OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Berkeley Campaign Finance & Public Financing Training – August 19, 2026

City Council — Wednesday, August 19, 2026
BodyBerkeley, California
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, August 19, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:25:36
Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

A quick reminder.

0:05

This meeting it has some general uh information about uh campaign finance laws in Berkeley and at the state level, but um a good portion of it is specifically dedicated to the public financing program.

0:23

Um we do have another um session that we're doing next week that would be for candidates and um like ballot measure committees who obviously are not participating in public financing, and any candidates who are not participating in public financing.

0:42

So just to clarify what the focus of this session will be.

0:45

Again, lots of general information, but then a good portion of it about public financing rules.

0:52

So uh with that, we'll get started.

0:55

Uh, I'm Mark Newmanville, I'm the city clerk for the city of Berkeley.

0:59

There's a few other staff people on as well, so I'll let them introduce themselves.

1:05

Um, go ahead if you want.

1:07

Hi, good evening, everyone.

1:08

Sam Harvey, Deputy City Attorney.

1:11

I'm also Secretary for the Fair Campaign Practices Commission.

1:19

Denise.

1:22

Hi, good evening, everyone.

1:23

My name is Denise Bodegata, Assistant City Clerk.

1:27

And you'll probably interact.

1:29

I'm I'm almost certain you'll interact with Denise at some point, uh, maybe several points during the election.

1:37

She's sort of the point person for a lot of our public financing stuff as far as getting set up in that file, things like that.

1:44

And then Rose is driving.

1:46

I don't know if we're yes.

1:49

I am.

1:50

My apologies.

1:51

Uh Rose Thompson, deputy city clerk, work closely with um Mark and Denise.

1:58

Okay.

2:00

All right.

2:00

Well, we'll go ahead and jump in uh and we'll go through the slides.

2:04

If you have um you know a clarifying question about what's being presented, um, you know, just go ahead and raise your hand or maybe put it in the chat.

2:16

Um if you have a question that is very specific to a uh situation you are dealing with with right now for your committee, uh, maybe hold that to the end, or you could just um email the elections inbox and we could get a specific direct answer to you on that.

2:40

We just want to make sure we get through all the content and a reasonable amount of time, hopefully about 90 minutes or so, and allowing time for questions.

2:51

Uh okay, so legal disclaimer.

2:57

Uh this is sort of a summary and introduction to uh local election laws.

3:05

Uh the slides presented do not carry the force of law.

3:09

Please consult the actual code, the regulations, the filing manual, and the public pro financing program guide for specific guidance.

3:21

So, like I said before, this is primarily designed for Berkeley candidates who plan to participate in the public financing program.

3:30

Uh, we'll talk about how you get started, uh, general information and rules, uh, how to complete the reports and what to do after the election.

3:42

What is the uh Berkeley Election Reform Act?

3:47

Uh, the Berkeley Election Reform Act, of course, also known as BIRA, is uh our local campaign finance law here in the city of Berkeley.

3:59

Uh passed back all the way back in 1974, actually, just before the state's political reform act um was passed.

4:06

It's in chapter 2.12 of the municipal code.

4:10

It um does several things, including contribution limits and limiting the source of those contributions.

4:18

Uh, it created our fair campaign practices commission that was tasked with administering and enforcing the Berkeley Election Reform Act.

4:28

Uh it's been uh amended several times over the years, uh, and it was uh significantly amended in 2016 to add the Fair Elections Act of 2016, which created the public financing program.

4:47

Uh, in addition to the Berkeley Election Reform Act, the Commission, the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, uh can adopt regulations, and those regulations themselves do have uh the force of law.

5:08

So as I mentioned, there are, of course, also state laws about campaign finance, and those are in the Political Reform Act.

5:21

The responsibilities for that are split into two different agencies.

5:26

The Fair Political Practices Commission is the enforcement agency, and the filing agency is in the Secretary of State's office in the Political Reform Division.

5:38

The state issues advice letters and regulations, and also creates campaign filing manuals.

5:46

So the important reminder there is that like it says Bureau supplements, but does not replace the state regulations in the Political Reform Act.

5:58

So for public financing, there's actually sort of three levels of law that have to be reviewed and considered and followed.

6:07

And there's, you know, there's the State Political Reform Act, there's the Berkeley Election Reform Act, and then there's the Fair Elections Act of 2016 for public financing.

6:17

So there are a lot of extra laws and regulations and forms that you have to follow and complete in public financing, but you are getting thousands of dollars of free money to use in your campaign.

6:33

So that's that's the trade-off.

6:51

So if you are in the public financing program, you must file all campaign finance reports electronically.

7:12

If you get up over a thousand dollar, thousand dollar threshold.

7:16

So yeah, it would be impossible for us to administer these programs without uh requiring public financing.

7:24

Uh, of course, we will uh assist you with using our uh we'll assist you by explaining how to use Netfile, which is our uh electronic filing system that we use in Berkeley.

7:40

So, you know, we will show you how you know, issue you your login credentials and show you how to log in and enter transactions and create reports, uh, and then also to submit your matching funds requests.

7:52

Uh so that's all done through Netfile.

7:55

It has a special module that's just for public financing.

8:00

Um, so we have to use that in order to be able to administer the program to review uh, you know uh hundreds and hundreds of um matching funds requests that we all have to with that our office has to review and approve um manually.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Election Reform█████████████████████████████████████████████62%
Campaign Finance████████████████████████33%
Government Ethics███4%
Data and Transparency█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Berkeley Campaign Finance & Public Financing Training – August 19, 2026

On August 19, 2026, the City of Berkeley Clerk’s Office and the Fair Campaign Practices Commission (FCPC) held a training session for candidates and treasurers, focusing on the Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) and the public financing program. The 90-minute session covered contribution limits, reporting requirements, filing deadlines, and post-election obligations. Presenters were City Clerk Mark Newmanville, Deputy City Attorney Sam Harvey, Assistant City Clerk Denise Bodegata, and Deputy City Clerk Rose Thompson.

Training Session Overview

The session was primarily designed for candidates participating in Berkeley’s public financing program, which provides a 6-to-1 match on qualifying contributions (up to $60 per contribution). The program was adopted in 2016 and now applies to all city elective offices, including Mayor, City Council, Auditor, Rent Board, and School Board. Candidates must agree to stricter contribution limits and source restrictions.

Key Topics Covered

  • Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA): Local campaign finance law passed in 1974, creating contribution limits, source restrictions, and the FCPC. The 2016 Fair Elections Act added public financing.
  • Contribution Limits & Sources: For public financing candidates, the maximum contribution from any natural person is $60 (adjusted for inflation). Candidates may contribute up to $290 of their own money. Prohibited sources include businesses, labor unions, nonprofits, and other entities. Contributions must be from natural persons.
  • Qualified vs. Non-Qualified Contributions: Qualified contributions (from Berkeley residents, natural persons, ≤$60) are eligible for 6-to-1 matching. Non-qualified contributions (from non-residents, natural persons, ≤$60) are permitted but not matched. Non-monetary contributions (goods/services) count toward the $60 limit.
  • Reporting Requirements: All public financing candidates must file electronically via NetFile. Form 410 (Statement of Organization) is filed with the Secretary of State; Form 460 (Campaign Disclosure Statement) is filed with the City Clerk. Contributions ≥$50 must be itemized with occupation and employer. Contributions ≥$25 require name and address.
  • Initial Qualifying Request: To enter the public financing program, candidates must submit 30 unique contributions of at least $10 each (total ≥$150) via NetFile, along with a signed Qualified Contribution Receipt (QCR) for each.
  • Matching Funds Requests: Rolling submissions – requests received by Tuesday at 5:00 PM are paid the following Thursday via ACH. Documentation must be complete; missing information delays payment.
  • Prohibited Expenditures: Public financing funds cannot be used for legal defense, payments benefiting the candidate’s family or businesses (≥10% ownership), capital assets >$650 with useful life beyond the campaign, contributions to other candidates or committees, independent expenditures, or payments without receiving compensating value.
  • Late Contributions: Only candidate self-contributions over $100 in the last 16 days trigger a late contribution report (Form 497) within 48 hours.
  • Mass Mailings: 200+ pieces of similar mail must be filed with the City Clerk (three copies) along with a certificate of mass mailing, delivered the same day sent or next day hand-delivered.
  • Post-Election Obligations: Unspent campaign funds must be returned to the Fair Elections Fund by December 31, 2026. Committees should close by year-end to avoid a $50 state fee. Debt retirement contributions are allowed only from those who have not already given $60, and only until December 31, 2028.

Important Reminders & Clarifications

  • Candidate’s Personal Funds: Candidates cannot make out-of-pocket campaign expenditures. They must first contribute personal funds (up to $290) into the campaign account, then spend from that account. Joint accounts are presumed to be the candidate’s money.
  • Reimbursements: Treasurers and volunteers can use personal credit cards and be reimbursed, but the campaign must report the actual vendor (e.g., Office Depot) as the payee, not the intermediary.
  • Date Received: For contributions, the date of receipt (possession) determines the reporting period. For online payments, it is the date the contribution is received by the campaign, not when deposited.
  • Over-Limit Contributions: If a contribution exceeds $60, it must be reported as received, then immediately refunded. The refund is shown on the Form 460.
  • Spouses/Domestic Partners: Cannot receive compensation from the campaign for services (e.g., fundraising).
  • Record Keeping: Maintain all receipts, bank statements, and contribution documentation for at least four years.
  • Staff Limitations: The Clerk’s office can provide guidance on procedures and NetFile use but cannot offer legal advice or pre-clear hypotheticals. Candidates are directed to the Public Financing Program Guide, FCPC regulations, and state manuals.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes were taken; the session was educational. Candidates were reminded of upcoming filing deadlines: first pre-election report covering July 1–September 19, 2026; second pre-election report covering September 20–October 17, 2026; final semi-annual report covering October 18–December 31, 2026.
  • Late filing penalties are $10 per day; additional enforcement actions may be taken by the FCPC.
  • The Clerk’s office will provide NetFile login credentials and training upon request. Candidates were encouraged to contact the elections inbox (elections@berkeleyca.gov) with specific questions.
  • Candidates were advised to zero out campaign accounts and terminate committees by December 31, 2026, to avoid further filing obligations and fees.

Meeting Transcript

A quick reminder. This meeting it has some general uh information about uh campaign finance laws in Berkeley and at the state level, but um a good portion of it is specifically dedicated to the public financing program. Um we do have another um session that we're doing next week that would be for candidates and um like ballot measure committees who obviously are not participating in public financing, and any candidates who are not participating in public financing. So just to clarify what the focus of this session will be. Again, lots of general information, but then a good portion of it about public financing rules. So uh with that, we'll get started. Uh, I'm Mark Newmanville, I'm the city clerk for the city of Berkeley. There's a few other staff people on as well, so I'll let them introduce themselves. Um, go ahead if you want. Hi, good evening, everyone. Sam Harvey, Deputy City Attorney. I'm also Secretary for the Fair Campaign Practices Commission. Denise. Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Denise Bodegata, Assistant City Clerk. And you'll probably interact. I'm I'm almost certain you'll interact with Denise at some point, uh, maybe several points during the election. She's sort of the point person for a lot of our public financing stuff as far as getting set up in that file, things like that. And then Rose is driving. I don't know if we're yes. I am. My apologies. Uh Rose Thompson, deputy city clerk, work closely with um Mark and Denise. Okay. All right. Well, we'll go ahead and jump in uh and we'll go through the slides. If you have um you know a clarifying question about what's being presented, um, you know, just go ahead and raise your hand or maybe put it in the chat. Um if you have a question that is very specific to a uh situation you are dealing with with right now for your committee, uh, maybe hold that to the end, or you could just um email the elections inbox and we could get a specific direct answer to you on that. We just want to make sure we get through all the content and a reasonable amount of time, hopefully about 90 minutes or so, and allowing time for questions. Uh okay, so legal disclaimer. Uh this is sort of a summary and introduction to uh local election laws. Uh the slides presented do not carry the force of law. Please consult the actual code, the regulations, the filing manual, and the public pro financing program guide for specific guidance. So, like I said before, this is primarily designed for Berkeley candidates who plan to participate in the public financing program. Uh, we'll talk about how you get started, uh, general information and rules, uh, how to complete the reports and what to do after the election. What is the uh Berkeley Election Reform Act? Uh, the Berkeley Election Reform Act, of course, also known as BIRA, is uh our local campaign finance law here in the city of Berkeley. Uh passed back all the way back in 1974, actually, just before the state's political reform act um was passed. It's in chapter 2.12 of the municipal code. It um does several things, including contribution limits and limiting the source of those contributions. Uh, it created our fair campaign practices commission that was tasked with administering and enforcing the Berkeley Election Reform Act. Uh it's been uh amended several times over the years, uh, and it was uh significantly amended in 2016 to add the Fair Elections Act of 2016, which created the public financing program. Uh, in addition to the Berkeley Election Reform Act, the Commission, the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, uh can adopt regulations, and those regulations themselves do have uh the force of law. So as I mentioned, there are, of course, also state laws about campaign finance, and those are in the Political Reform Act. The responsibilities for that are split into two different agencies. The Fair Political Practices Commission is the enforcement agency, and the filing agency is in the Secretary of State's office in the Political Reform Division. The state issues advice letters and regulations, and also creates campaign filing manuals. So the important reminder there is that like it says Bureau supplements, but does not replace the state regulations in the Political Reform Act. So for public financing, there's actually sort of three levels of law that have to be reviewed and considered and followed. And there's, you know, there's the State Political Reform Act, there's the Berkeley Election Reform Act, and then there's the Fair Elections Act of 2016 for public financing.

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