About the CA Form 497 Report

Applies To: California

The CA Form 497 has two main uses:

Primarily, a 24-hour Contribution Report, which is required for contributions received -OR- non-independent expenditure made in the amount or aggregate of $1,000 or more, filed within the 90-day period before an election
A 10-day report, required for contributions received -OR- non-independent expenditures made in the amount or aggregate of $5,000 or more, filed anytime outside of the 90-day period before an election

Every time a donation is made, the aggregate resets back to $0. Per the FPPC manual, if a committee receives a contribution after a
24-hour report is filed but that contribution amount does not reach the
$1,000 threshold, another 24-hour report is not needed until that
threshold is crossed again.

Determining when contributions should pull to a 497 can be confusing. Here are a few examples to help demonstrate situations that are most common.

Example 1: A donor gives $800 in aggregate outside of the 90-day reporting period. They then donate $500 in the 90-day reporting period. This $500 amount would not pull because it’s under the $1,000 aggregate amount for the 90-day reporting period.

Example 2: A donor gave $500 in the 90-day reporting period. They then give another $600 in the same 90-day reporting period. This donor now aggregates to $1,000 or more in the 90-day reporting period and will need to be reported on a 497.

Example 3: A donor gives $1,100 in the 90-day reporting period. This is reported on a 497. The donor then gives another $700 in the 90-day reporting period. This $700 amount is not reported on a 497 because the aggregate has reset back to $0 when the first 497 was filed.

Why isn’t my contribution to support another candidate, committee or PAC appearing on the CA Form 497?

Furthermore, if you are expecting a contribution made (expense to another committee) to pull to a 497 and it is not, then consider these two scenarios:

Support/Oppose Memo is missing or incorrect. Since the 497, or 24-hour Contribution Report, is based on Support/Oppose Memos, check to make sure there is a Support/Oppose Memo on the contribution made transaction you’re expecting to report.
Your committee is a PAC. A Political Action Committee (PAC) does not have to report Contributions Received, so Page 1 is automatically excluded for PAC filers.

Loan Checkbox (indicating a loan on E-filing or on PDF/Paper file)

Please note when the State created the e-filing specifications for the Form 497, they did not add a section where the loan box can be checked. Instead, the document note is used to indicate that it is a loan. The loan box cannot be checked when e-filed; only when paper filed.

Contributions Made to State/Local Elections Using Federal Funds

When contributions are made to state or local races using federal funds, the itemization rules slightly change. There is no reset, and the contributions made are reported as info, or what we would call memo. These expenses will itemize once they reach the $1,000 threshold and will continue to itemize.

Non-federal expenses DO reset after they hit the $1,000 threshold.

Expense Texts

For additional public disclosure, we include additional text for every expense.

If the parent transaction has the MBR code, the text will say:
Membership Communication in reference to [S/O Memo Name] with either made in Opposition or made in Support, depending if the S/O Memo has tag Non-IE to Oppose or not.
If the parent transaction does NOT have the MBR code, the text will say:
Contribution Made to [S/O Memo Name] with either made in Opposition or made in Support, depending if the S/O Memo has tag Non-IE to Oppose or not.
If the original expense was made from the Federal Account / using Federal Funds, there will also be “with funds spent from the Federal Account.” at the end of the text.

Report Versions

Five Hundred Report

This version often used by local agencies, and has a lower itemization amount for contributions received. It can also be used as a Third Pre-Election Report instead of the 460.

Itemization Amount (for contributions received): $500
Itemization Amount (for contributions made): $1,000
Itemization Style: only transactions associated with the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period

Standard

This version is the commonly most used version.

Itemization Amount (for all transactions): $1,000
Itemization Style: only transactions associated with the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period

Ten Business Day

The version must be filed within 10 business days by state committees that make non-independent expenditures.

Itemization Amount: $5,000
Itemization Style: transactions regardless of the Current Election
Filed: outside of the 90-day pre-election period

Ten Business Day-Qualification – Regarding Ballot Measure Committees

This version must be filed within 10 business days by state committees that make contributions totaling $5,000 or more to support or oppose the qualification or passage of a state or local ballot measure. In order to use this report, you should have one of the following Relationships on your filer record: Supported Candidate, Opposed Candidate, Supported Ballot Measure, or Opposed Ballot Measure.

Itemization Amount: $5,000
Itemization Style: transactions regardless of the Current Election
Filed: outside of the 90-day pre-election period
SPECIAL: use the day after the closing date as the From Date.

Third Pre-Election Report

This version often used by local agencies, and has a lower itemization amount for contributions received. It can also be used as a Third Pre-Election Report instead of the 460.

Itemization Amount (for contributions received): $100
Itemization Amount (for contributions made): $1,000
Itemization Style: only transactions associated with the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period

Threshold Transactions Only

This version has the same itemization rules as the Standard version, but only list transactions that meet or exceed the itemization threshold, rather than all transactions associated with the entity.

Itemization Amount (for all transactions): $1,000
Itemization Style: only transactions associated with the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period

Transactions Regardless of Current Election

This version has the same itemization rules as the Standard version, but list transactions regardless if they are associated with the Current Election selected when generating the report.

Itemization Amount (for all transactions): $1,000
Itemization Style: transactions regardless of the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period

Two Hundred Fifty Report Itemization

This version often used by local agencies, and has a lower itemization amount for contributions received. It can also be used as a Third Pre-Election Report instead of the 460.

Itemization Amount (for contributions received): $250
Itemization Amount (for contributions made): $1,000
Itemization Style: only transactions associated with the Current Election
Filed: within the 90-day pre-election period