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.

The Borough Council of New Milford, New Jersey has adopted a new pay-to-play ordinance.

Ordinance #2011:17 prohibits any business entity who submits a proposal for, enters into negotiations for, or agrees to any contract or agreement with the borough, from knowingly making any contribution to local candidates, candidate committee or joint candidates committees, PACs, or to holders of public office having ultimate responsibility for the award of a contract or agreement.

Certain threshold amounts apply to this prohibition, such as a maximum of $300 per calendar year for any purpose to any candidate or candidate committee for mayor or a governing body. In order to cure any violations in excess of the limits, a reimbursement of contributions is allowed if made within 30 days. The new ordinance also applies to renewal and material modifications of existing contracts. Prior to the awarding of a contract, vendors will be required to submit sworn statements attesting to compliance with the regulations.

Vendors found in violation could face disqualification from eligibility for future contracts with the Borough for four years from the date of the violation.

Some exceptions to the new ordinance are allowed, including contracts awarded in the case of emergencies

The Federal Election Commission has entered into a Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment with the National Defense PAC (NDPAC) agreeing not to enforce some provisions of law regarding contribution limits for political committees and candidates.

These provisions, 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(c) and 441a(a)(3), were ruled unenforceable by the District Court in a prior decision, Carey v. FEC. Prior to the District Court’s decision, the FEC had been unable to issue a binding resolution for an earlier NDPAC advisory opinion request.

As a single committee, the NDPAC may now contribute directly to candidates and political committees, and make independent expenditures, separating the funds only by using two separate bank accounts. It must maintain the statutory limits on the solicitation of funds used for direct contributions while it may simultaneously seek unlimited funds for use in their independent expenditures. While the Stipulated Order and Consent Judgment specifically regards the FEC withholding enforcement of the law as it applies to NDPAC, it does not address other PACs utilizing the same procedures for solicitation and separation of funds.

This post updates a previous article by George Ticoras, “One PAC is Enough” from June 15, 2011.

Lorne Malkiewich, the director of the Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau, has announced he is retiring before the next regular legislative session in 2013.

Malkiewich told the Reno Gazette-Journal, “I am applying for some jobs and if I get them, then obviously, it would be sooner,” he said. “But otherwise, it will probably be sometime next fall (of 2012). I just wanted to give leadership some notice so they will be able to work on recruiting a new director and things like that.” One of the duties of the Legislative Counsel Bureau is handling lobbyist registration, reporting, and information services.

Malkiewich has been with the Legislative Counsel Bureau since 1981.

Photo of the Nevada State Capitol by Dave Parker on Wikipedia.

Earlier this month, United States Representative Rob Woodall introduced House Resolution 2788 which amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit a candidate for election to the congress from making campaign expenditures for the election from amounts that were not raised during the election cycle for that office.

Rep. Woodall argues the legislation, called the Competitive Elections Act, will reduce the power of incumbents and encourage more new candidates in Congressional elections.

Rep. Woodall said, “We see this voter frustration in all of the polls supporting term limits. Rather than amend our Constitution with term limits that protect incumbents for three, six or twelve terms, my bill restores power and choices to voters each and every term,” Woodall said. His press release can be found here.