Appellate Court Upholds Kentucky Ban of Gifts and Money to Lawmakers

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a state ethics law that bans Kentucky lawmakers from accepting gifts or campaign contributions from lobbyists.

Additionally, the ethics law bans lawmakers from accepting “anything of value” from a lobbyist.

The ruling reversed a June 2017 ruling by U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman that struck down the ethics law as too vague and overly broad.

However, the appeals court found no constitutional problem with the limits on gifts and campaign contributions.

The found the laws are closely drawn to further Kentucky’s anti-corruption interest and pass constitutional muster.

Gov. Jim Justice amended his proclamation for the First Extraordinary Session of 2019, adding a bill relating to the West Virginia Business Ready Sites Program.

The special session was originally called to address improvements to public education and pay raises for school teachers.

The Senate has introduced the Student Success Act to address these issues.

The House is set to reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on June 17.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted to adopt amendments to the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code.

The changes include electronic filing, filing of contribution disclosures no later than 14 days following the contribution, and updating filing forms.

The changes provide clarity regarding code sections created by the Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance and update the regulations to match other recent changes to the code.

Additionally, changes provide clarity about various provisions of the Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance.

State Sen. Sean Tindell resigned earlier this week to be sworn in as a judge for the Mississippi Court of Appeals.

Gov. Phil Bryant announced a special election on December 19 to fill the vacated District 49 seat.

A runoff election will occur on January 9, 2018, if no candidate receives a majority of the vote.

Earlier this year, the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) made a regulatory change requiring public relations professionals to document outreach to editorial boards and report their activity to the state as lobbying.

The regulation is now being contested by public relations firms who have joined in a federal suit challenging the reporting requirement under free speech provisions of the First Amendment. In response, the commission has budgeted $300,000 annually to a legal defense fund to support this measure.