SB 1389 makes narrowly targeted, non‑substantive edits to Government Code section 91013 — the provision that governs $10‑per‑day penalties for filing campaign and disclosure reports after statutory deadlines. The changes clean up awkward or inconsistent wording in the clause that allows filing officers to decline enforcement of those penalties in certain situations.
The bill does not change the dollar amount of the penalty, the basic deadlines, or the listed exceptions (serious illness, education program completion, and written‑notice thresholds). Its practical effect is administrative: fewer drafting ambiguities for filing officers, counsel, and compliance teams to parse when deciding whether to assess or waive penalties.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill amends Gov. Code §91013 to clarify the language governing when filing officers may decline to enforce late‑filing penalties. It preserves the existing $10/day penalty, the written‑notice thresholds for different report types, and the listed exceptions for non‑willful late filings, serious illness, and completion of a political reform education program.
Who It Affects
County registrars, city clerks, and other local filing officers who administer disclosure filings; candidate and committee treasurers and schedulers; agency and municipal counsel who advise on enforcement decisions; and compliance vendors who prepare notices and training materials.
Why It Matters
By removing wording ambiguities in the waiver clause, the bill reduces legal uncertainty about enforcement discretion and should lower administrative friction and potential disputes over technical drafting. It does not create new defenses to late filings or change penalty caps.
More articles like this one.
A weekly email with all the latest developments on this topic.
What This Bill Actually Does
Section 91013 currently imposes a $10 per day penalty for original statements or reports filed after statutory deadlines and gives filing officers limited discretion to decline enforcement if the late filing was not willful and enforcement would not further the act’s purposes. SB 1389 revises the statutory phrasing of that discretion provision to eliminate awkward or contradictory wording without changing the substantive scope of the discretion.
The rest of the subsection — including specific timelines tied to written notice and excluded categories of filings — remains in place.
The statute also lists three operational exceptions: (1) a waiver of liability is not available if specified deadlines after written notice have passed (30 days for most statements of economic interest except certain candidate filings, 5 days for campaign reports required 12 days before an election, and 10 days for other statements), (2) waiver is available when the filer was unable to file because of serious illness or hospitalization, and (3) waiver is available when the filer completes the political reform education program under Section 83116.7 for that violation. SB 1389 leaves those exceptions intact and only tidies the clause that describes when the filing officer “need not” enforce liability.For filed copies (distinct from original filings), the statute launches the $10/day liability after a shorter notice window (10 days generally; 5 days for 12‑day campaign reports) and repeats the illness and education program exceptions.
SB 1389 does not alter those notice windows or the distinction between original statements and copies.Finally, the law caps liability at the greater of the cumulative amount stated in the late filing or $100 and directs filing officers to deposit collected funds into the filing officer’s jurisdictional general fund. SB 1389 preserves both the cap and the deposit requirement — the bill’s edits are drafting fixes rather than policy changes — but the clearer text should make it easier for filing officers to explain decisions and for compliance teams to document their responses.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill corrects and clarifies the waiver phrasing in Gov. Code §91013 but leaves the $10 per day late‑filing penalty unchanged.
A waiver of liability is not available if a statement or report is not filed within 30 days for most statements of economic interest (excluding certain candidate filings under §87201), 5 days for a 12‑day pre‑election campaign report, and 10 days for other reports after the filing officer provides specific written notice.
The statute explicitly preserves two waiver grounds: inability to file due to serious illness or hospitalization, and completion of the political reform education program under §83116.7 for that violation.
For late copies of statements (as distinct from original filings), the $10/day liability begins after a 10‑day notice window (5 days for 12‑day campaign reports) and the same illness and education exceptions apply.
Collections under §91013 must be deposited into the filing officer’s jurisdictional general fund and are capped at the greater of the amount stated in the late filing or $100.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
General update and housekeeping to the late‑filing provision
This entry replaces the current text of §91013 with a version that preserves existing structure (subsections (a) through (c)) but fixes awkward or contradictory phrasing in the paragraph that authorizes filing officers to decline enforcement. The change is framed as technical and nonsubstantive in the bill digest; in practice it removes textual friction that could complicate advisory opinions or internal enforcement memos.
Original filings: penalty, discretionary non‑enforcement, and specific exceptions
Subdivision (a)(1) restates the $10 per day liability for original statements or reports filed after a deadline. Paragraph (2) clarifies the filing officer’s impartial discretion to not enforce the liability when late filing was not willful and enforcement would not further the act’s purposes while preserving the three specific written‑notice thresholds that negate that discretion. Paragraphs (3) and (4) continue to provide categorical non‑enforcement where the filer was incapacitated by serious illness/hospitalization or completed the statutory education program for the violation.
Late copies: shortened notice windows and matching exceptions
Subdivision (b) treats late copies separately: liability runs from a specified number of days after the filing officer issues written notice (10 days generally; 5 days for 12‑day pre‑election campaign reports). The bill keeps this distinction in place and leaves the same two categorical exceptions (serious illness; completion of the education program) that permit non‑enforcement of penalties for copies.
Collections, deposit, and liability cap
Subdivision (c) instructs filing officers to deposit collected penalties into the jurisdiction’s general fund and caps liability at the greater of the cumulative amount stated in the late filing or $100. SB 1389 leaves both the deposit direction and the cap unchanged; the amendments focus on clarifying enforcement language rather than altering fiscal mechanics.
This bill is one of many.
Codify tracks hundreds of bills on Elections across all five countries.
Explore Elections in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Local filing officers (county registrars, city clerks, municipal recorders): clearer statutory text reduces ambiguity when deciding whether to assess or waive penalties and supports more consistent internal guidance.
- Campaign treasurers and candidate compliance staff: improved clarity in waiver language lowers the risk of administrative appeals based on textual ambiguity and makes waiver criteria easier to document.
- Municipal and agency counsel: the tidy phrasing reduces time spent interpreting an awkward clause in enforcement letters or advisory opinions.
- Training and compliance vendors: clearer statutory language simplifies updates to checklists, notices, and client advisories.
Who Bears the Cost
- Local filing offices administratively: small one‑time costs to update form language, staff training, and enforcement procedures to align with the clarified text.
- Campaign committees and small candidate organizations: no new substantive obligations, but slightly reduced tactical flexibility where prior ambiguity might have been argued as a defense.
- Jurisdictional general funds (de minimis): potential minor changes in collections due to procedural shifts, though the bill does not change penalty amounts or caps.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central tension is between clarity and discretionary flexibility: the bill removes textual ambiguity that complicates enforcement and advice, but in doing so it narrows the rhetorical wiggle room filing officers and filers previously used to reach pragmatic resolutions in marginal cases.
SB 1389 is explicitly framed as technical and nonsubstantive, but even drafting cleanups can have downstream effects. A clearer waiver clause reduces ambiguity that some filers might previously have relied on to resist penalties in borderline cases; that could modestly increase enforceable assessments in jurisdictions that tightened practices in response to the cleaner text.
Conversely, the change should reduce disputes where filing officers previously declined penalties but lacked clear textual support for doing so.
Implementation will be straightforward, but not costless: filing officers should revise written‑notice templates, internal checklists, and public guidance. Courts or administrative panels could still receive challenges that turn on legislative intent — a risk whenever a textual cleanup coincides with prior inconsistent practice — so counsel should be prepared to document historical enforcement patterns.
Finally, the bill leaves intact cross‑references (for example, §87201 and §83116.7) that practitioners must continue to track; the cleanup does not reconcile any other drafting inconsistencies that may exist elsewhere in the Political Reform Act.
Try it yourself.
Ask a question in plain English, or pick a topic below. Results in seconds.