Republican Patrick Morrisey defeated his opponent Democrat Steve Williams in the West Virginia gubernatorial race 62% to 31%.

This race was without an incumbent as current Gov. Jim Justice is on his final term.

Patrick Morrisey has been the state’s attorney general since 2013.

Democrat Josh Stein defeated his opponent Republican Mark Robinson in the North Carolina gubernatorial race 54% to 40%.

This race was without an incumbent as Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper was term limited.

Stein is currently serving as the state’s attorney general.

The County Commission has proposed an ordinance to raise the monetary value limit of a gift of food and drink for elected officials from $5 to $25.

Commissioner Mark Bogen stated this proposal will allow elected officials, candidates, and government staff to interface better with the public.

Bogen also stated this change is not to allow officers to have dinner with a lobbyist but to keep officials from worrying about breaking the law for accepting food or drink that costs “more than a bagel” from constituents when attending public events.

The proposed ordinance will appear on the County Commission’s agenda on October 22.

State lawmakers will come together for a one-day session on October 9 to vote on a hurricane relief package.

Additional legislation is being drafted to enable the long-term recovery of the region and House Democratic Leader Robert Reives states hurricane relief could lead to introduction of additional legislation.

This does affect lobbying reporting.

A monthly report is due November 14 if expenditures were made on legislators or legislative employees during the reporting period.

The state Democratic Party filed suit against Gov. Kemp in federal court over a 2021 state law allowing candidates to accept unlimited contributions through leadership committees.

Last Thursday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Gov. Kemp.

U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen found the complaint to be speculative in nature and the Democratic Party lacked standing to sue the governor.

Democrats could not point to a specific contribution that had infringed the right of free speech and equal protection rights.

The court noted the attorney general and the Georgia Ethics Commission would be the appropriate parties to sue.

Miami-Dade’s clerk of courts introduced an upgrade to the online lobbyist system.

The system will have new capabilities such online fee payment, principal removal, lobbyist authorization, and contingency fee declarations without the need of paper forms.

To implement the new system, the old system will go offline on September 23 at 11:59 p.m. and will remain offline until October 1.

Access to the new system will be granted on October 2 and it is encouraged to have all critical submissions completed before the cutoff date.

Training and support resources will be available to help users get acquainted.

Finally, if registration is required during the black-out period, lobbyists and principals will be required to contact the Office of Clerk of the Board Division.

Gov. Jim Justice announced a special session to discuss tax cuts, childcare, and other critical needs such as infrastructure.

The session is scheduled to begin September 30 and does not have an immediate end date.

Currently, no special session bills have been filed.

Baltimore City Council is in the process of approving an ethics bill to align with state law.

City Council Bill 22-0275 expands the prohibition on city employees soliciting gifts to any donor.

Currently, the ban applies to controlled donors such as a lobbyist or person seeking to do business.

The bill also adds associations representing counties or municipal corporations to the list of donors whose gifts may not be accepted, absent an exception.

The bill was presented for third reading on August 26.

Electronic Video Notarization (EVN) will continue to be a valid form of notarization in North Carolina.

EVN was a policy put in place during Covid-19 to allow for safer notarization of documents by allowing notaries to witness signatures over video calls.

This order expired on June 30 but extended to July 1, 2025, by House Bill 556.

The bill was vetoed by the governor before being overridden by legislative vote.

State Democrats filed suit against Gov. Kemp in federal court over a 2021 state law allowing candidates to accept unlimited contributions through leadership committees.

Legislative candidate committees are limited to accepting $3,300 per election and may not fundraise during the legislative session.

However, leadership committees are allowed to receive unlimited funds on behalf of candidates and may do so while the Legislature is in session.

Democrats argue the fact that losing party nominees must shut down their leadership committee while the winner’s committee may continue collecting funds unconstitutionally favors incumbents.

Democrats seek a preliminary injunction against leadership committee fundraising and spending until the case is concluded.

Electronic Video Notarization (EVN) will no longer be a valid form of notarization in North Carolina.

EVN was a policy put in place during Covid-19 to allow for safer notarization of documents by allowing notaries to witness signatures over video calls. This order has expired on June 30.

The order could have been extended to July 1, 2025, by House Bill 556, but the bill was vetoed by the governor.

Unless the veto is overridden, EVN is not a legal way to notarize documents and documents will need to be notarized in person going forward, but the use of e-notaries and document signing programs will still be valid.

The civil penalty for violating revolving door restrictions has increased.

Senate Bill 7014 doubled the maximum fine to $20,000 for former officials who violate the state’s six-year ban on lobbying on matters of policy and procurement.

The bill also makes changes to ethics investigation procedures and to public disclosures allowing public officials who are lawyers to claim clients as a source of income without divulging their names.

A special election has been called for August 6 to replace At-Large Councilmember Mel Franklin, who resigned in June.

Thirteen candidates have announced their registration to run.

This primary will include both Democrat and Republican candidates and the winners of the primary will be added to the general election ballot on November 5.

The winner will serve the remaining two years in Franklin’s term.

House Bill 237 passed by a legislative override after being vetoed by Gov. Cooper.

The bill changes registration and reporting requirements for federal PACs contributing in state elections.

Federal PACs may now file a copy of the FEC Statement of Organization within 10 days of making a permissible contribution.

Federal PACs now report by filing with the State Board a copy of the FEC report for any federal filing period during which the federal PAC makes a contribution within 10 calendar days of the federal filing.

Submitting these reports can be done either through mail or email.

Previously, federal PACs were required to register and report using state forms and on state reporting schedules.