Advice Letters and Commission Opinions
Advice Letters
Advice issued by the Fair Political Practices Commission provides guidance to the person requesting the advice and is based on the specific facts that person has provided and the language contained in the law at the time the advice was issued. While the advice may provide guidance to others, the immunity provided by each letter is limited to the requestor and to the specific facts contained in the formal written advice.
Advice letters do not constitute an opinion of the Commission nor is it a declaration of policy by the Commission.
Every year the Commission responds to hundreds of requests from candidates and public officials about their obligations under the Political Reform Act. Thousands of advice letters have been issued since the Commission was established in 1974.
You can search all of the advice letters the Commission has issued since 1975.
You may also view the Advice Letter Reports by following the link below. The Commission started issuing monthly reports on advice letters in May 2020.
Commission Opinions
The five-member Commission may choose to issue opinions - a type of formal advice - which are precedent setting interpretations of the Political Reform Act. Since 1974, over 100 opinions have been issued by the Commission.
The rules for requesting an opinion from the Commission and the procedures for the Commission to issue a formal opinion are detailed in the following regulations.
- 18320 - Requests for Opinions
- 18322 - Procedures for Issuing Opinions
In certain cases, the Commission may issue a formal opinion to provide clarity on public official's obligations under the Political Reform Act. Since 1974, the Commission has issued over 100 opinions.
You can search all of the opinions issued by the Commission. For help finding the opinion you are searching for, check out the Opinion Index.