A bill requiring lobbyists to report activity even when the Legislature is not in session has been introduced by Senator Sheila Leslie. Currently, a lobbyist need only report activity occurring while the legislative body is actually in session.

Nevada’s Legislature generally meets in the first half of odd-numbered years. Senate Bill 0206‘s additional reporting requirements necessitate lobbyists report all lobbying activities after the end of the third and fourth calendar quarter of each odd-numbered year and each calendar quarter of each even numbered year, whether or not any expenditures were made.

The bill also extends the definition of lobbyist to include one who lobbies where an interim committee holds meetings.

Republican Senator Jake Knotts and Democratic Senator Vincent Sheheen have announced they are submitting a bill banning leadership PACs in the Senate. Leadership PACs normally may accept contributions from lobbyists and have different contribution amounts than other campaign accounts.

Senator Sheheen said, “I want to help restore voter’s trust in government. This bill is one step to make sure elected officials answer to the voters, not wealthy contributors.”

Currently there is no member of the Senate who has a Leadership PAC.

Representative Keith Grover has introduced a bill allowing for some campaign contributions to be made during legislative sessions. HB 395 allows for accepting a campaign contribution when the Legislature is in session for an official who is a candidate for federal elective office. The contribution must be placed in a separate account specifically designated for the candidate’s campaign account for federal office.

Currently, no contributions may be made when the Legislature is convened in an annual general session, veto override session, or a special session convened before July 1st of a general election year.

Photo of Rep. Keith Grover courtesy of the Utah House of Representatives website.

Robert W. Hayes, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee has introduced a bill to redefine the definitions of committees involved in political campaigns and to add a definition of ‘independent expenditure committee.’ Senate Bill 0593 is a response to South Carolina Citizens for Life, Inc. v Krawcheck, a federal court decision finding the state’s definition of committee unconstitutional.

Based on the court decision, the State Ethics Commission announced in October of 2010 it would not enforce provisions of the state law concerning making independent expenditures. Among the refined definitional changes in the bill is wording specifically detailing the major purpose of the committees, usually for the support or opposition of a ballot issue or election of a candidate. In the bill, an ‘independent expenditure committee’ is defined as an association, a club, an organization, a group of persons or a person whose major purpose is to support or oppose the nomination or election of a candidate to elective office and makes independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 during an election cycle.

This post is an update to two previous Lobby Comply articles by George Ticoras:

“Ethics Commission Not Appealing Decision Striking Down Definition of Committee” from October 19

“South Carolina Defines Committee Too Broadly” from September 20

The State Ethics Commission has created a ‘Debtors’ page on its web site, posting the names of lobbyists, lobbyists’ principals, public officials and others who have failed to pay late filing penalties and enforcement fines. The commission hopes to use this publicly available consolidated listing to help ensure compliance with the registration and disclosure requirements under the campaign finance and lobbying laws of the state.

The penalties owed range from $732,400 all the way down to $10. The page includes contact information for anyone appearing in the list to arrange for payment.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has chosen Paul Dauphinais as its new executive director. Mr. Dauphinais has served as the president of Garrett College in Maryland, the director for the University of Alaska in Palmer and the executive director for the Homer Chamber of Commerce. He also has a PhD in History and an MS in Information Systems and is a retired commander of the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Dauphinais starts February 22, replacing Holly Hill who held the position since 2008.

You can read the full press release here.

Map of Alaska by Skew-t on Wikipedia.

Senator Michael G. Waddoups introduced a bill mandating training for all registered lobbyists. SB 251 requires the lieutenant governor to develop and maintain a training course for lobbyists and make the training available on the internet to both lobbyists and the public. The bill also includes a component to help lobbyists understand state campaign finance requirements.

Lobbyists would be required to complete the training course once a year. A lobbyist who does not complete the training required could face a $1,000 fine and suspension of their lobbying license.

Photo of Senator Waddoups courtesy of the Utah Senate Web site.

The House Ethics Committee voted 5-3 against HB 0164, a bill imposing campaign contributions limits. Representative Rebecca Chaves-Houch had formerly introduced the legislation only four days earlier.

Utah presently has no limits to the amounts one can contribute to candidates for state offices. The bill caps contributions to $5,000 for legislative candidates, $10,000 for gubernatorial candidates, and $10,000 to state PACs.

Representative Chaves-Houch intends on reintroducing some version of the bill, possibly next year.

This post follows up a previous article by George Ticoras called “Putting Limits on Utah Contributions” from February 8, 2011.

Photo by Scott Catron on Wikipedia.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer has asked the city council to end ‘wheeling’ in the city’s elections. Wheeling is a term used to describe the channeling of money through different political committees to avoid contribution limits.

The mayor also wants an ordinance to limit the amount of contributions an outside PAC may donate to a candidate in a city election and stressed how the former mayor Cammarano’s campaign received more than $100,000 in the last 11 days of his campaign from political committees not from Hoboken.

City councilman Ravinder Bhalla is a sponsor of the proposed legislation.

As reported in today’s pressofatlanticcity.com, the Atlantic City City Council unanimously passed a pay-to-play ordinance mandated by an agreement with the state’s Department of Community Affairs. The law would prohibit granting contracts to individuals and businesses who contributed to a campaign or political action committee for the election of a council member.

The Department of Community Affairs gives financial assistance to local municipalities in exchange for measures such as instituting pay-to-play laws and giving the Department power to review and approve other city business, such as hiring and promoting. The only discussion about the ordinance was from Councilman Moisse Delgado, who asked, “Y’all ready for this?”

Representative Rebecca Chaves-Houch introduced House Bill 0164 limiting political contributions to statewide candidates for office. Presently, there are no limits to the amounts one can contribute to candidates for state offices in Utah.

The bill’s provisions include caps on donations by individual contributors to $5,000 for legislative candidates, $10,000 for gubernatorial candidates, and $10,000 to state PACs.

The bill does not address corporate contributions to candidates, which Utah permits. If passed, the limits would take effect on January 1, 2013.

Photo of the Utah State Capitol Building by Sean Breazeal (Talshiarr) on Wikipedia.

The Federal Election Commission has published the 2011-2012 election cycle contribution limits adjusted for inflation. The revised limits, indexed according to the consumer price index, include raising the amount an individual and certain PACs can contribute to a candidate from $2,400 to $2,500 and to a national party committee from $30,400 to $30,800.

The previous biennial limit of $115,500 has been adjusted upward to $117,000, of which $46,200 may be contributed to candidates and $70,800 total to federal PACs and all other political party committees.

Senator James Arnold has introduced a bill which would require persons seeking business relationships with local jurisdictions and their agencies to register and report activity and expenditures as lobbyists, whether or not the local jurisdictions have ordinances dealing with lobbying. Senate Bill 0330 defines ‘business relationship’ to include pecuniary interest contracts and purchases with an agency with an aggregate value of at least $100,000.

The bill calls for the reporting to be filed with the local county clerks where the lobbying activity occurs. A $100 a day late fine would be imposed for each day a lobbyist misses his or her filing date and lobbyists knowingly failing to register or file would face a Class A infraction.

The bill also allows local jurisdictions to adopt ethics ordinances and establish ethics commissions.

Map of Indiana by Jim Irwin on Wikipedia.

Delegate Anthony J. O’Donnell introduced a bill creating a cooling off period for executive branch officials who wish to lobby upon leaving office. House Bill 0027 would prohibit former state and public officials of the executive branch from lobbying, or assisting in lobbying, for compensation in matters of legislative action for a period of one year after leaving employment.

The bill provides an exception permitting the former officials to lobby for a municipal corporation, county, or state governmental entity.

Photo of the Maryland Statehouse in Annapolis by Thisisbossi on Wikipedia.