The Executive Branch Ethics Commission voted to raise the registration fee for Employers and Real Parties in Interest from $500 to $750.

This funding increase was authorized by House Bill 8, Section 61, passed during the 2024 regular legislative session for a new online filing system.

The executive agency lobbyist registration fee is paid with the updated registration statement due July 31 of each year and covers the July 1 to June 30 reporting period or through termination if occurring before June 30.

The updated registration statement forms have been updated to reflect this change.

The 135th General Assembly adjourned on December 18, until Monday December 23, 2024, after a marathon session lasting two days.

With not many days left in this legislative session, lawmakers have likely completed most of their work.

One bill affecting campaign finance was passed during the special session in May and June of this year.

Special Session Amended Substitute House Bill 0001 prohibits individuals and certain entities from knowingly soliciting or accepting political contributions or expenditures from a foreign national. The lone ethics bill intended to enact the Ethics and Financial Disclosure Reform Act, changing the ethics laws for public officials and employees and reporting requirements for lobbyists, never made it out of committee.

The 136th General Assembly will convene on January 6, 2025.

The Bureau of Elections posted the Lobby Registration Act 2025 Reporting Thresholds, which change every year in January to reflect the change in the consumer price index for Detroit.

The registration thresholds for individual lobbyist compensation and for employer expenditures on a single official increased from $775 to $800.

Exempt expenditures remain unchanged for 2025 at $16.

The registration threshold for an employer making lobbying expenditures increased from $3,075 to $3175 for any 12-month period.

The financial transaction threshold between a registered employer or lobbyist and a public official increased from $1,550 to $1,600.

The reporting threshold for travel and lodging reimbursements increased from $1,000 to $1,025. The monthly food and beverage expenditures allowance for a public official increased from $76 to $79, and the threshold for food and beverages purchased between January 1 and the end the reporting period remains unchanged for 2025 at $475.

Employee reimbursements increased from $31 to $32, and the general gift threshold also increased from $76 to $79.

Late filing fees increased from $31 a day up to a maximum of $930, to $32 a day up to a maximum of $960.

North Dakota’s lone congressman, Republican U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, easily won election as North Dakota’s next governor, continuing the GOP’s three-decade grip on the highest job in the conservative state.

Armstrong beat Democratic state Sen. Merrill Piepkorn and independent candidate Michael Coachman for the post by receiving 68.3% of the vote.

Armstrong will be sworn in on Dec. 15, weeks before the biennial Legislature convenes with an expected Republican supermajority in Bismarck.

He will succeed outgoing GOP Gov. Doug Burgum, who did not seek a third term.

Republicans have held the governor’s office since 1992.

Voters in South Dakota overwhelmingly rejected a constitutional amendment implementing top-two primary elections with 66% voting against the measure.

If passed, the amendment would have replaced partisan primaries with top-two primaries for state executive, state legislative, congressional, and county offices wherein all candidates run against each other in their respective races, including major and minor party and unaffiliated candidates.

Voters in Missouri overwhelmingly passed Amendment 7 with 68.5% of the vote.

The amendment states only U.S. citizens 18 years or older can vote and prohibits the state or local governments from allowing non-citizen voting.

The amendment also prohibits ranked-choice voting by establishing each voter has one vote per issue or open seat; and requires plurality primary elections, where one winner advances to the general election.

The constitutional amendment will be effective 30 days after the election.

Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe won the race to become the state’s 58th governor, beating Democrat Crystal Quade by 20.5%.

Kehoe is a 62-year-old former Jefferson City car dealer, state senator, and current lieutenant governor.

Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Braun won the Indiana governor’s race Tuesday, by 13.7% of the vote, defeating Democrat Jennifer McCormick, a former Republican who split with the party after serving as the state’s schools superintendent.

Braun, 70, will succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who could not seek a third term because of term limits.

Although Republicans won an overall majority, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes beat out Republican Kevin Coughlin in Ohio’s 13th Congressional District by 2%.

The area includes all of Summit County, a large chunk of Stark County (including Canton), and a small sliver of Portage County.

Sykes won the newly redrawn 13th District in the 2022 midterm elections.

Republicans swept three state Supreme Court races, giving the GOP six of seven seats beginning in January.

Incumbent Democrat Justice Melody Stewart lost to Justice Joe Deters, a Republican appointed to the bench by Gov. Mike DeWine two years ago.

Deters opted to challenge Stewart rather than run to retain his seat.

Incumbent Justice Michael Donnelly, a Cleveland area Democrat, lost his seat to Republican challenger Megan Shanahan, a Hamilton County judge making her first statewide run.

Republican Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Dan Hawkins beat Democrat Eighth District Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Forbes.

In January, Justice Jennifer Brunner will be the sole Democrat on the court and the only Democrat in Ohio statewide office.

Businessman Bernie Moreno defeated U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown by just under 4% to help shift control of the U.S. Senate to the Republican Party.

Both of Ohio’s Senate seats will be occupied by Republicans for the first time in 18 years, when Brown unseated future Gov. Mike DeWine.

Moreno won 50.2% of the vote and Brown received 46.4%.

On November 5, voters in Ohio rejected a ballot measure to create a 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw congressional and state legislative districts.

Ohio will continue to use its current redistricting method led by state lawmakers and a commission of seven elected officials.

The state will keep its current state legislative maps through 2030 but the congressional map, approved without Democratic support, will be redrawn next year for the 2026 election.

As of this morning, the amendment failed 54% to 46%.

Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order to rescind executive orders of previous governors.

Executive Order 24-11 rescinds 177 orders dating back to the 1980s after Parsons determined them to be no longer necessary or applicable.

It is now common practice for executive orders to be issued with a specific date of rescission so they do not linger in effect unnecessarily.

Parson did not rescind Executive Order 18-10, which continues to prohibit executive branch employees from knowingly soliciting or accepting any gift from a lobbyist.

A divided panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Ohio’s ban on foreign contributions to ballot measure committees is valid.

The ruling overturns the preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio and reinstates the foreign contribution ban lawmakers passed during a special session.

In a 2-1 decision, the majority ruled Ohio’s new law banning political donations from foreign nationals and lawful permanent residents, also called green-card holders, does not violate First Amendment rights.