Councilman Dan Gilman introduced a bill to rewrite the city’s campaign finance ordinance. The bill would bring the city’s contribution limits in line with the federal limits, prohibit the transfer of funds from one PAC to another above the stated limit, and make contribution stacking, where a candidate accepts a contribution for a special election and primary election during the same election cycle, illegal.

The bill also eliminates the “millionaire” exception in current law, whereby contribution limits do not apply if a candidate spends more than $50,000 per election cycle on his or her own campaign.

Gilman is also proposing a newly formed ethics board to replace the current one and a new website to compile information on the activities of government entities.

Photo of the Pittsburgh City-County Building by Leepaxton at Wikimedia Commons.

State Sen. John Schickel filed a federal lawsuit against the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance and the Legislative Ethics Board aimed at eliminating the state’s campaign contribution limits. The suit claims the $1,000 limit to individual candidates and the ban on corporate contributions are violations of free speech.

The suit also asks the court to strike down ethics rules prohibiting lobbyists from making contributions, prohibiting employers of lobbyists from making contributions while the Legislature is in session, and banning gifts from lobbyists to legislators.

Kentucky House candidate David Watson and Pendleton County judge candidate Ken Moellman Jr. have joined the suit. The state agencies have until October 6 to respond.

On September 24, the North Carolina Legislature passed a bill changing next year’s presidential and state primary election dates. House Bill 373, submitted to Gov. Pat McCrory today, moves the primary dates up from May 3 to March 15, 2016. The legislation also makes other changes to election law, including adjusting the filing dates for campaign finance reporting, allowing, if required, a second primary date to be held on May 24, 2016 for the presidential primary and May 3 for the state primary, and permitting the leader of each political party caucus of the House of Representatives and the Senate to establish a separate affiliated party committee to support the election of candidates of that leader’s political party.

Photo of the North Carolina Legislature by Yassie on Wikimedia Commons.

A special primary election has been scheduled for November 3, 2015, to fill the seats in state House Districts 80 and 82.

These seats were previously held by Rep. Cindy Gamrat and Rep. Todd Courser, respectively. Gamrat was expelled by the House on September 11, 2015, and Courser resigned the same day following allegations of misconduct and misuse of taxpayer resources in an attempt to hide their extramarital affair.

Now, despite opposition from the House, both are running in the special election to fill these seats. If either or both of them win, there is speculation the House could refuse to seat them; however, most representatives seem reluctant to commit to such action at this point.

The special general election will be held on March 8, 2016.

City Councilman David Ryu is working to keep his campaign promise of shaking up the status quo at city hall.

He has sent a letter to the city Ethics Commission requesting they look into the possibility of banning contributions to candidates by businesses, labor unions, and other groups.

He had planned to introduce legislation to accomplish this change; however, when no other council member would sign onto the legislation, Ryu turned to the Ethics Commission, asking them to explore ways to achieve such a ban.

While reform groups support such a ban, critics of the proposal fear it will lead to legal challenges and drive more money to independent expenditure groups.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Ohio Supreme Court candidate Colleen O’Toole’s motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin enforcement of an Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 4.4(E). This rule imposes restrictions on when a judicial campaign committee may solicit and receive campaign contributions. Judicial candidate committees for 2016 may begin soliciting and receiving contributions no earlier than 120 days before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March and may continue to accept contributions until 120 days after the general election.

O’Toole’s campaign committee claims the rule violates the First Amendment by restricting political speech and it violates the Fourteenth Amendment by treating judicial campaign committees differently than other political organizations. The committee failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits of any claim.

While the contribution restrictions may not be the least restrictive means of maintaining public confidence in judicial integrity, the court found the regulation need only be narrowly tailored, not perfectly tailored. Moreover, perfect tailoring would be impossible given the intangible nature of public confidence.

The court also found it permissible to treat judicial campaign committees differently than political action committees and other political organizations because of the unique nature of judicial elections. Interests in maintaining the integrity, impartiality, and independence of the judiciary are inherently different from those implicated by other political campaigns. More simply, judicial elections may be regulated differently than political elections because the role of judges differs from that of politicians.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will resign and give up his seat in Congress at the end of October, according to his aides. He is currently under intense pressure from conservatives to defund Planned Parenthood as he attempts to keep the government open through the end of the year. Several members of the conservative base vowed not to vote for a bill if it did not defund the organization, and some are on a path to remove him as speaker.

Since becoming speaker in 2011, Boehner has struggled to navigate politically with a polarized Congress and its increasingly conservative Republican members. Boehner’s announcement comes just a day after he had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Capitol. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to serve as the next speaker.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley recently released a statement describing a ballot measure to create a publicly funded campaign finance program. The program would allocate monetary credits to voters who could assign them to candidates.

The measure would also lower political contribution limits and create a revolving door provision for certain state officials seeking to become lobbyists. Said officials would be banned from lobbying for two years after leaving office.

Supporters must collect nearly 14,000 signatures to get the measure on the 2016 ballot.

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker plans to call a special legislative session to address details of, and issues related to, the development of a natural gas pipeline. The state is currently developing the project with three oil producers and a pipeline company.

Because Walker is required to give legislators a 30 day notice, the special session cannot begin until the end of October at the earliest. Walker expects the session to conclude before Thanksgiving and would prefer it be held in Juneau despite ongoing renovations at the state Capitol.

The Public Disclosure Commission has named Evelyn Fielding Lopez as the agency’s new executive director.

Lopez, a Tacoma lawyer who formally worked as an assistant attorney general, will begin work on October 1.

The former executive director, Andrea McNamara Doyle, resigned in May 2015.

New Mexico’s Secretary of State pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the misuse of campaign funds. Dianna Duran is accused of funneling campaign contributions into personal accounts, filing false campaign finance disclosures, and using the funds to frequent casinos.

Amid pressure to resign, Duran’s attorney said she has not been convicted of a crime and will remain the sitting secretary of state. State legislators will meet later this month to begin an investigation as part of impeachment proceedings.

Last week, I attended the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference (ALC), which was held in Washington, D.C. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. During the four-day conference, I attended a variety of sessions focusing on the issue of Health Disparities, Women’s’ Representation in the Media, Voting in the 2016 Election, and Racial Injustice — just to name a few. I found the sessions very engaging and informative. The speakers were knowledgeable and thought-provoking, and they definitely inspired me to roll up my sleeves and “stop talking and start doing!”

In addition to attending the educational sessions, the ALC is a great opportunity for networking and the exchange of ideas. I ran into some old friends, and made some new ones as well! I am looking forward to attending next year’s ALC – won’t you join me?

The West Virginia Ethics Commission announced a one-hour training course on the Ethics Act. Lobbyists new to West Virginia must complete this course within 90 days of registration and all other lobbyists must complete one training course during the registration cycle (January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016).

The course will take place on October 22, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. in the Ethics Commission’s conference room. An online video is also available for lobbyists to fulfill their training obligations.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. is a proud Silver Sponsor of the 2015 Public Affairs Council State & Local Government Relations Conference.  The event will take place September 23-25 in Alexandria, Virginia.  President and CEO Elizabeth Bartz and six team members are looking forward to lively discussions and high-quality content, and consider this a must-attend event for all state government affairs professionals.

Make sure to follow the conference on Twitter at #SLGR15.  We hope to see you there!