The 2024 regular session of the General Assembly adjourned sine die on April 15.

Lawmakers passed and Gov. Beshear signed a law amending requirements for independent expenditure committees and political advertising disclaimers.

House Bill 595 requires federally registered political committees to register in Kentucky if they make an independent expenditure in support of or in opposition to a Kentucky candidate or a slate of candidates.

The bill requires disclaimers on political advertising to appear and be presented in a clear and conspicuous manner to give the reader or observer adequate notice of the identity of the purchaser of the communication.

The bill also increases the penalty for campaign finance violations from $100 per day to $200 per day.

Lawmakers overrode vetoes on two dozen measures to pass everything vetoed by Beshear, including House Bill 622 requiring special elections for vacancies in the U. S. Senate.

Previously, the governor filled vacancies by appointment.

The Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission reports they have lost all data from their database for employers and lobbyists back to March 18.

Any forms filed online since March 18 will need to be refiled.

This includes all March 1 to March 31 forms due on Monday, April 15.

Because of the loss of data, the Legislative Ethics Commission is granting an extension through April 30 to re-file any previously filed reports that were lost.

If you file online after Monday, April 15, the system automatically issues a late notice on your screen.

The commission indicates filers can ignore the notice.

Paper filers do not need to take any action.

Although the portal is back up and working, the commission recommends waiting until Monday, April 15 or after to re-file reports.

Additional information is available at https://klec.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx.

The 99th session of the Legislature adjourned sine die on March 26.

Lawmakers convened for Veto Day but adjourned after only a few minutes because for the first time in nearly 70 years, there were no gubernatorial vetoes to consider.

Gov. Kristi Noem signed a total of 233 bills into law this legislative session while not vetoing a single one.

A bill to prohibit the use of a deepfake in a campaign ad if it does not include a disclosure passed the Senate but died in the House.

Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District Rep. Mike Gallagher announced his resignation effective April 19.

The resignation does not trigger a special election under the statute because the effective date occurs after the second Tuesday in April.

All of the state’s eight U.S. House districts are up for election on November 5, with the primary election scheduled for August 13.

Republicans will hold a 217-213 majority in the U.S. House after Gallagher leaves the chamber.

The second regular session of the 123rd General Assembly adjourned sine die on March 8, earlier than scheduled.

The Legislature was focused on education, passing several education related bills.

Gov. Eric Holcomb has seven days to sign legislation once it lands on his desk.

If he does not sign a bill, it becomes law.

If he vetoes a piece of legislation, the Legislature can override the veto with a majority vote in both houses.

A proposed amendment to the city’s ethics ordinance introduced at City Council would extend the existing $1,500 per-year campaign contribution limit on individuals and entities doing business with the City of Chicago to include officers, directors, partners, or owners of 1% or more of those companies and their spouses or domestic partners.

Reaching the $1,500 limit by a corporate entity or any combination of its officers, leadership, and their spouses, would block all further contributions from any of those sources.

The ordinance also amends the ethics ordinance to create an affirmative duty for every city contractor or lobbyist to report any information concerning conduct by any person which the contractor or lobbyist knows to involve corrupt activity.

A failure to report would constitute an event of default for the contractor and suspension of the lobbyist’s registration for two years in addition to other penalties.

If passed, the ordinance would become effective 10 days after passage.

Following sentencing of former House Speaker Mike Madigan’s chief of staff, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced a series of ethics reforms to strengthen enforcement and require more transparency and disclosure regarding the financial dealings of lobbyists.

House Bill 4591 requires lobbyists to report compensation received from clients and gives the secretary of state more authority to investigate violations of the Lobbyist Registration Act.

The bill also would allow the secretary of state to investigate anyone who is lobbying but has not registered as a lobbyist.

The office could revoke, suspend, or bar a person from lobbying for up to one year if failing to file reports or pay a fine.

Lobbyists will be required to keep records for three years, up from two, or face possible revocation of their license.

Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a proclamation ordering a special election to fill the vacancy in the U.S. House of Representatives District 26 for the unexpired term of Rep. Brian Higgins.

The special election will be held on April 30.

Higgins, who announced his resignation citing frustrations about the growing dysfunction in Congress, will become president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

U.S. House District 26 covers parts of Erie and Niagara counties in western New York.

The U.S. District Court granted a motion for a preliminary injunction in Minnesota Chamber of Commerce v. Choi (0:23-cv-02015), preventing the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board from enforcing a bill restricting political activities by foreign-influenced corporations.

House File 3 was to be effective January 1, 2024, and would require a corporation making a contribution to a ballot question or an independent expenditure to submit a certification to the board that it was not a foreign-influenced corporation as of the date the contribution or expenditure was made.

The bill defines a foreign-influenced corporation as one for which a single foreign investor owns 1% or more; two or more foreign investors own 5% or more; or a foreign investor participates directly or indirectly in the corporation’s decision-making process with respect to the corporation’s political activities in the United States.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed House Bill 4234, permitting corporations to make administrative expenditures to non-connected separate segregated funds (SSFs).

The bill changes the definitions of contribution and expenditure to permit expenditures made by a corporation to provide for the collection and transfer of contributions to an SSF for which it is not a connected organization.

Previously these were prohibited in-kind contributions.

Contributions or expenditures made to facilitate contributions to an SSF through a payroll deduction plan also do not qualify as contributions or expenditures.

Any costs of establishing or administering a payroll deduction plan for contributions to an SSF are not considered expenditures.

The bill also removes a restriction on public bodies using public funds to set up a payroll deduction plan for political contributions from consenting employees.

Public employees may participate in payroll deductions for their labor union’s PAC and the public body is permitted to use public funds to administer the process.

The new law will be effective February 13, 2024.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed three campaign finance bills effective February 13, 2024.

House Bill 5141, House Bill 5143, and House Bill 5144, prohibit distributing materially deceptive media and amend the disclaimer requirements for political ads and add definitions to the Campaign Finance Act to facilitate the implementation of the new laws.

House Bill 5144 prohibits a person from distributing materially deceptive media if all of the following apply:

• The person knows the media falsely represents a depicted individual;
• The distribution occurs within 90 days before an election;
• The person intends the distribution to harm the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate in an election and likely to cause that result; and
• The person intends the distribution to change the voting behavior of electors in an election by deceiving the electors.

House Bill 5141 amends the disclaimer requirements for political ads, including special requirements for ads generated by artificial intelligence.

House Bill 5143 adds the definitions to the Michigan Campaign Finance Act including artificial intelligence, ballot question committee, bundling committee, and business.

The Chicago City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight recommended the passage of a substitute ordinance broadening the definition of registered lobbyists to include nonprofits with several exceptions to ease concerns from the nonprofit community.

An ordinance was passed in July 2019 to impose new registration and reporting requirements on certain nonprofit interactions with the city, but after many concerns were raised, implementation never took place.

Substitute Ordinance 2023-2937 clarifies the definition of lobbying to make it easier for both for-profit and nonprofit organizations to understand.

Lobbyist is any individual who, on behalf of any other person, contacts or communicates directly with a city official or employee to influence any administrative action or legislative action.

The ordinance also amends the exceptions to the definition of lobbying to exempt any nonprofit entity having both an operating budget and net assets or fund balances of less than $5 million.

The ordinance also establishes a monetary and hourly threshold for registration.

Registration is required for lobbyists who are paid or otherwise compensated, or spend at least $1,250, in any combination, for lobbying in any lobbyist reporting period; or who spend more than 20 hours on lobbying in any lobbyist reporting period.

The ordinance also adds definitions concerning grassroots lobbying, reporting periods, covered activity, and exemptions.

Total fines for failure to file a report would be capped at $20,000 per violation.

If passed, the ordinance will be effective July 1, 2024, to give the Board of Ethics ample time to conduct a robust public education campaign.

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation inspired by the 2023 session’s chief judge battle.

Senate Bill 4152 would have required lobbying groups to disclose spending on campaigns for or against gubernatorial nominees to state office, including the nomination or confirmation of any person for a position subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Hochul’s initial nominee for chief judge of the state Court of Appeals, Hector D. LaSalle, sparked fierce efforts to support and oppose his appointment, including unregulated campaigns that sought to alter the outcome.

The groups lobbying for LaSalle’s nomination voluntarily reported their lobbying while the groups lobbying against LaSalle’s nomination declined to do so, stating there was no requirement to report.

Senate Democrats blocked the nomination of LaSalle, marking the first time the Legislature has not confirmed a candidate for the Court of Appeals.

Hochul cited significant new reporting requirements and implementation costs not already accounted for in her veto memo.

The Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board issued draft rule language staff considers to be potentially controversial.

The language will be considered by the board’s three-member rulemaking committee at one or more public meetings to be announced at a later date.

Interested parties will have an opportunity to comment on the draft rule language.

Once it is available staff will also release draft rule language intended to implement changes made by the Legislature in 2023 to statutes governing lobbyist regulation and reporting.

Information related to the rulemaking process, including how to sign up for the rulemaking notice list, the dates of any scheduled rulemaking committee meetings, copies of official documents, copies of formal comments received by the board, and draft rules, will be posted on the board’s rulemaking docket webpage at cfb.mn.gov/citizen-resources/the-board/statutes-and-rules/rulemaking-docket.