FPPC Expands Political Reform Education Program in Anticipation of November General Election

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 13, 2024

For More Information Contact:

Jay Wierenga (916) 322-7761

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), California’s governmental ethics and campaign disclosure agency, has announced an expansion of its nationally recognized Political Reform Education Program (PREP). The expansion is part of a larger push by the agency to focus its enforcement resources on prosecuting the most serious violations of the state’s ethics rules when it matters most – before the election.

PREP allows the FPPC to quickly and efficiently resolve instances of minor ethics violations where the offending person has limited political experience, has not been fined by the FPPC and completes a comprehensive online training course concerning the law they violated.

The FPPC launched its first PREP course, the Statement of Economic Interests (SEI) course, in June 2022. The program has been a success with 280 public officials already completing the course. Building on that success, the FPPC is now expanding the program to state and local candidates and candidate-controlled committees who have engaged in minor campaign-related violations.

"The success and expansion of PREP underscores the importance of education and technology in our enforcement strategy,” said FPPC Chair Adam E. Silver. “By offering targeted online trainings, we're able to resolve minor cases quickly and effectively, which allows us to allocate greater resources towards prosecuting those who are causing the greatest public harm and undermining public trust."

PREP courses use interactive technology which allows users to proceed at their own pace while benefitting from an extensive educational program. A recent PREP participant described it as “a good opportunity to learn how to rectify past errors or omissions and to prevent future ones.”

In 2023, the FPPC received national attention and recognition when the Campaign Legal Center included PREP in its report “Top Ten Training Upgrades for Ethics Commissions.” PREP was ranked #2 in training upgrades for state ethics commissions.

Through the outstanding efforts of the Enforcement team and with the addition of PREP, the number of open enforcement cases has plummeted by nearly 41%.

The FPPC will continue to expand PREP in the coming months by offering new courses concerning other common violations of the Act.

More information about PREP is available at https://fppc.ca.gov/learn/PREP.html.

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