The Hawaii Senate convened a third special session on October 19 to consider and confirm judicial appointments.

The appointments being considered are nominees Timothy E. Ho for District Court of the First Circuit; John Alberto Montalbano for District Family Court of the First Circuit; and James S. Kawashima for the Circuit Court of the First Circuit.

Lobbyists and lobbyist employers who engage in lobbying activities or who make expenditures for the purpose of attempting to influence legislative action considered during a special session must file a special report within 30 days of adjournment sine die of the special session, covering the period from May 1 through adjournment sine die of the special session.

The adjournment date of the third special session has not yet been announced.

On November 8, Arizona voters will decide on a campaign finance ballot measure that would require disclosing names of original campaign donors.

Proposition 211 would require that anyone making independent expenditures of more than $50,000 on a statewide campaign or $25,000 on a local campaign to disclose the names of the money’s original sources, which would be defined as the persons or businesses that earned the money being spent.

Organizations that fail to disclose would face a fine equal to the amount contributed, or up to three times that amount.

Proposition 211 would apply to corporations, nonprofit groups and charities that currently are not required to disclose the names of the people who give money to political campaigns that the organization backs.

The proposition would pertain only to spending on political advertising and would be administered by The Citizens Clean Elections Commission.

The Colorado Department of State approved permanent revisions to Campaign and Political Finance Rule 1505-6.

The rule amendments include setting contribution limits to candidates for school district director from persons other than small donor committees for any regular biennial or special school election in the amount of $2,500; setting contribution limits to candidates for school district director from small donor committees for any regular biennial or special school election in the amount of $25,000; and changing the post-election report filing deadline from 30 days to 35 days.

The rules will become permanently effective 20 days after publication in the Colorado Register.

An Arizona campaign finance bill passed that amends reporting requirements for political action committees and political parties.

Senate Bill 1355 provides for a calendar quarter without an election, a political action committee and political party must file a quarterly report no later than the third Monday in the month after the calendar quarter.

Previously the report was due the 15th day after the calendar quarter.

The bill takes effect September 24.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has called for a special session in August to discuss possible tax cuts.

The previously estimated Arkansas budget surplus for the 2022 fiscal year of $1.4 billion grew to a record $1.6 billion.

The special session will be held the week of August 8.

This affects lobbyist reporting.

Lobbyists who are registered to lobby the General Assembly are required to file a monthly report for any month the General Assembly is in session.

The report will be due August 10, which is 10 days after the month of the session.

The 55^th Arizona Legislature adjourned its second regular session sine die on June 25.

During the session, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation in March to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in Arizona’s elections, further protecting the state’s voters and strengthening election integrity.

In May, the governor continued to strengthen election laws, signing a bill to update Arizona’s automatic election recount margin threshold to one-half of one percent for specified election contests.

This does not affect lobbying reporting dates.

The cap for how much Louisiana’s lobbyists can spend to wine and dine public officials is edging higher July 1.

With the start of the new state budget year, the limit lobbyists can spend on food and drink for state lawmakers, other elected officials and public employees is increasing from $65 to $70 per person, per occasion.

The Louisiana Board of Ethics, which oversees the lobbying spending restrictions, made the adjustment to take effect with the latest state fiscal year.

The lobbying cap enacted more than a decade ago started with a $50 limit.

But the 2008 law allows annual adjustments tied to increases in the federal Consumer Price Index for food and beverages.

The Hawaii State Senate will convene a special session on June 20 to review judicial appointments.

Judicial appointments are for Jill M. Hasegawa and Joanna E. Sokolow to the District Family Court of the 3rd Circuit – Hawaii Island, and Gregory H. Meyers to the District Court of the 5th Circuit – Kauai.

The process will begin with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, June 16 at 10:30 a.m.

Following the floor session on Monday, June 20 at 11 a.m., there will be a separate decision-making meeting of the Judiciary Committee at 11:30 a.m. Final Senate votes on the appointments are expected on Tuesday, June 21 at 10 a.m. This may affect lobbyist reporting.

A lobbyist and employer activity report must be filed if expenditures or contributions are made relating to legislative action considered during the special session.

Any such report would be due within 30 days of adjournment sine die of the special session covering the period from May 1 through the adjournment sine die date.

Louisiana lawmakers adjourned the 2022 regular session sine die on the evening of June 6.

During the session, legislators balanced the budget as well as spending related to education, healthcare, and critical infrastructure.

Trigger language to Louisiana law will end abortion in the state if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Legislation was also drafted to lower the cost of insulin, help hurricane victims deal with their insurance companies and landlords, reform the criminal justice system, and help rural communities and small businesses.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting dates.

The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned its regular session on May 27 without referring any measures to the 2022 ballot for voters to consider.

During the session, lawmakers considered referring constitutional amendments and state statutes to the ballot. Fifteen constitutional amendments and one state statute had passed in the chamber of origin but did not receive final approval in the opposite chamber before adjournment.

Proposed constitutional amendments must be referred to the ballot and receive voter approval to be enacted. To put a proposed constitutional amendment on a ballot, a simple majority vote of all members in both the Senate and House is required.

Legislators will return in June for a special veto session to address eliminating the state’s 4.5% grocery tax and reducing the personal income tax.

The Oklahoma Legislature called a concurrent legislative session to begin May 18 concerning $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund spending.

The special session will also cover $698 million in Large-scale Economic Activity and Development Act (LEAD Act) allocations to pursue Project Ocean, which state officials described as an economic development project that is considering Oklahoma for a major manufacturing operation.

The concurrent session can keep going after the regular session adjourns, which must be done by 5 p.m. Friday, May 27.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting dates.

The 73^rd Colorado General Assembly adjourned sine die May 11.

During the session, legislation related to campaign finance was introduced. House Bill 1060 was passed, creating aggregate limits on candidates for school district director from persons other than small donor committees for any regular biennial or special school election of $2,500. Further, a $25,000 limit was established for contributions to candidates for school district director from small donor committees for any regular biennial or special school election. The bill takes effect July 1.

Additionally, Senate Bill 237 relating to ballot measure expenditures was introduced and passed through both chambers as of May 10. The bill would expand the definition of earmark for purposes of the Fair Campaign Practices Act to include contributions or expenditures greater than $1,000 to support or oppose a specified ballot issue or ballot question. Further, the bill would modify the process to determine whether an organization is an issue committee to include an examination of the organization’s pattern of conduct. Additionally, any person who makes a expends $5,000 in aggregate in a calendar year on direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditure expenditures must report to the secretary of state, and any person who makes a direct ballot issue or ballot question expenditure must disclose their name in certain communications about a ballot issue or ballot question. If passed, portions of the bill would become effective immediately and the section providing for disclosure to the secretary of state of $5,000 spent by an individual in a calendar year would become effective September 1.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Hawaii Legislature adjourned its regular session sine die May 5.

During the session, several bills related to campaign finance were introduced.

House Bill 1423, with its last action on March 18, was introduced but has not passed.

The bill set out to increase the fine for campaign spending law violations against a noncandidate committee making only independent expenditures and that has received at least one contribution of more than $10,000, or spent more than $10,000 in an election period.

House Bill 1423 would have allowed the campaign spending commission to order that the fine be up to three times the amount of the unlawful contribution or expenditure, and that the payment of the fine assessed against a noncandidate committee, or any portion thereof, be paid from the personal funds of an officer of the noncandidate committee.

This does not affect lobbyist reporting.

The Kansas Legislature adjourned its special veto session just after 2 a.m. on April 29.

During the recently concluded veto session, the Legislature passed the omnibus spending bill to fund public schools and special education.

Typically, upon veto adjournment, the Legislature sets sine die, the last official day of the session. This year, the Legislature set a date to return of May 23, leaving the session open in case court rulings on congressional maps would require further legislative action.

This does not affect lobbying dates.