Today, the Federal Election Commission elected Ann Ravel as its chairwoman. Ravel replaces Lee E. Goodman, who was appointed with Ravel to the commission in 2013.

The chairmanship is a rotating, one-year position. No commissioner may serve as chair more than once during his or her term.

A special election has been scheduled for April 28, 2015, to fill vacant council seats in Wards 4 and 8. Several prospective candidates for the Ward 8 seat have already obtained nominating petitions, and several other candidates are expected to enter the race before the petition filing deadline on January 28, 2015.

The Ward 8 seat was held by long-time District politician Marion Barry, who recently passed away. The Ward 4 seat was held by Muriel Bowser, who is the mayor-elect.

On Monday, December 15, Akron City Council voted 8-4 to raise campaign contribution limits for mayoral and council candidates. All limits will increase by $100.

Candidates for mayor and at-large council will be permitted to accept $750 per election and ward council candidates will be permitted to accept $500 per election. The city charter requires council to review the contribution limits every two years.

The new limits come just in time for next year’s election as all council seats as well as the mayoral seat will be on the ballot.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Jonathan Denis recently introduced the Alberta Accountability Act to ensure high ethical standards and to enhance accountability on behalf of elected officials and public servants.

Among other changes, the legislation revises post-employment restrictions, increases consistency in conflict of interest rules, clarifies gift rules, eliminates the majority of sole-source contracts, and expands the authority for the Alberta Ethics Commissioner.

The Act passed the House and is currently awaiting Royal Assent.

With the Senate passing the House’s omnibus bill, the limits for political contributions to federal political parties will increase when President Barack Obama signs the bill. Included as a rider with House Resolution 83 is an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 allowing additional contributions to political parties for presidential nominating conventions, for preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings, and for the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more buildings for party headquarters.

An additional provision of the bill prohibits the federal government from recommending or requiring any entity submitting an offer for a federal contract to disclose, as a condition of submitting an offer, any political contribution, expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication by the offeror, its officers or directors, or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries.

Another provision included in the bill prohibits the federal government from paying for a portrait of an officer or employee of the federal government, including the president, the vice president, a member of Congress (including a delegate or a resident commissioner to Congress), the head of an executive branch agency, or the head of an office of the legislative branch.

The president has said he will sign the bill.

UDPATE: On December 16, President Obama signed the House Resolution 83 into law.

Photo of the U.S. Capitol by Martin Falbisoner on Wikimedia Commons.

The Office of the Secretary State announced lobbying registration and reporting in Vermont is going digital. Beginning with the 2015-2016 biennium, registration and reporting will be accomplished solely through a new online management system.

Lobbyist disclosure reports due on January 25, 2015, covering the period from July 1 to December 31, 2014, will be the last paper filings accepted.

The online system will be available for use no later than January 1, 2015.

At its December 17 meeting, the Hawaii State Ethics Commission will consider amending its interpretation of certain conflict of interest provisions. Legislators and employees are prohibited from assisting or representing any person or business for compensation on matters in which they have participated or will participate in their state capacities, or on matters before their own state agencies. They are also subject to similar post-employment restrictions.

Currently, with regard to sections 84-14(B), (C), and (D) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, the Commission interprets the phrase “any person or business” to mean a third party; it does not include the legislator, employee, former legislator, or former employee.

Because the Commission’s current interpretation appears inconsistent with the plain meaning and underlying purpose of the law, however, the Commission’s staff recommends the Commission amend its interpretation. Under the new interpretation, “any person or business” will also include the legislator, employee, former legislator, or former employee.

If revised, the new interpretation will be effective July 1, 2015.

The Washington Area State Relations Group (WASRG) is throwing a holiday party with fun, food, and networking – all for a good cause! State and Federal Communications is proud to be a sponsor of the WASRG Holiday Happy Hour & Philanthropic Event in Washington, D.C. on December 17, 2014.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to The Children’s Inn at NIH, a facility designed to keep families together as children receive treatments for critical illnesses at the National Institute of Health.

State and Federal Communications is pleased to announce the addition of information to assist you with your planning for the upcoming gubernatorial inaugurations and related events. The document, available for subscribers to our services, can be found on the User Dashboard, which is the landing page you arrive at after logging in to the website. The link can be found on the left-hand side, below your bookmarks and the link to the Classroom tutorial videos.

Two common scenarios are covered: the rules on providing inaugural event tickets to public officials and the rules covering contributions to inaugural committees. All 36 states that elected a governor in 2014 are covered.

In its December 11, 2014, meeting, the New York City Campaign Finance Board approved rules implementing Local Law 116 of 2013, which permits candidates receiving public matching funds to receive contributions via text message.

The rules permit public funds to match the text message contribution once those contributions are paid via the contributor’s phone bill. The rules further establish record keeping requirements for text message contributions and a process to certify the identity of the contributor.

The rules will take effect 30 days after final publication in The City Record.

The limits for political contributions to federal political parties may increase with the passage of the current federal omnibus bill. Included as a rider is an amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 allowing additional contributions to political parties for presidential nominating conventions, for preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings, and for the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more buildings for party headquarters.

An individual would be able to contribute $97,200 a year to a national political party beyond a committee’s existing limit of $32,400 per year. For an example of combined contributions made possible by the proposed legislation, see “Campaign contribution limits are about to go way up. Here’s what that looks like, in one massive graph” by Philip Bump in The Washington Post.

City Council passed the Oakland Government Ethics Act towards the end of an eight-hour meeting during the early hours of December 10.

In November, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to strengthen the city’s Public Ethics Commission (PEC). Measure CC, a charter amendment, gives the PEC authority to enforce the city’s lobbying laws and to levy fines in excess of $1,000 for violations.

The Oakland Government Ethics Act compliments the charter amendment by providing a new set of ethics rules including a revolving-door provision and a new lower annual gift limit of $250. Gifts from persons who do business or seek to do business with the city are further limited to $50 annually.

The legislation is effective immediately.

Republican Rep. Kris Crawford has vacated his seat in House District 63, a month after being elected unopposed to a fifth term.

Crawford said the commute to the state capital and his professional duties as a physician were wearing him out.

The primary will be February 24, 2015, followed by a special election on April 14.

A state House study panel considering ethics reforms has endorsed legislation to remove lawmakers’ ability to police themselves on legal issues. A similar bill failed in the Senate during the last legislative session.

The draft proposal unanimously approved by the panel would create a new independent commission to investigate allegations against public officers. Opponents to last year’s proposal believed the measure to be unconstitutional since the state constitution explicitly requires the House and Senate to discipline their own members.

Additional ethics bills have been prefiled to increase lobbying fees, change reporting dates, and remedy the unconstitutional definition of “committee” for campaign finance purposes. The decision to push several separate bills rather than an overall ethics reform measure is a significant difference from last session.