---
type: "Bill"
title: "Political Reform Act of 1974: behested payments."
description: "The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions, as defined. Under existing law, a payment made at the behest of a candidate for elective office is considered a contribution unless the payment is made for purposes unrelated to the candidate's candidacy. Under the act, a payment made by a government agency or an exempt nonprofit organization is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy. Likewise, a payment made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy, and such payments are required to be reported by a candidate who is an elected officer if they total $5,000 or more in the aggregate from a single source in a calendar year. For purposes of the act, an elected officer retains his or her status as a candidate for that office until the officer has terminated all of his or her committees and no longer holds the office, as specified."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1544"
citation: "California AB 1544 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Political Reform Act of 1974: behested payments."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cooley"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2015-07-15"
last_action: "2015-10-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e44cf84a-3dea-45c5-b893-0b7b2abf1eca"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544"
source_hash: "5f2a716a1b745cb53304a58739722838fb3e4897619b86f9c1397f0302ca3215"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1544 (20152016) — Political Reform Act of 1974: behested payments.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including campaign contributions, as defined. Under existing law, a payment made at the behest of a candidate for elective office is considered a contribution unless the payment is made for purposes unrelated to the candidate's candidacy. Under the act, a payment made by a government agency or an exempt nonprofit organization is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy. Likewise, a payment made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy, and such payments are required to be reported by a candidate who is an elected officer if they total $5,000 or more in the aggregate from a single source in a calendar year. For purposes of the act, an elected officer retains his or her status as a candidate for that office until the officer has terminated all of his or her committees and no longer holds the office, as specified.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **07/15/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544&version=20150AB154499INT)
2. **08/17/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544&version=20150AB154498AMD)
3. **08/20/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544&version=20150AB154497AMD)
4. **10/10/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544&version=20150AB154495CHP)
5. **AB1544** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544)
6. **09/16/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1544&version=20150AB154496ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1544 Cooley By Anderson Urgency Clause — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1544 COOLEY Third Reading Urgency — **74–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cooley — primary (person)
- Jones — author (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-07-15** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-07-15** (Introduced pursuant to Joint Rule 54) `introduction`
- **2015-07-16** From printer. May be heard in committee August 15.
- **2015-08-17** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-18** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-20** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-24** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-08-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (August 24). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-26** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 2777.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-02** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-09-04** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2015-09-04** Joint Rule 61(a)(12) suspended. (Page 2510.)
- **2015-09-04** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 2510.)
- **2015-09-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (September 9). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-09-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-09-11** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2741.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-09-11** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-09-23** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-10-10** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-10-10** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 756, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e44cf84a-3dea-45c5-b893-0b7b2abf1eca`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).