Public financing bill passes veto

Charles Calderon, D-industry, has been quietly working on a bill all year that would set up a trail version of public financing for California voters. The bill was heavily opposed by lobbyists (for obvious reasons- see below) but it passed the legislature and the governor's desk, nevertheless.

The bill will allow a voter approval of a program to allow public funding for the Secretary of State office in 2014 and 2018. The San Jose Mercury News describes how it works:

Public financing will be voluntary and modeled after financing systems in Arizona and Maine, where it has worked well to encourage more candidates to run for office and to reduce the role of big-monied interests.

Secretary of state candidates who gather $5 contributions from 7,500 voters can forgo private donations in exchange for $900,000 in public money for their primary and general election campaigns. An annual $350 fee on state lobbyists, who nearly killed the bill, would fund the campaigns.

Kudos to Calderon for putting in the work on this bill. Now if we can just get the legislature to keep the state from having a financial meltdown.