Opinion No. (1999)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General CLAYTON ROCHE Deputy Attorney General CALIFORNIA COMMON CAUSE, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF CALIFORNIA, AND CALIFORNIANS FOR POLITICAL REFORM FOUNDATION ("Relators") have requested this office to grant leave to sue in quo warranto upon the following question: May the Bipartisan Commission on the Political Reform Act of 1974 be restrained from taking any action, including the expenditure of public funds, on the grounds that it is illegally constituted? CONCLUSION Quo warranto does not lie to determine whether the Bipartisan Commission on the Political Reform Act of 1974 may be restrained from taking any action, including the expenditure of public funds, on the grounds that it is illegally constituted. Moreover, recent legislation will confirm the present composition of the commission on January 1, 2000, so as to render the question virtually moot. Thus, a quo warranto proceeding now would not be in the public interest. ANALYSIS In 1998, the Legislature established the Bipartisan Commission on the Political Reform Act of 1974 ("Commission") to "investigate and assess the effect of the Political Reform Act of 1974 on core political speech protected by the…