Santa Ana Councilmember Jessie Lopez has known for nearly 18 months that the state’s political and campaign watchdog agency believed she had broken California’s gift law. Documents obtained by OC Independent indicate she did nothing about it.
As OC Independent reported last week, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is investigating Lopez (FPPC Case No. 2026-00719). The investigation concerns $1,580 worth of free tickets she received from the Orange County Soccer Club in 2021. The gift limit for 2024 was $590 per source. That put Lopez $990 over the legal limit.
READ: Santa Ana Councilmember Jessie Lopez Being Investigated By State For Violating Gift Limit
The Timeline
Lopez filed her Form 700 for 2024 on March 31, 2025. On April 30, 2025, FPPC staff initiated the complaint against Lopez following a review of her Form 700.
A week later, on May 8, 2025, the FPPC sent Lopez a letter notifying her that of an internal referral “alleging that you may have violated the gift limits imposed by the Political Reform Act (“the Act”).”
“More specifically, Schedule D of your 2024 SEI (Form 700), filed on or around March 31, 2025, discloses that you received a gift(s) in excess of the gift limits imposed by the Act in Section 89503. For calendar year 2024, the annual gift limit was $590. On Schedule D, you report gifts totaling $1,580 from Orange County Soccer Club,” the letter continues.
“If you do not believe you violated the Act, please notify us in writing by May 22, 2025. Include any
documentation that supports your claim. We will review any information you submit and provide
you with a written response,” the letters states.
“Please be advised, however, that the fact that you might not have been aware of the gift limitation does not relieve you of your legal obligations. If we determine that you violated the gift limit, we will notify you of the determination and we may seek a penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation,” the FPPC warned Lopez.
13 months passed and nothing in the available record indicates that Lopez responded, contested the finding, reimbursed the Orange County Soccer Club, or amended her Form 700.
Finally, on August 20, 2026, the FPPC sent Lopez another letter – this time it advised her to begin gathering documentation for the investigation.
Lopez Had An Easy Way Out
Lopez’s inaction stands out because it the fix was simple: reimburse the Orange County Soccer Club for $990.
This sort of thing happens, and if the public official in question reimburses the source of the gift for the amount over the limit, the FPPC normally restricts its response to a warning letter. For example, also in 2025, the value of four Angels tickets accepted by Riverside City Councilman Steven Robillard exceeded the gift limit. He reimbursed the donor of the tickets, amended his Form 700 accordingly, and the FPPC took no further action.
In other words, Lopez could most likely have closed this case in 2025 by writing a $990 check and filing a one-page amendment. As far as the record shows, she did neither.
What Lopez Could Face
Having let the matter drift for more than a year, Lopez now faces a formal enforcement process instead of a warning. Under the Political Reform Act, violations can result in monetary penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation. She will also almost certainly have to repay the amount over the limit.
The FPPC considers several factors when setting a penalty. These include the seriousness of the violation, whether there was intent to deceive the public, and whether the official voluntarily filed an amendment to provide full disclosure after learning of the violation. Ignoring an FPPC notice for over a year does not help Lopez on any of those counts.
Paying will not be easy for her. Lopez’s own disclosures show only $2,000 to $4,000 in total reported outside income since 2020, apart from her $12,000-a-year council stipend.
Lopez’s city council colleague David Penaloza – who is also her opponent in the 68th Assembly District contest – had this to say about the matter:
“It’s concerning to hear that Jessie Lopez would accept gifts over the legally permissible limit. While Jessie’s campaign and her backers are falsely attacking me, she is now under investigation from the FPPC. We are at a time when voters want more transparency in our electoral system and elected officials, so I hope the FPPC swiftly and judiciously addresses this.”
Penaloza has served on the city council for as long at Lopez hand has never exceeded the gift limit.
A Familiar Pattern
Lopez’s handling of the FPPC case looks a lot like how she has handled her obligations throughout her time on the council.
Unpaid rent and a default judgment. In 2022, Lopez’s landlord, Hector Orellana, was trying to close the sale of his Santa Ana home. He went to City Hall and emailed her council colleagues asking for help evicting her after she refused to move out and stopped paying rent. Orellana later sued her. He alleged she had thrown away his mail, invented plumbing problems to delay paying rent, and tried to recruit other tenants to do the same. Lopez never contested the suit. The Orange County Superior Court entered a $35,000 default judgment against her.
Now, as then, a formal proceeding was brought against Lopez, and she simply didn’t show up to defend herself until confronted with the cold, hard reality of a $35,000 judgment spurred her to hire a lawyer. How she paid for a lawyer while living on $14,000 a year is anyone’s guess.
Missed deadlines. When a recall was launched against her in 2023, state law gave Lopez a 10-day window to legally challenge the recall petition’s allegations. She let that window pass. A lawsuit to stop the recall was instead filed by Albert Castillo, a political ally who was also her landlord at the time.
Disclosures that don’t add up. Lopez left contract income from the United Way off her original 2021 Form 700. She disclosed it more than a year later, after the recall launched. Her campaign reports listed Latino Health Access as her employer for years, but her Form 700s did not. When OC Independent pointed out the discrepancy, she amended her campaign reports within 24 hours. She has also never disclosed income from Close The Gap, the group she listed as her employer on a 2022 political contribution.
Gift-law questions raised before. In 2023, OC Independent asked whether Lopez was paying market-rate rent to Castillo. Any discount would be a reportable gift subject to the same limit at issue now. She has never answered.
Public money for private ambitions. Last year, Lopez spent $2,500 of her Santa Ana discretionary funds on an Anaheim Little Arabia event in the heart of the Assembly district she is now seeking. That same summer, she attended a Harvard executive program for state and local officials at a cost of $20,000 to Santa Ana taxpayers.
OC Independent has reached out to Councilmember Lopez for comment. She has not responded to any previous requests for comment from OC Independent – this time has been no exception to that pattern.
