campaign expenditures and certain post-election administrative costs, but not for fines, inaugural activities, employee bonuses, or victory celebrations. Candidates who withdraw or fail to qualify must repay all public funds received, and any unexpended funds must be returned to the Election Campaign Fund within 30 days after the Ethics Commission completes its audit.
If you get public money for your campaign, you can only spend it on campaign-related costs and some post-election bills like audits and filing reports. You cannot use public money for fines, fancy celebrations, employee bonuses, or costs related to taking office. If you drop out of the race or don't make it onto the ballot, you have to give back all the public money you got. After the election, if you have leftover public money, you must return it to the city within 30 days after the Ethics Commission audits your campaign finances. However, you can use leftover money to pay audit-related costs like bank fees until the audit is done.
- Complex:The section contains multiple overlapping restrictions and exceptions (especially in subsection (a)) that require careful reading to understand what is and is not permitted.
- Controversial:Public campaign financing itself is a subject of ongoing debate in San Francisco regarding equity, cost, and campaign integrity.
AI-generated · claude-haiku-4-5 · informational only, not legal advice.
Official text
(a) USE FOR QUALIFIED CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURES ONLY. Candidates who receive public financing may use the public funds solely to pay for qualified campaign expenditures and to repay loans used to pay for qualified campaign expenditures except that public funds may be used to pay filing fees and costs incurred after the election that do not directly affect the outcome of the election, including but not limited to utility bills, expenses associated with an audit, and expenses related to preparing post-election campaign finance disclosure reports as required by the California Political Reform Act, Government Code Section 81000, et seq., and the provisions of this Chapter. Candidates may not use public funds to pay for expenses incurred in connection with an administrative or judicial proceeding. Candidates may not use public funds to pay administrative, civil or criminal fines, including late filing fines, or to pay for inaugural activities or officeholder expenses. Candidates may not use public funds to pay post-election bonuses to campaign employees or for election victory celebrations or similar post-election campaign events.
(b) WITHDRAWAL OR FAILURE TO QUALIFY. Any candidate who receives public financing but who withdraws or fails to qualify to have his or her name printed on the ballot in the election for which the public funds were provided shall repay the Election Campaign Fund the full sum received from the Fund.
(c) UNEXPENDED PUBLIC FUNDS. Any candidate who receives public financing and whose committee has unexpended public funds shall pay to the City and County of San Francisco and deliver to the Ethics Commission those funds for deposit in the Election Campaign Fund no later than 30 days after the Ethics Commission completes its audit of the candidate's committee. Unexpended funds may be used to pay for expenses associated with an audit such as bank fees, treasurer fees and storage fees until the Ethics Commission completes its audit of the candidate's committee.
(Added by Proposition O, 11/7/2000; amended by Ord. 141-03, File No. 030034, App. 6/27/2003; Ord. 31-06, File No. 051773, App. 2/23/2006; Ord. 228-06, File No. 060501, App. 9/14/2006; Ord. 268-07, File No. 071003, App. 11/26/2007; Ord. 234-09, File. No. 090989, App. 11/20/2009)