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Ethics Commission votes to stop enforcing local aggregate contribution limit after McCutcheon ruling
Summary
The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted 5–0 to adopt staff recommendations to suspend enforcement of the city ggregate campaign contribution limit in response to McCutcheon v. FEC and directed staff to include repeal language in a future ordinance package.
The San Francisco Ethics Commission on May 28 voted unanimously to adopt a staff recommendation to suspend enforcement of the city's aggregate campaign contribution limit and to direct staff to prepare repeal language for inclusion in a future package of campaign finance reforms.
The action follows the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. Executive Director John St. Croix told commissioners the ruling "appear[s] to have an impact" on local aggregate limits and that the Commission "have no choice . . . to follow compliance with that" decision. The staff recommended a resolution of non-enforcement now and broader CFRO changes later.
Supporters of the staff recommendation urged the Commission to act quickly to give candidates notice. Anita Mayo of the law firm Pillsbury Winthrop said the Supreme Court had underscored First Amendment protections around political contributions: "Contributing to a candidate's campaign is one of the ways a citizen can exercise that right," she said, urging the Commission to accept staff recommendations.
Commissioner Keane told colleagues that the McCutcheon ruling makes enforcement of an aggregate limit effectively unconstitutional and said a public resolution of non-enforcement would help inform candidates who might otherwise rely on the local rule. Commissioners debated whether to fold technical ordinance changes into a larger package over the next six to nine months or to remove the provision immediately; they settled on suspending enforcement now and drafting a repeal as part of a future package.
A motion to adopt the attached resolution and to direct staff "to include a provision repealing section 1.14(a)(2) in a planned package for future amendments to CFRO" was moved, seconded and approved; the chair announced the motion passed 5 to 0.
The Commission and staff said they plan interested-person meetings and additional review as they draft ordinance language to implement the policy change. The move is procedural: it suspends local enforcement while the Commission prepares statutory changes that will be considered at a later meeting.
