SEC. 1.150. AUDIT; REPAYMENT.
§ 1.150
The Ethics Commission audits all candidate committees that received public financing, beginning within 60 days of their first post-election disclosure report, and may conduct additional audits of any committee at the Executive Director's discretion. Candidates must repay excess or improperly used public funds, and candidates who exceed their spending limits by 10% or more must repay all public funds they received.
The Ethics Commission checks the spending of candidates who got public money. These audits start within 60 days after the election. If a candidate got too much money or spent public funds on things that weren't allowed, they have to pay the money back to the city. If a candidate spends more than 10% over their allowed limit, they have to return all the public money they received. Any money returned goes back into the public funding program.
- Complex:The repayment section contains multiple penalties and conditions (excess payments, improper expenditures, spending-ceiling violations) that operate under different triggers and with potentially overlapping consequences, making the full scope of liability unclear without careful reading.
- Controversial:Automatic repayment of all public funds for exceeding spending limits by 10% is a significant financial penalty that candidates and taxpayers might reasonably dispute regarding its deterrent value and fairness.
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Official text
(a) AUDIT. The Ethics Commission shall audit all candidate committees whose candidates have received public financing under this Chapter. Audits of candidate committees conducted under this Subsection shall begin within 60 days after the date the candidate committees' first post-election campaign disclosure report is required to be filed pursuant to Section 1.106 of this Chapter. In his or her discretion, the Executive Director may initiate additional targeted or randomly selected audits of any committee, irrespective of whether the committee received any public funds. At the request of the Executive Director, the Controller shall assist in conducting these audits.
(b) REPAYMENT.
(1) If the Ethics Commission determines that any portion of the payments made to a candidate from the Election Campaign Fund exceeded the aggregate amount of payments to which the candidate was entitled under this Chapter, the Commission shall notify the Controller and the candidate. In addition to any other penalties, the candidate shall pay to the City and County of San Francisco, and deliver to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the amount of the excess payments, and if the Commission determines that any amount of any payment made to a candidate from the Election Campaign Fund was used for something other than qualified campaign expenditures, the candidate shall pay to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the improper expenditure.
(2) Any candidate who receives public funds under this Chapter and exceeds his or her Individual Expenditure Ceiling by ten percent or more shall, in addition to any other penalties, pay to the Ethics Commission an amount equal to the amount of public funds the candidate received under this Chapter.
(3) All payments delivered to the Ethics Commission under this Section shall be deposited in the Election Campaign Fund.
(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)