Pennsylvania House Speaker Announces Special Election for House District 60

The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced a special election for House District 60 will be held on May 18 during the upcoming primary election.

The seat is vacant after Jeff Pyle announced his retirement due to health issues from battling cancer and recovering from a stroke in 2020.

Candidates for the office will be selected by a process designated by their respective political parties.

The winner of the special election will serve for the remainder of Pyle’s term until the end of 2022.

Gov. Ned Lamont scheduled a special election for Assembly District 145 on April 27.

The seat became vacant after Patricia Miller was elected to the Connecticut State Senate on March 2.

There are no primaries, and candidates will be nominated directly by political parties.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Miller’s term until 2022.

Pennsylvania election officials have scheduled a special election for Senate District 22 on May 18.

The seat became vacant after John Blake resigned on March 8 to work for U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright.

There are no primaries, and candidates will be nominated directly by political parties.

The election falls on the same day as the municipal primary.

The winner of the election will serve the remainder of Blake’s term until the end of 2022.

The Boston Municipal Lobbying Compliance Commission recently adopted lobbying regulations to complement the city’s lobbyist registration and regulation ordinance.

Effective immediately, clients or lobbying entities required to file reports must itemize all expenditures exceeding $35 on any day during a covered reporting period.

Expenditures not exceeding $35 on any day must be reported but is not required to be itemized.

For the purposes of lobbying, expenditures are any expense incurred or paid separately by a lobbying entity or client during the reporting period in connection with each decision, legislation, legislative action or administrative action of a city employee that it sought to promote, oppose or influence and the total amount thereof incurred or paid separately by such lobbying entity or client during the reporting period.

Expenditures include operating expenses such as the cost of clerical and administrative staff salaries or wages, equipment, and facilities related to a lobbying entity or client engaging in lobbying activity and specific expenditures for lodging, meals, gifts, transportation, entertainment, advertising, public relations, printing, mailing, and telephone.

The regulation also provides a definition for compensation; a lobbyist registration exception for technical service experts; fee waiver requirements; and authorizes the commission’s power to initiate a formal investigation, hold hearings, issue decisions, and enforce penalties.

The Maine Legislative Council has scheduled the annual harassment prevention training for April 28 at 10 a.m.

Pursuant to 3 M.R.S.A. §170-B, lobbyists must complete an in-person harassment prevention training under the oversight of the Legislative Council, including the topics of sexual harassment and racial harassment.

Due to the public health threat caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s trainings will take place via Zoom.

Attendees are directed to fully participate and interact during the training and it is expected that participants will unmute audio when directed to do so and show their video during the entire event.

The training is expected to last approximately 90 minutes.

Space for the training is limited and online registration can be completed here.

On March 7, an inauguration ceremony was held for Governor Daniel J. McKee.

McKee was sworn in as Rhode Island’s 76th Governor after former Gov. Raimondo resigned to join President Biden’s administration as secretary of commerce.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, current public health and safety requirements limited attendance capacity for the inauguration event.

Governor Ned Lamont today announced a special election for Assembly District 112 on Tuesday, April 13.

The district consists of the entirety of the Town of Monroe and portions of Newtown.

The seat became vacant on February 17 following the resignation of J.P. Sredzinski.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Sredzinski’s two-year term through 2022.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics opened the online Lobbying Application for the submission of bimonthly reports and posted updated PDF forms.

Additional time has been provided to file bimonthly reports covering the January 1 to February 28 reporting period.

These reports will be considered timely if submitted by March 22, 2021.

JCOPE recommends users review statement of registrations before filing the bimonthly reports.

In certain cases, information not previously reported in a registration cannot be added directly to the report and requires an amended registration or updated organization profile.

Resources to help navigate the Lobbying Application can be found at https://jcope.ny.gov/2021-22-lobbying-biennial-period-information.

For any questions or technical assistance, please contact the JCOPE Helpdesk at helpdesk@jcope.ny.gov or by phone at 518-474-3973.

On February 24, the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics plans to open the online Lobbying Application.

Additionally, the commission will post updated paper forms for the submission of bimonthly reports.

The writable PDF forms will be available to paper filers on the JCOPE website.

Due to changes in the lobbying regulations and to the online filing system, JCOPE is also allowing additional time to file bimonthly reports due in March.

Bimonthly reports covering the January 1 to February 28 reporting period will be considered timely if submitted by March 22.

The online system was also updated to improve functionality, transparency, and the filing process.

Changes made include removing the auto-population of lobbying activities reported on a registration to the filer’s bimonthly report; allowing filers to add additional information to an existing party name; adding a comprehensive drop-down menu of itemized expenses; an updated parties lobbied database; and also adding an expense chart for reporting coalition contributions by members of unstructured coalitions.

Rhode Island lawmakers announced a statewide special election for March 2.

The special election relates to bond proposals seeking voter approval to borrow $400 million related to education, green infrastructure, transportation, housing, and arts funding.

Voters have the option for mail-in ballots, early voting in-person, or voting in-person on the day of the election.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 211 postponing elections to be held in the first quarter of 2021 until April 20.

The executive order affects any special school elections and fire district elections previously scheduled for February and March.

The governor issued the executive order due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic and to allow officials to prepare safe elections.

The governor will decide whether to hold the elections by in-person or mail-in voting at a later date.

Maine Governor Janet Mills and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap announced a special election to be held March 9, 2021 for Senate District 14.

The seat is vacant after Senator Shenna Bellows was elected as Secretary of State by the Legislature.

The winner of the special election will serve Senator Bellows’ two-year term.

The New York Legislature is set to convene a special session on Monday, December 28.

Lawmakers are meeting to pass legislation extending the ban on residential evictions past its January 1, 2021 deadline.

Tenants who present a legal document attesting to lost income, inability to find employment, inability to afford the costs of moving, or have experienced increased expenses due to COVID-19 may have pending evictions within a month of the proposed bill’s effective date delayed until May 1, 2021.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) published the second draft of proposed revisions to state lobbying regulations.

JCOPE adopted the revisions on an emergency basis and submitted Notices of Emergency Adoption for each.

The revisions will be effective January 1, 2021; cover lobbying activity in the 2021-22 biennial lobbying period; and be applicable to registrations, bi-monthly reports due March 15, 2021, and client semi-annual reports due July 15, 2021.

Key revisions include changes to the definition of designated lobbyist, direct lobbying activities by volunteers, grassroots lobbying, coalitions, and prohibitions relating to the receipt of stock options as compensation.

Revisions to the source of funding regulations address segregated funds for out-of-state activities and reporting of anonymous contributions.

JCOPE is requesting comments on the revised regulations as soon as possible.

The 45-day comment period runs until December 28, 2020.