Associated Press, August 6, 1997

Bill to Put Donations on Internet Could be Budget Victim

By Steve Lawrence

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The latest attempt to put campaign contributions on the Internet is only a few steps from the governor's desk, but it could be waylaid by this year's state budget wars.

A bill to set up a computerized filing program has passed the state Senate and is awaiting a vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, one step away from the Assembly floor.

But Gov. Pete Wilson's decision to immediately pay off a $1.36 billion debt to the Public Employees Retirement System has sent legislative budget writers scrambling for money, threatening even relatively inexpensive programs like the computerization bill.

``I think you can't avoid that conclusion,'' said Jim Knox, executive director of California Common Cause, a campaign reform group that supports the bill.

``(But) it's not a lot of money in the scope of the overall budget. If the Legislature can come up with $3 million to build a fence around the Capitol to restrict access, they ought to be able to come up with $1 million to open up access'' to campaign finance information.

Currently candidates and campaign committees are required to file paper reports listing their donations and expenditures. Voters or news reporters who want to find out where candidates are getting their money must go to the secretary of state's office or a county office to look at the reports.

Attempts to computerize the campaign reports date back to 1993. There have been several unsuccessful attempts since then.

This year's lone surviving Internet bill, by Sen. Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, would allocate $1.1 million to the secretary of state's office to set up the program, which would be activated in stages starting with statewide candidates and ballot measure
campaigns for the November 1998 election.

The system would be fully implemented by mid-2000, with all state candidates, committees and slate-mailer organizations that take in at least $50,000 filing their reports by computer. The requirement would also apply to reports filed by lobbyists who make at least $5,000 per quarter.

Assemblywoman Carole Migden, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, predicts the Karnette bill will pass her panel, where it needs only a simple majority for approval.

The tougher test will come on the Assembly floor, she says, where the bill needs a two-thirds vote.

``I think Democrats would be apt to support the measure,'' said Migden, D-San Francisco. ``But it would require 11 or more Republican votes. That would frankly be pivotal.''

But another Appropriations Committee member, Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro, R-Paso Robles, says the money shortage could hold up the Karnette bill until next year, a step that would delay implementation.

``When we do our suspense file (of fiscal bills) we're going to have difficulty funding anything,'' he said. ``This budget is going to be one lean, mean budget.''

Bordonaro says he supports computerization of campaign reports but is concerned that information about donors in the reports will be used by telemarketing firms or someone who wants to harass the contributor.

To accommodate him, Karnette agreed to remove the donors' street addresses from the computerized reports, but Bordonaro suggested that the donors' hometowns also should be dropped.

Karnette has resisted eliminating hometowns from the report. Bordonaro says a compromise might be to add penalties for misusing the donor information.

Secretary of State Bill Jones says he's been lobbying lawmakers to approve the bill and predicts that eventually a computerized filing measure will become law.

``It isn't a matter of whether this is going to happen,'' he said. ``It's a matter of whether it happens with this bill or not. I think it's inevitable.''

He says that even if the Karnette bill fails, he'll go ahead with a voluntary computerized filing program.

Knox says that in addition to the bill's potential fiscal problems it may face resistance from legislators who just don't like the idea of making it easier to see campaign finance reports.

``I suspect that's the case although I don't think anyone would admit to it,'' he said. ``Historically there has been resistance by elements of the Legislature to pass this bill and a number of excuses have been offered. We think they have pretty much been dealt with. Now the question is, do we want to pass this bill or not?''