Maine Gov. Mills signed Legislative Document 1782 amending the state’s campaign finance law.

Beginning December 1, 2023, the amount individuals can contribute to separate segregated fund committees will be adjusted every two years based on the Consumer Price Index.

The new law also permits corporations, membership organizations, cooperative or labor organizations to contribute the paid staff time of its employees and independent contractors to establish the entity’s separate segregated fund committee and to provide fundraising and administrative services to the committee.

A business entity will also be permitted to provide its separate segregated fund committee with the use of offices, telephones, computers, and other equipment, even if doing so results in an additional cost to the business entity.

Legislative Document 1782 will take effect on January 1, 2023.

Maine Gov. Mills signed Legislative Document 1754 amending the state’s major contributor disclosure law.

The amendments exclude committees from the definition of major contributor and exclude certain funds from disclosure requirements.

Major contributors will no longer need to disclose funds restricted to non-campaign uses; derived from the major contributor’s regular trade, business, or investment income; and provided by a source that contributed no more than $5,000 to the major contributor during the relevant reporting period.

The law also clarifies the penalties associated with noncompliance and provides a mechanism to request a waiver of the penalties.

Legislative Document 1754 will take effect 90 days after the adjournment of the current legislative session.

Assembly Bill 09006C was signed by New York Gov. Hochul and replaces the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) with a new Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government effective July 8.

The substantive law enforced by the ethics body was not altered, and all lobbyist reporting and disclosure requirements will remain the same.

The agency’s overhaul is designed to increase greater transparency.

While members of the ethics agency will still be appointed by the governor and legislative leaders, deans at the state’s law schools will comprise an independent review committee charged with approving appointees to the new commission.

Individuals who were registered as lobbyists in the previous two years are prohibited from serving on the commission.

New York Gov. Hochul announced a special election for Assembly District 58 to be held on May 24.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Nick Perry was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the ambassador to Jamaica.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term set to expire at the end of this year.

Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin was arrested today on a federal bribery conspiracy charge in connection with a scheme to direct fraudulent contributions to one of his prior campaigns.

The scheme was reportedly designed to help Benjamin receive matching funds from New York City’s public campaign financing program during his bid for city comptroller last year.

Benjamin has served as lieutenant governor for less than a year and is currently running for re-election with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) revised the state’s campaign finance regulations to address issues related to payment applications, the depository reporting schedule, and independent expenditures.

Under the revised regulations, contributions may be received through peer-to-peer payment applications.

The revised regulations also flesh out the rules surrounding independent expenditures made by traditional PACs and ballot question committees and update the depository reporting schedule to match the schedule contained in G.L. §55-19.

The revised regulations are now in effect.

A special election for the vacant District 6 council seat is scheduled for May 17 in Philadelphia.

The seat is vacant after Bobby Henon resigned following his conviction on conspiracy and fraud charges.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term set to expire in January 2024.

The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) announced it expects the online filing system to be back online by March 11.

JCOPE’s online system has been down since February 21 following a malicious cyberattack.

All filings due during the outage will be granted an automatic 21-day extension and the March 15 lobbying bi-monthly report deadline is extended to March 31.

JCOPE will distribute additional guidance to lobbying filers before the system is back online.

Rhode Island lawmakers introduced a bill amending the Lobbying Reform Act to apply registration and reporting requirements to individuals who lobby at the local level.

Senate Bill 2512 expands the definition of lobbying to cover individuals who lobby municipal government executives and legislative bodies as well as local fire districts.

If passed, the new law will take effect immediately.

New York Gov. Hochul announced a special election for Assembly District 20 to be held on April 7.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Melissa Miller resigned to join the Hempstead Town Board.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term set to expire on January 1, 2023.

A malicious cyberattack targeted the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) last week, resulting in an outage of the Lobbying Application, the online filing portal for lobbyists.

The online system will remain down until JCOPE is confident it can be restored safely.

Extensions will automatically be granted for any filings that were due and could not be submitted due to the outage.

The Boston City Council announced a special election for the District 1 seat to be held on May 3 with a preliminary election to be held on April 5.

The seat is vacant after Lydia Edwards was elected to the state Senate in a special election last month.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term set to expire at the end of 2023.

A special election has been scheduled for Delaware House District 4 to be held on March 5.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Gerald Brady resigned following an ethics investigation.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term set to expire at the end of this year.

New York Gov. Hochul announced a special election for Assembly District 43 to be held on March 22.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Diana Richardson resigned to serve as Brooklyn Deputy Borough President.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term set to expire at the end of this year.