On December 4, the Tallahassee City Commission approved an ordinance amending the city’s ethics code.

The ordinance expands the Independent Ethics Board’s jurisdiction to covered individuals including:

• Each public official
• An employee or member of a city board, commission, or council required to file financial disclosures, or with purchasing authority exceeding $35,000
• Employees participating in the procurement of services or commodities exceeding $10,000

The amended ethics code extends the ban on solicitation and acceptance of gifts to covered individuals.

Additionally, the amended code extends the prohibition against misuse of public position to all public officials and employees of the city.

The ordinance becomes effective January 1, 2020.

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. announced a special session for December 18.

The special session is to consider an amendment to the Medicinal Cannabis Patient Care Act.

The amendment provides more regulatory controls and enables the generation of tax and fee revenues.

If passed, the amendment would allow for the sale of cannabis products to tourists and create a regulated system to prevent fraud, increase transparency, testing, licensing and penalties.

The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) announced the commission will require 2019 bimonthly reports due in September and later to include the level of specificity required by lobbying regulations.

The commission will require lobbying activity information to correctly disclose the focus type, focus (including the specific bill, resolution, or executive order), the identifying number, description of the focus, type of lobbying communication, and names of the party lobbied.

Lobbyists may be required to amend previously filed reports in September and November to comply with the specificity requirements.

JCOPE has produced a guideline, “How to Properly Disclose Lobbying Activities” on their website outlining the required information required for proper disclosure.

The New York Campaign Finance Reform Commission released their report containing recommendations regarding the creation of a public campaign finance system and reforms to the state election laws.

The commission proposes to create a voluntary public campaign finance system for statewide and legislative candidates.

The public campaign finance system establishes reporting requirements for participating candidates and sets initial eligibility requirements for the program.

The commission also proposed lowering campaign contribution limits for candidates seeking statewide office to $18,000.

Contribution limits for candidates seeking the office of state senator and assembly member would also be lowered to $10,000 and $6,000, respectively.

Contribution limits would be divided equally between primary and general elections and applied to both participating and nonparticipating candidates in the proposed public campaign finance system.

The commission’s recommendations become effective December 22, unless the Legislature supersedes the report’s proposals by statute.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced a special election on January 14, 2020, to fill two vacancies in the House of Representatives.

House District 48 was most recently held by Rep. Linda Orange who passed away due to pancreatic cancer.

Rep. Brenda Kupchick resigned from the House District 132 seat on November 22 to assume office as chief elected official of Fairfield.

On Saturday, Gov. John Bel Edwards defeated Republican challenger Eddie Rispone to win reelection.

The election was close heading into the final week and Edwards held onto his seat with a difference of 40,300 votes.

Edwards becomes the first Democrat in Louisiana to win reelection since 1975.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) sent out a statement clarifying an earlier email reminder regarding lobbyist bimonthly filings due this week.

The previous email reminder was sent out to JCOPE’s distribution list containing clients, lobbyists, and other entities no longer registered in New York.

The email reminder was only relevant for lobbyists filing bimonthly reports covering the period of September through October.

Client filings are not due again until January 15, 2020.

Democrats won a majority of seats in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly on November 5.

Democrats gained six seats in the House of Delegates and two in the Senate.

This will be the first majority for Democrats in over 25 years.

With Gov. Ralph Northam serving as governor, Virginia Democrats form a state government trifecta.

On Election Day, voters approved Ballot Question 3, Ethics and Governance.

The proposal amends the city charter by extending the post-employment appearance ban for elected officials and senior appointed officials.

Additionally, the proposal limits political activity and donations by members of the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB).

City elected officials and senior appointed officials will be prohibited from appearing before the agency or branch of government they served in after leaving service for two years. The current rule is one year.

The amendment would also prohibit members of the COIB from participating in campaigns for local elected office.

Furthermore, the amendment reduces the maximum amount members can contribute in each election cycle.

The post-employment ban would become effective January 1, 2022.

On October 1, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled state laws enacted in 2016 requiring disclosure of donors to tax exempt organizations to be invalid.

In Citizens Union of the City of New York, et al., v. Attorney General of the State of New York, the U.S. District Court found provisions in the state’s ethics laws requiring entities exempt from federal taxation under 26 USC §§501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) to publicly report donors under certain circumstances to be unconstitutional.

The district court found the disclosure of funding sources requirement for 501(c)(3) entities making an in-kind donation over $2,500 to a 501(c)(4) entity engaged in lobbying violates the First Amendment because it chills speech and burdens donors’ rights to free association and privacy.

The district court also struck down the rule requiring 501(c)(4) to publicly disclose donors if the entity makes a public statement that refers to the position of an official regarding any potential legislation.

The second provision was found to intrude on donors’ right to express opinions anonymously.

The General Court of New Hampshire is set to reconvene this week for a veto session over 55 bills vetoed by Gov. Chris Sununu.

The Legislature will discuss bills relating to firearm sales, renewal energy, and campaign finance transparency.

Lawmakers will review Senate Bill 156 concerning political contributions by limited liability companies.

The bill requires political contributions made by a limited liability company to be allocated to members for the purpose of contribution limits.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to meet for two days on September 18 and 19. The Senate is scheduled for one day on Thursday, September 19.

State Rep. Ed Rynders announced his resignation from House District 152.

Rynders suffered a heart attack over the summer and cited his ongoing health issues for his resignation.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced a special election on November 5 to fill the vacant seat.

The winner of the special election will complete the remaining year of Rynders’ term.

The New York State Legislature adjourned on June 21.

During the legislative session lawmakers passed a bill closing a limited liability company loophole regarding contribution limits.

The bill limits annual political spending by an LLC to $5,000, the same limit as corporations.

The Legislature also passed election reforms relating to early voting, creating a unified June primary for federal and local elections, and upgrading election technology.

The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics will be enabling the ability to file client semiannual reports and source funding disclosures through the online Lobbying Application on July 8.

Due to the short time frame of enabling the ability to file online and the statutory due date, JCOPE has granted an extension to submit client reports until July 31.

The extension only applies to semiannual reports and source of funding disclosures; lobbyist bimonthly reports are still due on July 15.