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focused on either shortening the time period for fundraising, or addressing the issue of campaign debt retirement. In contrast, the Council's expressed interest in a voluntary campaign expenditure limit was focused on making sure that all expenditures made by a candidate for a specific election are cumulated towards the limit. One option considered was counting towards the limit those expenditures made just one day following the prior election. Based on the public comment and Council discussion on December 18th, it appears that many candidates and committees need several weeks after an election to receive and pay all bills incurred for the election which just took place. Thus, if expenditures made shortly after an election to pay bills incurred for the recent election are instead counted towards the voluntary campaign expenditure limit for a future election nearly 24 months away, that may impact candidates in the recent election who were both successful and unsuccessful, and may make candidates less likely to take the voluntary pledge. To acknowledge the need to "close the books" on the election which just took place, staff recommends that expenditures cumulated towards the voluntary campaign expenditure limit not begin until January 1st of the calendar year preceding the next general election year. For general elections, which nearly always take place in November of even-numbered years, this would provide candidates and committees with about 60 days to receive and pay all bills from the recent election, and would also coincide with the State mandated semi-annual campaign statement reporting period ending December 31st (in which contributions and expenditures related to the just past November general election would be reported through December 31st). For example, for the November. 2010 general election, expenditures made beginning January 1, 2009 would count towards the voluntary campaign expenditure limit. Interested members of the public could easily discern such expenditures because they would be reported in the State mandated semi-annual campaign statement covering 1/1/09 to 6/30/09, as well as in additional semi-annual and pre-election campaign statements prior to November. 2010. And, expenditures made through December 31, 2010, most of which are expected to be late bills and expenses related to the recent election, would count towards the Nov. 2010 general election voluntary limit. To ensure that expenditures are properly cumulated, as well as reported on the final 'extra' campaign statement required by the City four days prior to the election, the attached ordinance includes proposed language in Section 5 to require that campaign statements cumulate and include such information. Special Elections. Because the nature of a special election is unplanned, it is unlikely that candidates will have been undertaking expenditures in anticipation of a special election. Therefore, staff recommends that for special elections, the voluntary campaign expenditure limit be based on the number of registered voters on the date the City Council calls for the special election, and that expenditures cumulate from the date Page 4 of 7