David Howard, PAC Director Phone: (916) 492-5200 davidh@car.org
Lisa Edwards, CREPAC\\BORPAC Coordinator Phone: (916) 492-5211 lisae@car.org
What is CREPAC and Local BORPAC? The California Real Estate Political Action Committee (CREPAC) and the Board of REALTORS® Political Action Committee (BORPAC) is actually one fund that is set up to allow contributions to local and state candidates. CREPAC is the state component. The CREPAC Trustees (15 members from around the state) make decisions on races for the assembly, senate and constitutional offices. CREPAC also makes recommendations on federal candidates to the National RPAC Trustees in Washington, D.C. CREPAC and BORPAC are there to help support real estate-friendly candidates to public office. The Local BORPAC is the local component. All local associations in California have a local BORPAC account (a subset of CREPAC for legal purposes). If your association does not have a BORPAC committee set up please contact Cindy Schiada to help guide you through the process.How are CREPAC and BORPAC Funded? CREPAC and local BORPAC accounts are funded through political contributions made to the REALTOR®Action Fund through direct contributions on the dues billing, contributions made online or at CAR or local association meetings. Every dollar raised is broken down with 70% going to the state account and 30% to the local BORPAC. So in essence every dollaryour local BORPAC raises, a portion of that remains in your local account. Local Associations forward political contributions, according to state law, within 30 days of receiving the contribution.Local Association Allocations, Fund Balancesand Transfers Between Boards Every year your BORPAC should look at the allocation to the PACs of their contribution income. If your committee feels they will need most of the funds for candidates they may want to have most of their contributions go to BORPAC. If they know there is a local issue (e.g., rent control ordinance) coming up they may wish to allocate more money to local IMPAC. Most boards split their funds evenly, but not all do. Some associations send 100% to BORPAC one year and switch the allocation to IMPAC the next year. You may not switch allocations late in the year after dues dollars have come in. So please do this in January or February of each year. Download the forms from the website.
If your board does not have enough funds in one or the other PAC you may send in a request form asking for a switch with another local Association. Switching cannot be done within your own association (e.g., South Board badly needs BORPAC fundsand has a lot of IMPAC funds so they can send some of their local funds to North Board in exchange for some of their BORPAC monies). Available fund balances may be obtained by visiting the website (password needed) or calling Lisa Edwards or Allan Atienza, PAC accountant, at (213) 739-8254.Attending Fundraisers and What can BORPAC funds pay for? BORPAC funds may be used to fund local candidates. Suggestions include city council, county supervisor, school board member, water board member, mayor, planning commission, etc. If your BORPAC wishes to make a contribution to a state-level candidate they must first contact CREPAC staff and request matching funds (a check box on the local BORPAC Funding Request Form).Fundraiser Attendance: Do not attend fundraisers for any local or state official before receiving approval from CAR staff (legal counsel must approve contribution first). If this policy is not followed there may be a chance of denial. This means the board may be liable for the contribution, FPPC Fines, and any other resulting problems. C.A.R. pays outside political attorneys to handle our needs because of the complexity of the laws. Before your local Association attempts to use general funds to make contributions, please check with your board attorney and tax accountant. Corporate contributions to federal candidates are illegal. Some localities have limits on contributions and other local associations may share that same representative. It is possible that the contribution limit has already been reached by another association sharing that area.
It is the policy of the State CREPAC Trustees that only$197 contributors attend fundraisers. If a person is unwilling to contribute to the PACs it isn’t fair to have them attend the fundraisers that those PAC contributions have paid for. If your member is that active in the political arena they should be contributing at the higher level (barring any financial hardship).What is a Cooperative Agreement? A CREPAC\\BORPAC Cooperative Agreement is a contract that your BORPAC Trustees and Board President sign every year agreeingto the policies and uses of BORPAC funds. Each year a new one must be signed and submitted to CAR before you may receive requested funds. These forms can be found online at the website. This agreement protects you, the AE, the Trustees and the CAR staffby ensuring that the persons signing the funding request form is a legal signer.How are requests submitted and Evaluated? Just have your BORPAC committee fill out the Local BORPAC Funding Request Form for every request for funds. When your BORPAC makes decisions they should be keeping minutes. Attach the minutes and form and fax to Lisa Edwards (916) 444-1794. Lisa will then approves\\disapproves the request, faxes it to outside legal counsel for review and then accounting for check processing. This usually takes about a week. Remember, Cooperative Agreements must be on file at C.A.R. before you can obtain funds.What are Independent Expenditures? (PLEASE CONTACT CAR STAFF BEFORE ATTEMPTING) An independent expenditure may be a newspaper ad showing support by your local Association for one or more candidates or it may be a full-color postcard sent to voters expressing support or opposition for a candidate. All independent expenditures have to be approved in advance through CREPAC staff and through outside political legal counsel first. Independent expenditures (IEs) are only legal if there is no contact with the candidates whatsoever and definitely no coordination. Don’t tell anyone outside of your BORPAC committee about a possible independent expenditure to avoid the risk of the candidate being told and any resulting misperceptions.CREPAC staff works very closely with legal counsel on allaspects of funding from the PAC so if you wish to do an IE or have any questions, please contact either David Howard or Lisa Edwards, and they will walk you through the process.
For more information on CREPAC and Local BORPAC,please see:FUNDRAISINGContact:
Lauren Palmer, Member Mobilization/Fundraising Coordinator Phone: (916) 492-5209 laurenp@car.org
The “The Power of REALTOR® Involvement DVD and Fundraising Tool Kit” has been distributed to all Association Executives, GADs and Team Captains. If you have not received your RAF Fundraising Tool Kit, or if you need more supplies, please contact our Political Affairs assistant at (916) 492-5200 or by email at membermobilization@car.org.
Associations, GADs and Team Captains that have been showing the DVD and sharing the materials with their members have found it to be an effective fundraising tool. To review the DVD online and to print out the materials that are in the kit, please click on RAF Tool Kit.
Additionally, revised brochures and our new RAF Pins are now available! A copy of each of these are in the Fundraising Tool Kit:
New Make a Choice, Make A Difference Brochure
New 2006 Check Piece showing how much $$ REALTORS® saved
