Regular Governing Body Meeting - Last Wednesday — Wed, Jul 29, 2026 · 16.a CONSIDERATION OF BILL NO. 2026-13. ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 2026-___. (Councilor Alma Castro and Councilor Paul Bustamante) A Bill Amending the City of Santa Fe’s Public Campaign Finance Code, Chapter 9-3 SFCC 1987, to Increase the Amount of Funding Available for Publicly Financed Candidates for Municipal Office; Increasing the Funding Amounts for City Council, Municipal Judge, and Mayoral Candidates; Repealing Section 9-3.12 SFCC 1987, Qualified Small Contributions; and Repealing Section 9-3.13 SFCC 1987, Additional Reports of Qualified Small Contributions; Additional Matching Payments from the Fund. (Geralyn Cardenas, City Clerk; gfcardenas@santafenm.gov) Committee Review: Governing Body (Introduction): 07/29/2026 Governing Body (Public Comment): 08/12/2026 Quality of Life Committee: 08/19/2026 Finance Committee: 08/24/2026 Governing Body: 10/09/2026
Date: June 30, 2026 To: Governing Body and Finance Committee From: Geralyn F. Cardenas, City Clerk RE: Updating the Campaign Finance Code EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The proposed bill would amend Chapter 9-3 of the City of Santa Fe’s Public Campaign Finance Code to increase the amount of public financing available to candidates for municipal office. Specifically, the bill would increase the annual appropriation to the Public Campaign Finance Fund from one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00) to three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000.00). It would also increase public financing for candidates in contested races, raising the amount available to mayoral candidates from sixty thousand dollars ($60,000.00) to one hundred twenty thousand dollars ($120,000.00) and to city councilor and municipal judge candidates from fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000.00) to thirty thousand dollars ($30,000.00). In addition, the bill would repeal Section 9-3.12, “Qualified Small Contributions,” and Section 9-3.13, “Additional Reports of Qualified Small Contributions; Additional Matching Payments from the Fund”. BACKGROUND: The current amounts distributed to qualified public campaign finance candidates by the City of Santa Fe is a lower amount in comparison to other municipalities that participate in public campaign financing. This is an effort to give the City’s public campaign financing candidates a fairer opportunity to run against a privately financed candidate in the Regular Local Election. Additionally, this would eliminate the need for a public financed candidate to solicit additional funds such as the Qualifies Small Contributions. ATTACHMENTS: Bill Fiscal Impact Report