The Cypress City Council voted to direct staff to prepare a draft ordinance for the January meeting that would impose a $500 per-donor contribution limit for local elections and require independent-expenditure committees to disclose their top five funders on advertisements.

Mayor Burke introduced the item as an initial discussion of three reforms — local contribution limits, stronger disclosure for independent expenditures, and the possibility of publicly financed elections — saying the reforms aim to limit pay-to-play influence and improve transparency. "I'd recommend we adopt a $500 limit," the mayor said when explaining his preferred cap and the rationale tied to state conflict-of-interest thresholds.

Public commenters sharply criticized parts of the presentation and objected to the timing and level of notice for the PowerPoint slides posted shortly before the meeting. Several residents alleged conflicts of interest tied to Mayor Burke's nonprofit, Citizens Take Action, and noted the presence of large independent expenditures in recent Cypress contests: the mayor cited the Safe Neighborhoods PAC spending of over $35,000 on independent mailers in 2022 as an example of “dark money” that voters could not readily trace.

Councilmembers debated procedure and timing — some asked to delay substantive ordinance drafting until after the next election cycle or until a new councilmember is seated. Ultimately the council voted 3–1 to direct staff to prepare draft ordinance language for January that would include a $500 contribution cap and the top-five funder disclosure on independent-expenditure ads.

Next steps: staff will draft ordinance text for council review in January; any proposed ordinance will follow the standard ordinance process (first reading, second reading, adoption) and will allow additional public comment at each stage.