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adopted as the City's Code of Fair Campaign Practices. The stated purpose of the State's Code of Fair Elections Practices is that: There are basic principles of decency, honesty, and fair play which every candidate for public office... has a moral obligation to observe and uphold in order that, after vigorously contested but fairly conducted campaigns, our citizens may exercise their constitutional right to a free and untrammeled choice and the will of the people may be fully and clearly expressed on the issues. While much of the focus has been on pledges by candidates for local office, the State's Code of Fair Campaign Practices also allows the chairperson or treasurer of a committee making independent expenditures (e.g. a political action committee [PAC]) to also sign the pledge. Therefore, the attached resolution provides that the City adopt the Code of Fair Campaign Practices as set forth in the California Elections Code, as may be amended, and that the City Clerk provide the voluntary pledge to each candidate, office holder, and committee focused on local issues which files campaign statements with the City Clerk. These pledges could then be returned any time before the election, as similarly provided in Elections Code section 20442. Expenditure Limit. On December 18th, Council supported a voluntary campaign expenditure limit set at $1.00 per registered voter for the offices of council member and mayor. That amount would be $36,721 if the election were held today. The Council did not express interest in having different limits for the offices of council member and mayor. Therefore, the attached ordinance has the same limit for both offices. Index with CPI. The Council also indicated that it wanted to have the benchmark of $1.00 per registered voter indexed for inflation because costs will continue to increase, but the number of registered voters may plateau when build out is reached. Therefore, the attached ordinance includes language in Section 1.22.030.C providing that the $1.00 amount will be cumulatively adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). And, Section 4 of the ordinance clarifies that Nov. 2008 will be the base year for future adjustments, and pinpoints the CPI table to be used. Election Period to Cumulate Expenditures. Expenditures counted towards the voluntary campaign expenditure limit would aggregate during a defined election period. As general elections pose different considerations than special elections, a different election period is proposed for each. Furthermore, a distinct election period is recommended for the November 2008 general election, for reasons detailed below. In addition, Council may provide direction to modify any of these election periods, and such options are discussed in the Alternatives section, below. General Elections. At the December 18th meeting, the staff report provided information about election periods for consideration with campaign contribution limits, mainly Page 3 of 7