Persons lobbying within any of Palm Beach County’s 38 cities and towns may soon have to register as lobbyists as part of a proposed countywide lobbyist registry and standardized set of rules.

If approved, the new rules would apply to all persons lobbying municipal personnel. Some concerns have been raised as to the definition of lobbyists and the potential inclusion in that definition of unpaid lobbyists.

If approved, a $25 registration fee per principal represented would be instituted and expenditures exceeding $25 in specified categories would be required to be reported.

Governor Dave Heinemen has called for a special session of the Nebraska Legislature to focus on proposed bills intended to reroute the Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline around a region of the state rich in groundwater. The session is scheduled to begin November 1, 2011, and is expected to last at least two weeks.

The call for a special session comes after weeks of debate as to whether such a session was necessary, as well as whether passing legislation pertaining to the pipeline would be constitutional and legal at this point in the process of planning the project.

For more information, you can read “Gov. calls for pipeline session”  by Paul Hammel in the Omaha World-Herald.

Photo of the Nebraska Legislature Chamber by ensignbeedrill on Wikipedia.

Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 318 into law the evening of Friday, October 21, 2011. House Bill 318 creates two separate primary elections in the state during 2012. The first primary election, for county partisan offices, the state legislature, and the available U.S. Senate seat, will be held on March 6, 2012, while the second primary date, for the President and U.S. House of Representatives, will be June 12, 2012.

The bill is intended to give state lawmakers more time to settle differences concerning Ohio’s recently passed map for legislative redistricting, as a Democrat-backed coalition seeks to place the redistricting measure before Ohio’s voters for a possible repeal in 2012 if a compromise cannot be reached.

A federal lawsuit has been filed claiming a burden upon First Amendment free speech rights due to a state of Mississippi requirement that people or groups must file a campaign finance report upon spending at least $200 to support or oppose ballot initiatives.

The group of five citizens filing the suit claims the reporting requirement could scare people away from political participation. The group supports Mississippi Initiative 31, which limits the government’s use of eminent domain to take private land.

The citizens are represented by the Institute for Justice, a group that has also filed similar lawsuits concerning disclosure requirements in Colorado and Florida in recent years.

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate issued a restraining order against an independent political group running political ads against Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on Monday, October 17. The order prohibits the attack ads paid for by the group Restoring America from running on television and radio stations.

In his order, Judge Wingate called the ads “an illegal attempt” to influence the outcome of Kentucky’s 2011 gubernatorial election due to a failure by Restoring America to properly report the source of contributions funding the ads as required under Kentucky law. Restoring America had reported a solitary contribution from Restoring America, Inc. of more than $1.3 million to run the ads, but the judge ruled the use of the additional entity was simply masking the identities of individual donors.

Judge Wingate’s order, thought to be the first such order to halt political advertising by a third party in the state, was quickly met with opposition by First Amendment rights activists who have argued it is no more than a state-level assault on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.

Restoring America did file an initial appeal on Tuesday, October 18, but that appeal was rejected due to a technical deficiency. Another appeal is expected.

Governor Nathan Deal has issued a Writ of Election setting Tuesday, November 8, 2011 as the date for a special election to fill the vacant seat in state senate district 28.

The seat became available upon the resignation of Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, who resigned the seat in order to accept his appointment to the position of deputy state treasurer by Governor Deal.

The runoff election, if necessary, will be held December 6, 2011.

The Atlanta Board of Ethics has appointed Jabu Sengova as the interim ethics officer, effective September 29, 2011. Sengova, who has been with the Ethics Office since November 2008, currently serves as the associate ethics officer.

Sengova will serve in the interim until a replacement can be found for Ginny Looney, who is resigning effective September 28, 2011. Looney, who announced her resignation in July, has served as the ethics officer since the position was first created in August 2003.

Applications to replace Looney are still being accepted.

One measure limits gifts to the mayor and councilors to $50 or less. Another measure creates an ethics board to enforce the newly created gift limits.

The measures were somewhat controversial because many thought the gift restrictions were not strict enough.

On September 8, 2011 New York City’s Campaign Finance Board proposed new rules requiring the reporting of certain independent expenditures.

The proposed reporting rules would cover expenditures that are for the design, production, or distribution of public communications, that are either express advocacy made at any time in an election cycle or an electioneering communication made within 90 days of an election, and that, when combined with all other expenditures made by the independent spender in support of or in opposition to that candidate or proposal, exceed $1,000.

Generally, in non-election years reports would be due semi-annually and in election years eight reports would be required, with expenditures required to be reported within 24 hours during the two weeks before the election.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy is set to name David L. Guay as the head of Connecticut’s newly created Office of Governmental Accountability.

Guay was one of three finalists for the position of executive administrator recommended to the governor in July by the heads of the nine agencies comprising the new Office of Governmental Accountability, including the Office of State Ethics and the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Guay has served as the executive director of the Board of Accountancy since 1989, and has also held the position of director of election campaign finance services.

Guay’s new position calls for assisting each of the nine agencies in meeting their needs, while also promoting autonomy over the watchdog function each agency provides.

We now provide information on lobbying, political contributions, and procurement lobbying for:

Tempe, Arizona

Evansville, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

Flint, Michigan

North Las Vegas, Nevada

Reno, Nevada

Fayetteville, North Carolina

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

The Georgia General Assembly, in special session since August 15, 2011, adjourned on August 31, 2011.

The adjournment comes after reaching agreements concerning legislative redistricting.

The Mississippi State Legislature will convene in special session at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, September 2, 2011.

Governor Haley Barbour called the special session on Monday in order to consider a state bond issue. Other projects may be undertaken as well, but details about these projects have not yet been released.

The session is expected to last one day.

Photo of the Mississippi State Capitol by Shawn Lea (Szlea) on Wikipedia.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has named Holly LaBerge as its new Executive Secretary.

LaBerge, a former Budget Analyst for the House Budget Office and Director of Government Relations for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, beat out Jerry R. Presley, a former lobbyist, government official, and private consultant, for the position.

The commission interviewed each candidate at its meeting Friday before meeting in private to make a decision.

LaBerge takes over for Stacey Kalberman, who left the commission over disputes concerning the agency’s budget and her request for subpoenas to investigate Governor Nathan Deal’s campaign.