Missouri House Democrats have introduced a bill to require future governors to publicly disclose donations for gubernatorial inauguration activities.

Lawmakers hope to eliminate the appearance of corruption by allowing Missourians to see how much money corporations and lobbyists donate to fund inaugural events.

Recently, Gov. Eric Greitens issued a list of benefactors who contributed to his inaugural celebration but refused to confirm how much was contributed by each donor and how much money was actually spent.

He formed a nonprofit to raise money for the inauguration and the contributions, therefore, were not subject to state campaign finance laws.

On February 21, Vancouver, British Columbia, City Councilmember Andrea Reimer intends to request the Council consider a city lobbyist registry.

In her notice of motion to the Council, Reimer is asking the municipal legislature to submit a request to the province to allow municipalities the ability to register lobbyists, create rules for lobbyist’s conduct in their interactions with elected officials and public servants, and the ability to enforce those rules. Reimer also wants the city to investigate the city of Surrey’s current lobbyist registry to determine the cost impact and any other information Vancouver may find helpful.

British Columbia does not permit municipalities to use the provincial lobbyist registry and has not given municipalities the legal authority to enforce lobbyist rules.

The Third Session of the 58th Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick adjourned on February 17. The legislature next meets on March 14, with an expected adjournment date of May 5.

Lawmakers continued to consider governmental ethics legislation, including bills to amend the Members’ Conflict of Interest Act, the Lobbyists’ Registration Act, and the Crown Construction Contracts Act. On February 16, the Act to Amend the Political Process Financing Act, which would have prohibited political contributions from corporations and trade unions, was defeated.

Hawaii legislators are currently considering legislation aimed at closing an existing loophole in lobbyist registration and reporting rules. Currently, a lobbyist is one who spends more than five hours in a month or $750 in a reporting period attempting to influence a ballot issue or legislative or administrative action.

The law is not clear, however, with regards to the activities and time to be included when determining if an individual meets the lobbyist threshold. As a result, it has been utilized as a way to avoid public disclosure.

House Bill 290 would close the loophole by amending the registration threshold. A lobbyist would include anyone paid or who expects to be paid more than $1,000 in a year for lobbying, anyone who spends five hours in one month or 10 hours in a calendar year on lobbying, or anyone who lobbies on three or more measures during a legislative session.

The bill is just one part of a legislative package supported by the Hawaii State Ethics Commission. The Commission is also supporting bills to increase fines for ethics and lobbying violations, to amend various definitions related to lobbying, to amend special session lobbyist reporting requirements, and to allow lobbyist employers to file notices of termination.

Gov. Nathan Deal announced a special election will be held on April 18, 2017, for state Senate District 32.

Sen. Judson Hill resigned from the seat to run in the special election for the Sixth Congressional District, scheduled for the same day, to replace Rep. Tom Price.

If necessary, a runoff election will be held on May 16. Candidate qualifying runs for three days, beginning February 22, 2017.

On February 16, several campaign finance bills were introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

Introduced as a private member’s bill by British Columbia’s New Democratic Party Leader John Horgan, the “Get Big Money Out of Politics Act” legislation bans union and corporate donations to political campaigns, allows only individuals normally residing in British Columbia to make political contributions, and restricts the premier and cabinet ministers from outside income.

Member of the Legislative Assembly Vicki Huntington’s bill, “Cash for Access Elimination Act, 2017,” prohibits members of the Executive Council and their employees from attending fundraising functions, personally soliciting political contributions, or attending or inviting individuals and organizations to attend fundraising functions. Huntington also submitted to the Assembly the “Election Finance Amendment Act, 2017,” which bans corporate and union donations, caps political donations at $1,500 a year, and allows them to be received only from British Columbians. The Local Elections Campaign Financing Act is also amended by this bill.

Additional bills introduced yesterday include the “Banning Publicly-funded Campaign Advertisements, 2017,” which bans government advertising during the four months preceding a general election, the “Fairness in Financing Local Government Elections Act, 2017,” which amends the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act to eliminate union and corporate donations in municipal election campaigns, and the “Fixed Fall Election Amendment Act, 2017,” which amends the Constitution Act to move the general election from May to October.

See what’s happening in government relations this week in our News You Can Use Video Digest. Enjoy!

On February 16, the “Lobbyist Registry Reform Act, 2017,” was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

The bill restricts publicly funded organizations from pursuing lobbying activities, legislates a cooling off period of two years for public office holders and their staff and advisors, and calls for a review of the lobbying act every five years.

The legislation is a part of a package of campaign finance and ethics bills introduced by the New Democratic Party.

This week the Montana House of Representatives passed House Bill 340, a bill to dismantle the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices. The bill was transmitted to the Senate on Tuesday after passing a final vote in the House.

The passage of House Bill 340, aiming to split the Commissioner’s current duties between the Secretary of State and Attorney General, was not unanimous.

Democratic lawmakers believe transferring power to two inherently partisan offices will not remedy what Republican lawmakers are characterizing as a partisan witch-hunt from current outgoing Commissioner Jonathon Motl.

On Tuesday, the House unanimously passed House Bill 1073.

The bill seeks to ban lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists exceeding $100 in value per year.

Lawmakers advanced HB 1073 in response to the recent repeal of Initiated Measure 22, which left the state with no limit on gifts lawmakers could accept from lobbyists.

The bill is now headed to the Senate for consideration.

The Missouri Ethics Commission recently released a series of advisory opinions related to Constitutional Amendment 2. The amendment, passed by the voters in the November election, amended state campaign finance laws.

The new advisory opinions address issues not fully articulated in the constitutional amendment. Opinions confirm: contribution limits do not apply to local candidates; the definitions of continuing and political action committees are substantially the same and are interpreted to be the same; and contribution limits only apply to continuing or political action committees if a contribution to the committee is designated for a specific candidate.

Another opinion finds a limited liability company to be a corporation for the purpose of the corporate contribution ban if the LLC is an eligible entity electing to be classified as a corporation under the federal tax code.

Other opinions relate to the eligibility of foreign corporations contributing to Missouri PACs, the application of the $25,000 per election aggregate limit to be received by a political party, and the applicability of contribution limits to state legislative campaign committees.

Rep. Knute Buehler is set to introduce two bills to restrict pay-to-play politics.

House Joint Resolution 17 seeks to amend the Oregon Constitution to ban corporations, nonprofits and labor unions from making contributions to candidates or political action committees.

House Bill 2914 would require bidders on state contracts to disclose their five greatest campaign contributions in the state.

If passed, the measures would likely face legal challenges on the basis of free speech restrictions.

Monday, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order blocking Senate Bill 4 from taking effect while the legal challenge against the law is pending.

This order halts the merger to combine the State Board of Elections with the State Ethics Commission.

Gov. Roy Cooper is currently challenging Senate Bill 4 on the basis that the General Assembly overstepped its state constitutional authority when it adopted the law establishing an eight-member board to oversee elections and consider ethics complaints and issues.

Enjoy these fun photos from recent events!