Court Opinion

ID: 9629268
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:39:40.965553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:42.398599
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the single subject rule has not been violated. I do not agree, however, that enforcement of sections 86202, 86107, subdivisions (d) and (e), and 86109, subdivisions (d) and (e) of the Political Reform Act of 19741 should be enjoined.
In my view the majority opinion does not adequately advise California legislators and citizens generally as to their powers to regulate lobbying.
Language reading substantially as follows has been part of the California Constitution for 100 years: “A person who seeks to influence the vote of action of a member of the Legislature in the member’s legislative capacity by bribery, promise of reward, intimidation, or other dishonest means, or a member of the Legislature so influenced, is guilty of a felony.” (Art. IV, § 15.) In 1972 the electors commanded additionally that “[t]he Legislature shall. . . provide for . . . free elections” and “shall prohibit improper practices that affect elections . . . .” (Art. II, § 3 and § 4.) Two years later, apparently because they believed that regulations *51complementing the constitutional language were essential, the electors via the initiative approved the Political Reform Act of 1974.
The majority opinion states, “The claimed state interest is to rid the political system of both apparent and actual corruption and improper influence.” {Ante, p. 45.) That is an unconscionably bowdlerized paraphrase of complex aims that in the initiative measure were declared to be as follows (and note especially the declaration that “[previous laws regulating political practices have suffered from inadequate enforcement by state and local authorities”2);
“The people find and declare as follows:
“(a) State and local government should serve the needs and respond to the wishes of all citizens equally, without regard to their wealth;
“(b) Public officials, whether elected or appointed, should perform their duties in an impartial manner, free from bias caused by their own financial interests or the financial interests of persons who have supported them;
“(c) Costs of conducting election campaigns have increased greatly in recent years, and candidates have been forced to finance their campaigns by seeking large contributions from lobbyists and organizations who thereby gain disproportionate influence over governmental decisions;
“(d) The influence of large campaign contributors is increased because existing laws for disclosure of campaign receipts and expenditures have proved to be inadequate;
“(e) Lobbyists often make their contributions to incumbents who cannot be effectively challenged because of election laws and abusive practices which give the incumbent an unfair advantage;
“(f) The wealthy individuals and organizations which make large campaign contributions frequently extend their influence by employing lobbyists and spending large amounts to influence legislative and administrative actions;
*52“(g) The influence of large campaign contributors in ballot measure elections is increased because the ballot pamphlet mailed to the voters by the state is difficult to read and almost impossible for a layman to understand; and
“(h) Previous laws regulating political practices have suffered from inadequate enforcement by state and local authorities.” (Gov. Code, § 81001.)
“The people enact this title to accomplish the following purposes;
“(a) Receipts and expenditures in election campaigns should be fully and truthfully disclosed in order that the voters may be fully informed and improper practices may be inhibited;
“(b) The amounts that may be expended in statewide elections should be limited in order that the importance of money in such elections may be reduced;
“(c) The activities of lobbyists should be regulated and their finances disclosed in order that improper influences will not be directed at public officials;
“(d) Assets and income of public officials which may be materially affected by their official actions should be disclosed and in appropriate circumstances the officials should be disqualified from acting in order that conflicts of interest may be avoided;
“(e) The state ballot pamphlet should be converted into a useful document so that voters will not be entirely dependent on paid advertising for information regarding state measure;
“(f) Laws and practices unfairly favoring incumbents should be abolished in order that elections may be conducted more fairly; and
“(g) Adequate enforcement mechanisms should be provided to public • officials and private citizens in order that this title will be vigorously enforced.” (Gov. Code, § 81002.)
“This title should be liberally construed to accomplish its purposes.” (Gov. Code, § 81003.)
*53Who are lobbyists? The majority opinion correctly quotes section 82039 as follows; “ ‘Lobbyist’ means any person who is employed or contracts for economic consideration, other than reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses, to communicate directly or through his agents with any elective state official, agency official or legislative official for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action, if a substantial or regular portion of the activities for which he receives consideration is for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. No person is a lobbyist by reason of activities described in Section 86300.” Not mentioned, however, is section 82002, which tells us that “ ‘[administrative action’ means the proposal, drafting, development, consideration, amendment, enactment or defeat by any state agency of any rule, regulation or other action in any rate-making proceeding or any quasi-legislative proceeding, which shall include any proceeding governed by Chapter 4.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code (beginning with Section 11371).” That definition, I think, disposes of the majority’s comment that “the definition of lobbyist is extremely broad, to include persons who appear regularly before administrative agencies seeking to influence administrative determinations in favor of their clients.” (Majority opn., ante, p. 45.) In other words, and presumably because rule making is comparable to statute making,3 the electors approved the regulation of administrative as well as legislative lobbying. I do not regard that as unreasonable, and I do not agree that “[t]he governmental interests held to warrant substantial restrictions on political rights . . . have no greater application to lobbyists than to other private campaign contributors.” (Id., p. 45.)
Nor do I accept the majority’s suggestion that prohibition of contributions is suspect when “the lobbyist may never have occasion to lobby the candidate.” (Id., p. 45.) What if the candidate is a relative, a friend, or a potential colleague, political or professional, of persons whom the lobbyist does intend to lobby? The search for “disproportionate influence over governmental decisions” (Gov. Code, § 81001, subd. (c)) can cause campaign funds to flow in channels that become labyrinthine, producing effects that sometimes seem almost subliminal.
How, I wonder, do the following words from the majority opinion enlighten legislators and citizens? “[T]he statute [Gov. Code, § 86202] does not discriminate between small and large but prohibits all contribution. Thus, it is not narrowly directed to the aspects of political *54association where potential corruption might be identified.” (Majority opn., ante, p. 45.) As I indicated above, to imply that “corruption” was the sole evil the electors sought to eradicate seems simplistic, almost quaint.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 is not a prototype of sapient drafting. Section 81012 does, however, anticipate possible needs for amendment. Given the complex findings, declarations, and statements of purpose that the electors chose to set forth in sections 81001 and 81002, supra, I contend that courts are best advised to await further legislative consideration. They should not comb the law now for clauses that, under varying opinions of the United States Supreme Court (particularly as to “strict scrutiny”), in a more routinely motivated law might be categorized as insufficiently “tailored.” The majority opinion, for instance, so labels clauses that arguably involve “irrelevant private financial matters unrelated to the petition activity.” (Ante, p. 49.) To achieve the declared and legitimate aims of the law before us in this case, I submit that defining the appropriate borderlines of that kind of relevance is a task best assigned to legislators and administrators, not judges.

Government Code section 81000 et seq.

Compare Newman, Legal Aspects of Representation, California Laws on Lobbying, Legislators’ Orientation Conference (1959) pages 125-130.

“Rulemaking is the administrative counterpart of what a legislative body does when it enacts a statute.” (Davis, Administrative Law and Government (2d ed. 1975) p. 118.)