Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed House Bill 509 into law, changing the date of the state’s presidential primary. The primary moves to March on the first Saturday which follows the first Tuesday. Previously, the presidential primaries were held in February.

The change in law becomes effective immediately.

The Federal Election Commission issued two advisory opinions today, including one allowing federal candidates to solicit contributions for independent expenditure-only political committees (IEOPC) up to $5,000.

In AO 2011-12 revised draft A, which was approved unanimously by the six commissioners, the FEC held solicitations by federal candidates are restricted to the applicable “limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements” of 2 U.S.C. §441i(e)(1)(a). While an IEOPC may accept unlimited contributions, the commission held the law still restricts the contribution amount a federal candidate may solicit. Therefore, although federal officeholders and candidates, and officers of national party committees cannot solicit unlimited contributions for an IEOPC, they may still make solicitations within the monetary strictures of the amended Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.

The advisory opinion also concluded federal officeholders and candidates, and national party officers, may attend, speak at, and be featured guests at fundraisers held by an IEOPC, even when unlimited contributions are simultaneously being solicited from corporations, individuals, and labor organizations. The federal candidate would have to restrict their personal solicitation at the event to the amounts limited by the law.

A second advisory opinion was also issued granting Viacom a press exemption from reporting expenses as contributions, with some exceptions, for its employee Stephen Colbert’s new political action committee, which Mr. Colbert intends to use a vehicle for commentary on the current state of campaign finance.

Providence, Rhode Island will not have its online portal set up for lobbyist registrations by July 1, the date the new city local lobbying ordinance takes effect. However, the City Clerk will accept e-mail registrations containing the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and lobbyist’s employer’s identification.

No registration fee will be due or accepted until the online portal becomes available. After the online portal becomes available, the City Clerk will contact individuals to complete the registration process.

The registration information can be e-mailed to astetson@providenceri.com.

A special session of the Alaska legislature has been called in Juneau to address the state’s Alaska Coastal Management Program, which expires on June 30.

The session is expected to finish this week.

A new bill introduced into Congress redefines lobbyist and increases lobbyist reporting requirements.

Representative Mike Quigley has introduced the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act, which changes the definition of lobbyist by removing the exception of individuals whose lobbying activities account for less than 20 percent of the time engaged in lobbying over a three month period.

Lobbyists would be required to register online within five days of employment, as opposed to the current 45 day requirement. For each lobbying activity which engaged an official, a lobbyist would be required to report the date of the contact, the specific issue discussed, and identify those covered executive branch officials or Members of Congress contacted about the issue. If lobbying an employee of a Member of Congress, the Member’s name would also have to be reported. Political contributions by lobbyists to candidates would have to be reported quarterly instead of semi-annually.

The bill also creates a special unit for enforcing the lobbying disclosure laws called the Lobbying Disclosure Act Enforcement Task Force, whose primary responsibility would be investigating and prosecuting each case referred to the Attorney General.

The 2011 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature adjourned sine die on June 23, 2011.

Upon transmittal of a bill, Governor Bobby Jindal will have 20 days to sign or veto the legislation.

Photo of the Louisiana House of Representatives Chamber by Jeffrey Schwartz on Wikipedia.

Massachusetts House Republicans have introduced an outline of ethics reform for members which includes some restrictions on lobbyists. The ethics changes, which have not yet been introduced, would require lobbyists to wear badges identifying themselves as such and prohibit lobbyists from entering the House chamber or the members’ lounge, with some exceptions. Additionally, House members and their staff would be forbidden from contacting public entities regarding pending procurement decisions.

The Republican members have stated the proposed code will not be introduced until next week to allow the House Democrats to co-sponsor the new ethics rules.

Photo of the interior of the Massachusetts State House by Daniel Schwen on Wikipedia.

A Louisiana House bill now in the Senate would reduce some public contracts by ten-percent for fiscal year 2011-2012.

As originally introduced, House Bill 15 would require a ten-percent reduction in the total dollar amount for professional, personal, and consulting service contracts. House and Senate amendments, both concerned about the bill negatively affecting some social services, delete references to professional and personal services, limiting the focus to consulting services.

Under the bill, new contracts with the state could not exceed the reduced dollar amount determined by existing contracts. Examinations of these contracts would fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of Contractual Review.

Photo of the Louisiana State Capitol by Richard Rutter on Wikipedia.

A Federal District Court judge has issued an injunction preventing the Federal Election Commission (FEC) from enforcing some campaign contribution limits against a political action committee planning to solicit and accept unlimited contributions.

As a single committee, the National Defense Political Action Committee (NDPAC) intends to contribute directly to candidates and political committees, and to make independent expenditures, separating the funds by using two separate bank accounts. It would maintain the statutory limits on the solicitation of funds used for direct contributions while simultaneously seeking unlimited funds for use in their independent expenditures.

The FEC had been unable to issue a binding resolution to an earlier NDPAC advisory opinion request.

In Carey v. FEC, United States District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer ruled the FEC may not enforce 2 U.S.C. §§ 441a(a)(1)(C) and 441a(a)(3), which outline contribution limits for political committees and candidates, against NDPAC with regard to independent expenditures as long as NDPAC maintains separate bank accounts, proportionally pays related administrative costs, and complies with the applicable monetary limits of each type of contribution.

The FEC maintained NDPAC should establish a second formal committee.

Lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals can no longer register, reregister, or continue to be registered in South Carolina if they have outstanding late filing penalties.

House Bill 3183, which Governor Nikki Haley recently signed into law, prohibits the State Ethics Commission from allowing delinquent lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals to participate in lobbying until the fines and filing have been remedied.

The bill also delineates what the fines and penalties are for late filing. Persons filing late are first fined $100 if a report is not filed within 10 days of the due date. After receiving notice by certified or registered mail that a required report has not been filed, there is a $10 a day fine for the first 10 days after receiving the notice. The fine increases to $100 a day for each additional day the required report is not filed, capping at $5,000.

If the report is still not filed, the offender faces an additional misdemeanor conviction with imprisonment or fines.

Flag of South Carolina courtesy of mapsof.net.

A bill which establishes a cap of $5,000 per calendar month on civil penalties for failure to file statements or include required information has passed the Oregon House Committee on Rules.

Senate Bill 270 removes “unfulfilled pledge, subscription, agreement or promise to make contribution” from the definition of contribution.

Additionally, the bill, which passed the Senate in March, also changes the period for assessing civil penalties for violations of campaign finance reporting requirements.

The bill leaves the committee for a full house vote.

Yesterday, the judge who ruled corporations may contribute directly to federal candidates reaffirmed his decision, but held it only applies in the criminal case before him. Federal District Judge James C. Cacheris continues to find the “logic remains inescapable” that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United dictates corporations have the same contribution rights as human beings.

The judge writes: “Again, for better or worse, Citizens United held that the First Amendment treats corporations and individuals equally for the purposes of political speech. This leaves no logical room for an individual to be able to donate $2,500 to a campaign while a corporation … cannot donate a cent.” However, his decision states the “flat ban on direct corporate contributions to political campaigns is unconstitutional as applied to this case, as opposed to being unconstitutional as applied to all corporate donations.”

After reviewing the possible impact of his decision in US v Danielczyk, and the unaddressed political contribution issues since the Citizens United decision, the judge characterizes his ruling by concluding it “adds a small drop to what is already a very large bucket.”

This blog post updates a previous article, “Corporate Contribution Ban Found Unconstitutional” by George Ticoras on May 27.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled the Legislature does not have to meet today in a special session called by Governor Nikki Haley.

In a 3 to 2 decision, the court denied the special session, writing: “Although the General Assembly is currently in recess, it has not adjourned sine die and, therefore, is still in its annual session. Under these specific facts, respondent cannot convene an ‘extra’ session of the General Assembly since it is currently in session. To do so would interrupt the annual session and would violate the General Assembly’s authority to set its calendar and agenda and would constitute a violation of the separation of powers provision.”

The Legislature will meet in a previously scheduled session on June 14.

This blog post follows up a previous article “South Carolina’s Extra Special Session” by George Ticoras on June 3.

The regular session of the South Carolina Legislature adjourned on June 2 and a special session is scheduled for June 14. However, Governor Nikki Haley has requested an earlier additional special session for June 7 to pass further legislation, but the elected representatives may not convene.

While House Speaker Bobby Harrell has instructed house members to return on June 7, Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell has said the senate will not return, even though both the governor and Senator McConnell are in the same political party.

Several legislators challenge the governor’s legal authority to convene a special session without extraordinary circumstances.