Pursuant to the city of San Diego’s Election Campaign Control Ordinance, the San Diego Ethics Commission has released the final version of the 2012 Committee Manual.

The manual addresses the recent changes to San Diego’s campaign finance laws and how they will impact each type of committee required to make a report in the 2012 election year.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has issued an opinion in Thalheimer v. City of San Diego. The Court upheld San Diego’s prohibition on political contributions to candidates, political parties, and political action committees by non-individual entities such as corporations and labor unions.

The district court’s injunction of the prohibition on non-individual entity contributions as it applies to political party contributions to candidates was affirmed.

The Ninth Circuit further upheld San Diego’s law prohibiting contributions to candidates outside of a 12 month pre-election window.

The district court’s decision to preliminarily enjoin a $500 limit on contributions to political committees that make only independent expenditures, which includes contributions by individual and non-individual entities was affirmed.

The law repeals Puerto Rico’s previous election code and is effective immediately. The new election code creates a State Commission of Elections which will oversee all election and campaign finance rules and regulations.

The legislature has indicated that they are currently working on updating the campaign finance provisions which will create the Law for the Financing of Political Campaigns in Puerto Rico.

Photo of the Capitol of Puerto Rico by Mtmelendez on Wikipedia.

The President of the Council on Reorganization and Modernization of the Executive Branch has announced a plan to restructure Puerto Rico’s procurement processes.

Entitled the Reorganization Plan of the Administration of General Services, the plan aims to make the procurement process a more efficient, just, impartial, and transparent process.

Coat of Arms of Puerto Rico by HansenBCN on Wikipedia.

OKLAHOMA: The Oklahoma Legislature adjourned sine die on May 27, 2011.

ILLINOIS: The Illinois General Assembly has recessed. The senate will reconvene on October 25, 2011. No date has been set for the house to reconvene.

Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has signed House Bill 2080 into law. This bill requires every treasurer for a political committee to report the name and address of each candidate for whom an in-kind expenditure in the aggregate of $300 or more has been made. The political committee treasurer must also report the services or products provided, as well as the amount, date, and purpose of each expenditure.

A second provision in the bill requires political committee treasurers to report the name and address of each candidate for state and local office who is the subject of an expenditure, made without the cooperation or consent of the candidate or the candidate’s committee, expressly advocating the nomination, election, or defeat of such candidate, in the aggregate amount or fair market value of $300 or more.

Effective January 1, 2011, political committees were required to file a quarterly report for the first time.

Due to a large number of non-filings by committees required to file this report, the Illinois Board of Elections is granting a one-time amnesty from civil penalty to any political committee that files their quarterly report on or before June 11, 2011.

Failure to report by June 11, 2011 will result in a formal complaint filed against the committee and civil penalties of up to $5,000.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has signed a bill that guarantees future funding for the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The new law appropriates one tenth of one percent of the state’s general fund budget to the ethics commission. Under the current proposed budget, this appropriation represents approximately $1.8 million dollars.

The appropriation provision in the new law can only be modified by a two-thirds vote of the Alabama House and Senate.

The three reissued executive orders include a ban on political contributions to the mayor from the owners of companies that do business with the city, an order requiring city employees to comply with hiring oversight rules, and an order reaffirming that it is the duty of every city employee to report wrongdoing to the inspector general.

The first new executive order prohibits new appointees from lobbying city government for two years after leaving the administration, bars lower level employees from lobbying the departments or agencies in which they work, and bars appointees to boards and commissions from lobbying the board or commission on which they sit.

The second new executive order protects city employees from being pressured to give gifts or make political contributions to their superiors.

The third new executive order prohibits city lobbyists from making political contributions to the mayor.