California governor agrees to $31,500 ethics fine over late donation reports

California's governor has agreed to pay a $31,500 ethics fine after state regulators determined that 36 required reports on solicited donations were filed late. The Fair Political Practices Commission enforcement division found the reports covered more than $5.5 million in payments from corporations and foundations in 2024 and 2025.

Thirty-four of the payments went to the California Fire Foundation after the governor or staff directed donors to the nonprofit following the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Donation details The late filings included $1 million from the Chuck Lorre Foundation, $500,000 each from BlackRock, Uber Eats, Lockheed Martin, and the Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, plus $250,000 from Apple and $200,000 from Amazon. Some reports were filed more than six months after the required deadline.

The commission noted that the governor's office reported the donations before regulators became aware of them and cooperated with the investigation. The governor had previously paid a $10,500 fine in November 2024 for similar late filings involving $14.4 million in behested payments.

Federal investigations The ethics case comes while the governor, the governor's wife, and former staff are subjects of separate federal investigations. One probe concerns the taxes of the governor's wife; another is linked to the governor's former chief of staff, who pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and related charges.

The governor stated in a pre-recorded message that federal agents had contacted family, friends, and former employees and described the probes as attempts to find a crime rather than responses to one.