An ethics reform bill heralded this summer by Massachusetts House Republicans has been blocked.

The Democratic-controlled house voted 116 to 34 today against a motion allowing House Bill 3718 out of committee for a full vote. Among the changes in the bill are the requirement lobbyists wear badges identifying themselves as such, contribution restrictions for house members, and the prohibition of house members and their staff from contacting public entities regarding pending procurement decisions.

The reform measure arose as a response to the conviction this summer of former house speaker Salvatore DiMasi on seven counts of corruption.

This post follows up a previous article by George Ticoras, “New House Ethics Rules Proposed for Massachusetts” from June 23.

Photo of the Massachusetts Statehouse by Fcb981 on Wikipedia.

Registered federal lobbyists may not serve on any boards, commissions, or similar groups created by the President, the Congress, or an Executive Branch department or agency, the Office of Management and Budget (O.M.B.) has affirmed.

The O.M.B. issued its Notice of Final Guidance detailing, in a question and answer format, the limitations of federal lobbyists’ service on federal boards and commissions. The policy does not apply to full-time federal employees, state lobbyists, or employees of organizations that engage in lobbying activities. If an appointment is made pursuant to statutory authority or presidential directive by Congress or state governors, the O.M.B. encourages the appointments to be made to individuals who are not federally registered lobbyists whenever possible.

The O.M.B. policy was created at the directive of a June 18, 2010 Presidential memorandum “Lobbyists on Agency Boards and Commissions.” Federal lobbyists on boards and commission as of June 18, 2010 may serve out the remainder of their terms.

The O.M.B.’s final guidance will be effective 30 days from issuance in the Federal Register.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued an Advisory Opinion stating a “project” created by a trade association may make certain communications to the general public asking individuals to contribute directly to particular federal candidates.

The Utah Bankers Association (U.B.A.) had requested the Advisory Opinion. It intends to solicit the general public through its website and e-mail, as well as through the website of “Friends of Traditional Banking,” a project created for this purpose. There will be no coordination with any candidate and no contributions will be accepted or forwarded to federal candidate’s committees.

In Advisory Opinion 2011-14, the Commission concluded the expenses for soliciting contributions through a trade association’s own website and e-mail is not an in-kind contribution because an internet communication is not a “public communication” if it “is not placed for a fee on another person’s website,” and therefore does not meet the content prong test of coordinated communications. The Commission also found U.B.A.’s plan is not “electioneering communications” which are limited to broadcast, cable, or satellite communications

Other questions related to the U.B.A. request were also addressed in the opinion.

Only lobbyists in Alaska who are constituents in a state candidate’s newly certified district may donate to a candidate’s campaign, an Advisory Opinion from the Alaska Public Offices Commission has declared.

Because a lobbyist residing in a candidate’s district may contribute to a candidate, Representative Bob Lynn requested an opinion regarding whether a lobbyist in his current district could donate to his campaign when he or she may not be a constituent in his proposed new voting district.

Advisory Opinion 11-14-CD concludes candidates “will only be able to accept donations from lobbyists residing in the new district.”

Presently, only candidates for the proposed new districts, and not the current districts, are being certified by the Division of Elections. In its analysis, the Advisory Opinion also articulates, “Whether or not a lobbyist resides in the candidate’s district is determined on the day the contribution is accepted.”

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) has issued a reminder regarding the application of rule g-37 to federal election campaigns of issuer officials.

In the notice, the MSRB reminds “brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers” of prohibitions outlined in previous MSRB guidance notices, which highlight the rules and prohibitions concerning solicitations and contributions for certain state and local officials seeking election to federal office.

Generally, issuer officials are directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of a broker, dealer or municipal securities dealer for municipal securities business.

The reminder can be found here.

Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert has signed a proclamation to officially convene a special session of the Utah Legislature on Monday, October 3.

The Governor had earlier announced the date, but the proclamation formally outlines the purpose for the special session with seven legislative issues, including adding the presidential primary to the regular primary ballot, redistricting, and making changes to the workers’ compensation insurance requirements.

The Governor’s press release can be found here.

New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno signed into law a bill moving the state’s presidential primary from February to June.

Assembly Bill 3777 eliminates separate presidential primary elections and provides for delegates and alternates to political party national conventions to be elected at regular June primary elections.

Lt. Governor Guadagno assumed the executive role of Governor Chris Christie while he was out of the state.

Today the Indianapolis Office of Finance and Management begins implementation of its new Enterprise Resource Planning software, which will cause a temporary halt on generating request for bids or quotes, and vendor payments.

The new system will allow informal quotes to be e-mailed as long as the Office has a vendor’s current contact information and a valid e-mail address. Invitations to bid will be formatted differently but contain the same information. The vendor notification of this change can be found here and the Purchasing Division home page can be found here.

The conversion is expected to be complete by October 3.

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution seeking to reverse the ruling of the Citizens United decision has been reintroduced in Congress.

Congressman John Conyers and Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards, co-sponsors of House Joint Resolution 78, want to give Congress and the states specific authority to regulate corporate expenditures on political activity. The amendment reads “nothing in this Constitution shall prohibit Congress and the States from imposing content-neutral regulations and restrictions on the expenditure of funds for political activity by any corporation, limited liability company, or other corporate entity, including but not limited to contributions in support of, or in opposition to, a candidate for public office.”

In Congresswoman Donna F. Edward’s press release she states, “Justice John Paul Stevens warned that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United threatened ‘to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation’ and how right he was. Since that flawed ruling was issued, campaign spending by outside groups including corporations surged more than four-fold to reach nearly $300 million in the 2010 election cycle.”

The amendment also reads “nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.”

The Office of Government Ethics (O.G.E.) has issued proposed lobbyist gift ban rules, which would apply to all executive branch employees.

Most of the proposed rules deal with limiting, for lobbyists, the exceptions of the ban on gifts. For example, executive branch employees would not be permitted to accept invitations extended by lobbyists for free attendance at widely attended gatherings that would normally fall under the gift ban exception. Non-profit professional associations, scientific organizations, and learned societies, which are also sometimes registered lobbyists, would still be afforded the exception. The O.G.E. based much of its reasoning on the notion “the cultivation of familiarity and access that a lobbyist [gains]” may be used in the future by lobbyists to obtain more sympathetic hearings for clients.

Another change would preclude lobbyists from the gift ban exception of social invitations, such as invitations to cocktail parties and movie screenings, if the invitations were extended because of the employee’s official position, even if the lobbyist is not a prohibited source. The O.G.E. argues in its proposal that “the lobbyist could use social events as a way to build general good will with a class of employees in case access is needed for a future issue or client.”

The proposed rules arise because an earlier Presidential Executive Order regarding gifts to non-career political appointees, which had called for the O.G.E. “to apply the lobbyist gift ban set forth [in the order] to all executive branch employees.” Written comments about the rule must be received by the O.G.E. before November 14, 2011

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie renewed calls on the Legislature to pass ethics reform. In a press release, the governor stated, “New Jersey’s ethics laws remain a patchwork of ineffective half measures and loopholes that fail to apply a uniform standard of rules of conduct for all levels of government in our state.”

Highlighting a report issued last week by the State Comptroller which emphasized the failure of the state’s pay-to-play laws, the governor reiterated the need for the changes in his proposals, which include imposing a uniform standard for awarding contracts at all levels and branches of government in New Jersey. His proposals would also end ‘wheeling,’ a practice of transferring political donations to circumvent campaign financing laws.

Governor Christie has pushed pay-to-play reform in New Jersey by linking financial Transitional Aid to municipalities with the requirement the municipalities adopt local pay-to-play ordinances.

A post about the State Comptroller report can be found here.

Today the New Jersey State Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer and the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Executive Director Jeff Brindle called for a simpler pay-to-play system, tighter contracting rules, and more complete disclosure of contractor contributions.

Comptroller Boxer issued a report finding the state’s pay-to-play laws contain “a series of fatal flaws [that] have essentially rendered New Jersey’s Pay-to-Play law meaningless in the effort to prevent local governments from steering contracts to politically favored vendors.” Director Brindle stated, “Unfortunately, New Jersey’s political history is littered with examples of private contractors securing lucrative public contracts through targeted contributions.”

The comptroller’s report suggests several changes, such as eliminating the fair-and-open exception which has different regulatory systems at the state and local levels, strengthening fair-and-open guidelines to require more competitive contracting, and reforming New Jersey’s contract laws to allow a more competitive vendor-selection process.

Drawing on earlier recommendations from ELEC, Director Brindle also made calls for changes, including for one state pay-to-play law to apply “across the board” for all jurisdictions, emphasizing “the current maze of local and state laws is terribly confusing.” Additionally, ELEC proposes that any public contractor receiving a contract over $17,500 file an annual report with the agency, listing the contractor’s contributions and public contracts. The current disclosure threshold is $50,000. Director Brindle also stated the contribution limits for contractors should be raised to help address fundraising concerns and not discourage participation in the political process.

“Combined with competitive bidding reform as suggested by the Comptroller, together these changes would, I believe, constitute the strongest pay-to-play law in the nation,” Director Brindle said.

Comptroller Boxer’s press release is here. Director Brindle’s press release is here.

As The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction holds its first public hearing today, a new bi-partisan bill introduced last week is circulating which would require its 12 members to disclose meetings with lobbyists and special interests between committee members and staff 48 hours after the meeting on the committee website.

The bill also requires the same disclosure before any meetings occur within 48 hours of the November 23 vote and the submission of legislative text on December 2, and disclosure of lobbyist and special interest contributions to committee member campaigns or leadership PACs, and any contributions over $500, all within 48 hours after the donation occurs.

The committee is streaming today’s meeting live, but the bill would also require committee hearings to be streamed live on its website and be televised.

Additionally, the committee’s report and proposed legislative language would have to be published online 72 hours before the vote occurs.

The bill is sponsored by House Representatives Jim Renacci, Dave Loebsack, and Mike Quigley. Representative Renacci’s press release can be found here.

A pay-to-play ordinance has been introduced in Montclair, New Jersey.

The ordinance would prohibit business entities which have made local political contributions from contracting with the township if the contributions were made within one year immediately preceding the date of the contract or agreement and are in excess of certain thresholds. Contribution thresholds include a maximum of $300 per calendar year each for any purpose to any candidate or candidate committee for mayor or governing body, $500 per calendar year to any joint candidates committee for mayor or governing body, and $500 maximum per calendar year to any PAC. Penalties for violating the ordinance include a four ban on contracting with the township.

A business entity may cure a violation of the ordinance, if, within 30 days after the date on which the applicable ELEC report is published, the business entity notifies the municipality in writing and seeks and receives reimbursement of the contribution from the recipient of such contribution.

Public comments will be accepted at the next Township Council meeting on September 20.