Our democracy should not be for sale. Big Money is drowning out the voices of everyday voters,” said Assemblymember Alex Lee, joint author of SB 42. “Public financing is the reform we need to bring power back to the people and level the playing field for grassroots candidates to run for office. It will help rebuild voters’ faith in democracy and show that Big Money can’t buy our elections.
Last year, our club endorsed SB 42, The Political Reform Act of 1974: public campaign financing: California Fair Elections Act of 2026, authored by Senator Tom Umberg, Ben Allen, Alex Lee and Sabrina Cervantes. The bill was approved by the Governor on October 2, 2025, earning it a place on the November 2026 ballot. This means California voters will see a proposition called called the California Fair Elections Act on our November Ballot
If passed, the act would remove a ban on public financing for elections. It would allow cities, counties, districts, and the state to establish public campaign financing systems that amplify small-dollar donors and strengthen accountability while requiring strict safeguards, spending limits, and protections for taxpayer funds. It does not mandate public financing anywhere; it simply allows local communities to decide whether they want to adopt it.
CaCalifornia Clean Money Action Fund, California Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters of California have together launched a campaign to get this measure passed by the voters.
Since 2020, over $1 billion has been spent on California state candidate campaigns alone, according to records in the Secretary of State’s Power Search. Similarly, large sums are spent on local campaigns. This fuels a political system where large donors and corporate interests hold outsized influence in elections, pricing out everyday people from being able to run for office.
Polling by California Clean Money Campaign shows 81% of California voters believe big money contributors have too much influence over elected officials.
Five California charter cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Long Beach — already use public financing systems that help everyday people compete with big money-backed candidates and expand who can run for office. But public financing programs are banned everywhere in California except charter cities.
The California Fair Elections Act will give voters the chance to change that and give every community the same opportunity. It will also establish basic requirements that public financing systems and publicly financed candidates must follow to protect taxpayers and maximize the benefit to voters. It requires candidates to abide by expenditure limits and meet strict criteria to qualify for public funds. It also bans the use of public funds to pay legal defense fees or fines.
SB 42 was sponsored by California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters of California, and was backed by a broad state, local, and national coalition including ACLU, AFSCME, Asian Law Caucus, California Environmental Voters, California Nurses Association, California Labor Federation, Courage California, Dolores Huerta Foundation, Indivisible CA: Statestrong, La Defensa, and many others.