The Spokane City Council voted Monday to raise the individual donor limit to $1,000 and to clear redundancies in the city’s Fair Elections Code.

The council decided, due to advances in Washington’s campaign finance statutes, that the city’s current campaign finance laws created uncertainty and were redundant.

The council moved to incorporate the State’s definitions and current individual donor limit.

The new limit will take effect October 26, 2022.

The Idaho Legislature has adjourned after one day of deliberation, passing a $1 billion package to cut taxes and increase education funding.

The bill allocates $500 million in tax rebates to be distributed to all Idahoans who filed taxes in 2020; reduces the state income tax rate to 5.8% while exempting the first $2,500 of income for all filers; and assigns $410 million for education funding.

This does affect lobbyist reporting.

A lobbyist activity report for the month of September will be due October 15.

The California State Legislature has adjourned for the year, but not before passing several bills concerning lobbying, campaign finance, and procurement in the twilight hours of the session.

Among the bills currently awaiting signature by Gov. Gavin Newsom are Senate Bill 459 and Senate Bill 1360.

Senate Bill 459 requires lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers to include information in the quarterly reports that identifies each bill or administrative action lobbied.

Senate Bill 459 also requires lobbying firms to file additional disclosures for lobbying activity during the last 60 days of a scheduled legislative session and requires specified reports for issue lobbying advertisements if a person spends $5,000 or more in a calendar quarter.

Senate Bill 1360 requires certain political advertisements to identify the top contributors to the campaign committee paying for the advertisement without regard to any minimum contribution threshold.

The bill also makes additional changes to the disclosure requirements for political advertisements, including changes to the required form, content, and presentation of the disclosures depending on the medium in which the advertisement appears.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced a special session starting September 1, focusing on education funding and cutting taxes.

During the special session, legislators will debate a bill that features the largest tax cut and investment in education funding in the state’s history.

This special session comes on the heels of Idaho’s historic surplus, one that has the possibility of creating $2 billion.

This does affect lobbyist reporting.

A lobbyist activity report for the month of September will be due October 15.

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) of California voted to allow contributions to political candidates in cryptocurrency.

Until now, contributions made in cryptocurrency were banned under all circumstances.

Under the new regulation, the contribution must immediately be converted into dollars upon making the contribution and the cryptocurrency must be processed through an exchange registered with the U.S. Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

An exchange is the marketplace where cryptocurrency is converted to different types of tender, including USD and the exchange can charge transaction fees.

The limits on cryptocurrency are the same as any non-cash contribution.

When reporting cryptocurrency contributions, the amount of the contribution is the fair market value of the cryptocurrency at the time the exchange obtains possession of the contribution and any amounts charged or withheld by the exchange must be reported by the committee as expenditures at the time the fees are deducted or charged.

King County, WA has approved an amendment to the King County Charter to be sent to the voters during the November 8 election.

The amendment moves elections for county executive, county assessor, county director of elections, and county councilmembers from odd-number years to even-numbered years starting in 2026.

There will be an election held in 2023 for the county assessor, county director, and even-numbered district councilmembers.

The county executive and odd-numbered district councilmembers will be elected in 2025 before moving to even-numbered year elections in 2026.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled against Montana, holding the state’s laws regarding political committees are unconstitutionally vague.

The court took umbrage with the state’s rule which governs whether political spending needs to be reported.

In Montana, any group of two or more people who spend $250 or more in an election cycle to support or oppose political candidates must register and report as a political committee.

Volunteer activities do not count towards the $250 threshold, but the court held Montana’s administrative scheme did not give plaintiffs fair notice that their activities fell outside the definition of volunteer services.

The decision opens the pathway to challenge the state’s definition of a political committee.

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has raised the threshold for reporting last-minute contributions from $1,000 to $1,500.

Contributions of or exceeding $1,500 that occur within seven days of a primary election and 21 days before a general election must be reported separately by both the contributors and the campaigns who receive them.

Once the threshold is reached, contributors must file with the PDC a last-minute contribution report within 24 hours of reaching the threshold, while recipients have 48 hours to report the contribution.

Santa Ana city council unanimously passed the first reading of a new lobbyist registration ordinance, outlining who must register, when reports are required, and the penalties for failing to follow the rules laid out in the ordinance.

The ordinance defines a lobbyist as any individual, business entity or organization, including a non-profit organization, that receives or becomes entitled to receive five hundred dollars or more in consideration in a month to lobby.

Once an individual becomes a lobbyist, they are required to register with the city clerk within 15 days.

If the ordinance follows the typical path to become law, the bill will need to be voted on two more times before it officially passes.

A commission created to review the current government structure in Portland, Oregon has voted to put a comprehensive governmental restructuring proposition on the ballot this November.

Voters will get to decide on expanding the number of City Council members to 12, implement ranked-choice voting for council members, and hire a professional city administrator.

These changes come on the heels of mass-dissatisfaction among the Portland residents.

Increases in crime, homelessness, and housing costs have all been blamed for the amplified scrutiny of the current government.

San Francisco voters have approved a ballot proposition prohibiting behested payments from contractors with contracts approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Proposition E also allows the city’s behested payment law to be amended if the city’s Ethics Commission and two-thirds of the Board of Supervisors approve the changes.

The new law will come into effect June 17, 2022.

The Alaska Legislature adjourned sin die late Wednesday after finally coming to an agreement on the state’s budget bill.

Lawmakers set this year’s dividend for each resident at $3,200 from Alaska’s Permanent Fund, a fund derived from the state’s oil and gas reserves.

The Legislature failed to pass new campaign contribution limits to replace the ones found to be unconstitutional earlier this year.

Alaska’s regulatory body, the Alaska Public Offices Commission, punted the responsibility to lawmakers after refusing to resurrect old contribution limits.

This does affect lobbyist reporting.

A lobbyist monthly report will be due June 30, covering May 1 through May 31.

Oregon’s campaign finance system web provider, Opus Interactive, is asking all users to change passwords following a ransomware attack Sunday night.

Hackers infiltrated Opus Interactive, granting them access to a C&E Systems database.

C&E Systems handles campaign finance compliance and is used by Oregon candidates, treasurers, political parties, and committees.

The attackers encrypted the database, which included login credentials to ORESTAR.

Only about 6% of C&E Systems users were affected by the hack, but all users are recommended to change passwords.

No sensitive data was accessed, but data was blocked from being accessed by the Opus Interactive team.

Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is currently working with cyber security experts to remedy the situation.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has issued a notice of proposed changes to Alaska’s campaign disclosure regulations.

The changes seek to clarify and define different aspects of the current law stemming from passage of the 2020 Initiative Measure 2.

The changes include a clearer definition of a prohibited contribution, a clarification of contribution disclosure requirements for charitable organizations, and additional requirements for political communications with video components.

APOC is seeking comments on the proposed changes and will accept them no later than end of business day on June 8.

Once the comment period ends, APOC will either adopt, amend, or take no action in regards to the proposed regulations.