The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) confirmed that Governor Gavin Newsom paid a $13,000 fine following a settlement for failing to properly report millions of dollars in charitable donations made at his request, also known as behested payments.
These donations, made by major corporations like T-Mobile, Amazon, and Microsoft, totaled $14 million between 2018 and 2024, but Newsom’s campaign committee failed to file 18 required reports on time. The law mandates that such payments be disclosed within 30 days, but Newsom’s committee missed this deadline in several instances.
FPPC Chairman Adam E. Silver emphasized that while the late reporting violated ethics rules, there was no evidence to suggest that the payments were made for personal benefit.
Silver also noted that Newsom’s campaign had made a good faith effort to comply with the rules, and that the public harm from the late disclosures was minimal.
Newsom’s campaign defended the late reports, pointing out that many were filed only a few weeks late due to delays in receiving notifications from the organizations receiving the payments.
The Governor’s team also highlighted his record of transparency, noting that he has filed over 1,100 reports since 2011, disclosing more than $300 million in donations for various public and charitable causes.