On November 30, a by-election to fill the vacancy of Councillor for Ward 20, Scarborough Southwest in Toronto, Ontario, Canada will be held.

The seat became vacant on July 26 because of the resignation of former Councillor Gary Crawford, who instead ran in the July 27 by-election held for the vacant Scarborough-Guildwood parliament seat that he did not win.

The nominations to run for the office did not open until September 7 and close at 2 p.m. on October 16.

On September 8,  the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced it was seeking public input on ways to improve its report filing processes and public website.

The FEC is interested in recommendations and comments regarding potential opportunities for improving the process for filing required disclosure reports and for improving the organization, substance, and how to best provide the public with easily accessible information on its website.

Comments must be in writing and submitted by email to publiccomment2023-14@fec.gov. The comment window will close 60 days after publication of the Notification of Request for Public Comment in the Federal Register.

On August 29, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to impose stricter lobbying and revolving door restrictions on Department of Defense (DOD) employees and contractors.

House Bill 5306, Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act of 2023:

• Imposes a four-year ban on certain large DOD contractors from hiring senior DOD officials and former DOD employees who managed their contract;
• Extends to four years the existing prohibition on former military generals lobbying the DOD and expands the restrictions to other senior officials; and
• Requires defense contractors to submit detailed annual reports to the DOD regarding former senior DOD officials who are subsequently employed by contractors and requires DOD to make those reports public.

Additionally, the legislation raises the recusal standard for DOD employees by prohibiting them from participating in any matter that might affect the financial interests of their former employer or direct competitor for four years and bans senior DOD officials from owning any stock in a major defense contractor that receives more than $100 million in revenue from DOD contracts.

The bill prohibits senior national security officials from working on behalf of foreign governments and prohibits military and civilian intelligence personnel from working on behalf of foreign governments or private entity that operates predominantly on behalf of a foreign government.

The bill also requires:

• Large defense contractors to submit a report of their lobbying activities, including who they’re meeting with, what they’re lobbying about, and what (unclassified) information they’re sharing;
• The secretary of defense to publish online copies of unclassified DOD contracts; and
• Military services to maintain public websites with the names, biographies, and any associated financial disclosures, as well as DOD Inspector General reports and command climate surveys, regarding all active and reserve component senior military officers.

Congressman Andy Kim, who introduced as the House companion bill to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Senate Bill 2050, said in his press release the government needs “to prevent conflicts of interest, root out corruption, waste, and fraud so [military] officials can focus on the mission in front of them.”

On October 2, a provincial by-election will be held in the electoral division of Jean-Talon, located in Quebec City, for the Quebec National Assembly.

The election will be held to fill the vacant seat of former Member of the National Assembly Joëlle Boutin, a member of the governing Coalition Avenir Québec, who resigned on July 19 in order to join the private sector. The seat became vacant on July 31.

The by-election was announced by the government of Quebec on August 30.

On August 10, the Federal Election Commission moved a step closer to addressing “deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) campaign advertisements.”

On July 13, the commission had received a Petition for Rulemaking asking the FEC to make it clear that the related statutory prohibition applies to deliberately deceptive AI campaign advertisements.

In response, the FEC issued REG 2023-02 (Artificial Intelligence in Campaign Ads) Draft Notification of Availability to seek written public comments on the Petition.

The notification will be published in the Federal Register at a future date along with the deadline for comments, according to the FEC press release.

On July 27, legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would implement a lifetime ban on Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists.

The Close the Revolving Door Act, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, aims to provide greater controls and restrictions on revolving door lobbying.

Additionally, the bill would ban lobbyists from working for members of Congress and Committees with whom they had a substantial lobbying contact in the previous six years; create a website entitled lobbyists.gov for searchable disclosures on lobbying activities; and increase penalties for violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) from $200,000 to $500,000.

Lobbying firms paying former members of Congress or senior congressional staff as employees, contractors, or for consulting services would have increased disclosure requirements under the LDA.

“I came to the Senate to fight for working families and defend our Montana way of life, and I don’t think any Member of Congress should cash out on the privilege of public service,” said Tester in his press release.

On July 24, a Canadian federal by-election will be held in the electoral district of Calgary Heritage (Alberta) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons.

Calgary Heritage’s Member of Parliament, Bob Benzen, had announced in October of 2022 his desire to resign and return to private life.

On January 5 of this year, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that Benzen’s seat was vacant.

The date for the election was not announced until June 18, which signaled the start of the by-election period.

On July 1, the updated edition of Canada’s federal Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct will come into force.

A new gift limit for lobbyists is imposed, allowing up to $40 for gifts and hospitality for an official they lobby or expect to lobby. The intention of the limit is to avoid the creation of a sense of obligation on the part of the official. The new gift limit has an annual maximum amount of $200, per calendar year, from one lobbying source. Lobbyists may still provide sponsored travel to officials they do not lobby or expect to lobby. However, given the costs of sponsored travel, providing travel to an official by a lobbyist for an official they lobby or expect to lobby could reasonably be seen to create a sense of obligation on the part of that official and be prohibited if over $40. The commissioner, on an annual basis, has the option to take inflation into account in adjusting the individual and annual gift limit amounts.

Lobbyists engaged in certain political work, acting in certain leadership or senior political roles, or fundraising “that could reasonably be seen to be significant to the official” are subject to a cooling-off period. The cooling-off period, for which an individual cannot lobby the official benefited, ranges between 12 to 24 months.

One of the purposes of the new code is to make the rules clear and comprehensive, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. The commissioner’s office states that lobbyists obligations are described in “plain language” and will eliminate the need for separate guidance documents.

On June 19, federal by-elections will be held in the electoral districts of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount (Quebec), Oxford (Ontario), Winnipeg South Centre (Manitoba) and Portage–Lisgar (Manitoba) to fill vacancies in the House of Commons.

From December 2022 until March of this year, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received four separate official notices from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seats were vacant. However, the dates for the election were not announced until May 14, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a single election date for all four of the vacant seats in the House of Commons.

Three of the seats became vacant by retirement, and the fourth, for Winnipeg South Centre, became vacant upon the death of MP Jim Carr. The announcement date of the by-elections signals the start of the by-election period.

On June 19, federal by-elections will be held in the electoral districts of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Westmount (Quebec), Oxford (Ontario), Winnipeg South Centre (Manitoba), and Portage–Lisgar (Manitoba) to fill vacancies in the House of Commons.

From December 2022 until March of this year, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, received four separate official notices from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seats were vacant. However, the dates for the election were not announced until May 14, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a single election date for all four of the vacant seats in the House of Commons.

Three of the seats became vacant by retirement, and the fourth, for Winnipeg South Centre, became vacant upon the death of MP Jim Carr. The announcement date of the by-elections signals the start of the by-election period.

Elections Canada published the updated limits on expenses for regulated activities of third parties involved in federal elections in Canada.

The Canada Elections Act imposes a limit on expenses a third party can incur for regulated political activities.

For the period of April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, a third party is prohibited from incurring overall election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $579,950 during a general election. The previous limit was $543,200.

For the same period of April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024, a third party is prohibited from incurring election advertising expenses in a given electoral district of a total amount of more than $4,971 during a general election. The previous limit was $4,656.

Adjustments are made annually based on a formula of a base amount multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor in effect for the period.

On May 2, U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke introduced legislation into the U.S. House of Representatives to require disclosure of political campaign content created by artificial intelligence.

House Bill 3044 amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) to provide transparency and accountability for the use of content generated by artificial intelligence (generative AI) in political advertisements.  It requires such advertisements to include a statement within the contents of the advertisements if generative AI was used to generate any image or video footage in the advertisements. The bill also expands FECA’s definitions of online platform.

If passed, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would be required to make regulations within 120 days of the day of the enactment of the bill. Additionally, the bill explicitly states the legislation would come into effect on or after January 1, 2024, even if the FEC has not yet promulgated regulations to carry out the new law.

The bill, entitled the Require the Exposure of AI–Led Political Advertisements Act (REAL Political Advertisements Act) has been referred to the House Committee on House Administration.

On April 27, a bi-partisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).

Senate Bill 1364, the Foreign Agents Disclosure and Registration Enhancement Act, would provide the Attorney General with greater authority to promote enforcement of disclosure requirements for agents of foreign principals and increases penalties for noncompliance.

The bill also “improves FARA advisory opinion transparency and requires the Government Accountability Office to study whether and to what extent the Lobbying Disclosure Act exemption is being abused to conceal foreign lobbying activity,” according to the press release of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, the lead Republican sponsor of the bill.

Identical legislation had been introduced in 2019 but did not pass.

On March 27, the city of Pickering, in Ontario, Canada, passed a new lobbying law and will become the 10th municipality in Ontario to have a lobbyist registry framework in place. This by-law authorizing a lobbyist registry for the city technically came into force with its passage, but all enforcement and penalties will not take effect until November 1, 2023.

All lobbyists must file a registration (a first filing of a return) regarding lobbying communication within ten business days of the initial communication occurring. A lobbyist must file a return updating any change to their registration immediately. Lobbying is defined as “any communication with a public office holder by an individual who is paid or who represents a business or financial interest with the goal of trying to influence any legislative action including development, introduction, passage, defeat, amendment or repeal of a bylaw, motion, resolution or the outcome of a decision on any matter before council, a committee of council, or a staff member acting under delegated authority.”

The list of covered public office holders includes members of the city council, officers or employees of the city in management positions, members of local boards or committees established by the city council, and individuals providing professional services to the city during the course of providing such services.

The mandatory registry applies to consultant lobbyists, in-house lobbyists, and certain voluntary lobbyists. Lobbying on a contingency basis is prohibited. Former public office holders are forbidden from lobbying for a period of 12 months after leaving office. Penalties include being barred from lobbying for various periods of time. Additionally, all lobbyists must adhere to a formal Code of Conduct for Lobbyists, which is part of the by-law, during all lobbying activities with public office holders.