Gov. Jerry Brown has signed four bills into law – three amending the Political Reform Act and one amending post employment restrictions.

Assembly Bill 867 states behested payments are not contributions and recasts the provisions defining the term “contribution.”

Senate Bill 45 prohibits sending mass mailings within the 60 days before an election by or on behalf of a candidate on the ballot.

Senate Bill 226 requires slate mailer organizations to disclose on any mailing whether the organization represents public safety personnel.

Assembly Bill 1620 extends the time frame a member of the Legislature can lobby after resignation from one year after leaving office to one year after the adjournment sine die of the session in which the resignation occurred.

Gov. Jim Justice announced Tuesday evening legislators had completed their special session and passed six bills.

The special session was called after West Virginia voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of a road bond levy.

Bills passed include increasing civil penalties for contractors who do not hire at least 75 percent of their workforce from West Virginia, allowing the sharing of certain information between the West Virginia Division of Highways and West Virginia Tax Commissioner, and exempting military pensions from the state’s personal income tax.

The CASA Board Volunteer Association of Summit County held its annual fundraiser, “I Am for the Child” breakfast on October 18, 2017. The CASA/GAL (Court Appointed Special Advocates/Guardian ad Litem) Program of Summit County is a trained community of volunteers appointed by a judge to represent the best interest of an abused or neglected child in court. State and Federal Communications was proud to be one of the sponsors.

We also are proud that our very own Research Manager Michael Beckett has been serving as chairman of the CASA Board. Beckett led the amazing breakfast event with the compelling story of the many children in Summit County who need the services of CASA.

“We had a great morning sharing the immediate goal of the CASA/GAL Program to provide each child victim of this opioid epidemic with a trained CASA volunteer,” said Beckett.  “Thank you to Elizabeth Bartz and State and Federal Communications for facilitating and supporting my involvement with the CASA Board.”

Thank you, Michael Beckett and all of the CASA community for the terrific work you are doing for the children of Summit County!

State Sen. Cliff Hite resigned earlier this week, citing inappropriate behavior with a state employee and health reasons.

In his statement, Sen. Hite apologized for his actions, which he claims did not go beyond asking for hugs and chat that “was not appropriate for a married man.”

A replacement will be appointed by the Senate Republican caucus.

Rep. Pat Tiberi of Ohio announced his intention to resign from the U.S. House of Representatives by January 31, 2018.

In a statement, Tiberi said he has been offered the opportunity to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable.

The Ohio Revised Code states that the governor “shall issue a writ of election directing that a special election be held to fill such vacancy” once the vacancy has become official.

Tiberi was first elected to Congress in November 2000.

Gov. Kay Ivey has scheduled a special election for House District 21. The seat is vacant due to the sudden passing of Rep. Jim Patterson earlier this October.

A special primary election will be held on January 9, 2018, and the special general election will be held on March 27, 2018, provided a runoff is not required.

If a runoff is required, the special runoff election will be held on March 27, 2018, and the special general election will be held on June 12, 2018.

State and Federal Communications, Inc. President and CEO, Elizabeth Z. Bartz, was honored Friday, October 13, with the Kent State University Advocacy Award during the university’s fourth annual alumni awards. Elizabeth remains actively involved in Kent State University, especially with incoming freshman.

“I have always felt it was important to pay back Kent State by being actively involved in the alumni program, creating a scholarship and supporting the university and its students,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth works to give back to Kent State and the university’s students through the Elizabeth Z. Bartz Scholarship for seniors at Howland High School planning to attend Kent State university; and the Promising Scholar Program, a scholarship opportunity for incoming freshmen in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Read more about the ceremony from the university’s news paper, The Kent Stater; and learn more about Elizabeth and the Advocacy award from the Kent State Alumni Association!

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission temporarily moved to the Oklahoma Judicial Center, Room E118, at 2100 N. Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 on Friday, October 13, 2017, and will be at that location through Sunday, October 22nd, 2017.

The Oklahoma State Capitol is undergoing a building-wide electrical outage to transfer power to a new electrical room as a part of an ongoing restoration project, and the Ethics Commission office in the Capitol is closed.

The Commission staff will be available in person at the Judicial Center and by email and phone. This does not affect the Ethics Commission website or online reporting system.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo may call a special session this fall.

Cuomo believes a special session may be needed to address federal cuts to the state’s health care programs and other budgetary issues.

In a letter to lawmakers, Cuomo stated a special session may be needed to appropriate funds for Lake Ontario flood victims.

Becky is back! Keeping you up to date on a busy week in government and ethics news from around the country

The San Francisco Ethics Commission has proposed to place strict limits on behested payments.

A behested payment is when a public official asks a person or group to donate to a civic or charitable cause instead of directly to the public official, and the proposal would ban these requests. The penalty for officials could be $5,000 for each violation, but there would be no penalty for the donor.

If this proposal becomes an ordinance, the city’s Board of Supervisors would have to approve it. The commission could also put the changes on a ballot, which would be decided by voters in June of 2018.

On October 10, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) extended the comment period concerning internet communications disclaimers regulations to November 9. The FEC is specifically requesting comments addressing advertisements on internet-enabled applications and devices.

Originally the FEC had published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on October 13, 2011, and then again on October 18, 2016, “in light of legal and technological developments since [the 2011 notice] was published,” according to the FEC. This week, the Commission has decided to again reopen the comment period to receive additional comments once more because of technological changes since the last comment period ended.

The FEC is also seeking comments addressing “possible regulatory approaches that could minimize the need for serial revisions of regulations in order to adapt to new or emerging technologies,” according to the FEC notice of October 10.

Federal regulations require disclaimers identifying who paid for a political campaign communication and whether the communication was authorized by a candidate. The FEC is not proposing changes to any other rules adopted in the Internet Communications rulemaking of 2006.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 267 and Senate Bill 358 into law.

Senate Bill 267 authorizes the Fair Political Practices Commission to have primary responsibility for the impartial, administration, implementation, and enforcement of a local campaign finance reform of the city of Sacramento, effective immediately.

Senate Bill 358 requires the secretary of state’s website to post hyperlinks to the website of any local government agency containing publicly disclosed campaign finance information.

City lawmakers have passed an ordinance to limit the influence of independent expenditures in local elections.

By a 6-2 vote, City Council approved a measure to limit contributions from individuals to PACs involved in city elections and to restrict contributions from foreign-owned corporations with U.S.-based subsidiaries.

Supporters of the ordinance hope it will be a model law for other cities to stem the flow of money in politics after Citizens United.

Many believe a legal challenge is likely, but the drafters of the ordinance, a nonprofit group called Free Speech for People, are confident the language is constitutional under current campaign finance jurisprudence.