A bill has been pre-filed for the upcoming 2013 legislative session that will affect lobbyists and PACs. The bill will require that all reports filed by lobbyists be done electronically by January 1, 2014. Currently, electronic filing of reports is voluntary.

Also, a new yearly fee of $200 will be required of all PACs and lobbyists and lobbyist employers whose compensation received or expenses paid is more than $10,000 in the previous calendar year.

The Washington legislature will not convene its new legislative session until January 14, 2013.

The Michigan legislature has adjourned for the year after a busy lame duck session.

Bills passed, and sent to Governor Rick Snyder’s desk for approval, included legislation on right-to-work, abortion, and gun control.

The GOP will still control the legislature in the new session, scheduled to begin on January 9, but it will be a smaller majority after Democrats took back five seats in the November elections.

Photo of the interior dome in the Michigan State Capitol by Dave Parker in Wikipedia.

New York Attorney General, Eric T. Schneiderman, issued a draft regulation that could lead to massive changes in the way political spending is disclosed. The proposed regulation would require any tax-exempt group that does business in the state to disclose what percentage of its total spending went to political activities.

This means that any group who spends money in New York in support or opposition of a candidate would be forced to disclose its spending. Further, once the group has spent over $10,000 for state elections, it will have to disclose each individual donor who gave $100 or more.

The proposed regulation does allow for a waiver to be granted if the group feels that disclosure of names could lead to serious threats or harassment. The proposal calls for disclosure during the six months before any Election Day in the state.

Public hearings must be heard on the proposed regulation, but the attorney general may unilaterally approve the final regulation. If approved by the attorney general, the rules could be placed into effect in time for the upcoming New York City mayoral election.

The city council has introduced a bill that would change the way unions and corporations, among others, could contribute to elections. The bill, introduced by Councilmember Rosie Mendez, would remove contribution limits on unions or other membership organizations and corporations for communications aimed at its members, stockholders, or employees. The only catch would be that the union or corporation must use reasonable efforts to restrict the communication to its members, employees, or stockholders.

Those in favor say that it will allow a small non-profit group to disseminate a candidate’s photograph in its newsletter. Councilmember Gale Brewer said, “You cannot put a television ad, you cannot do that now, and have a communication. This is just member to member.”

However, not everyone agrees. Amy Loprest, executive director of the city’s campaign finance board said, “I think we have one of the best campaign finance laws in the country, and this is a big step backwards.”

The bill was sent to the council’s committee of governmental operations where a hearing will be held on Thursday. A full city council vote could come as soon as next week. At this point, it is impossible to tell whether the council will pass the bill. But, either way, it is sure to drum up some strong emotions during debate.

Photo of the New York City Hall courtesy of Howrealisreal on Wikipedia.

The District of Columbia Board of Elections has announced that a special election will take place on April 23, 2013.

This special election will be held to fill the at-large D.C. council seat of Phil Mendelson.

Governor Terry Branstad announced that a special election will take place on January 22, 2013 to fill the now-vacated district 52 house seat.

Representative Brian Quirk had won the seat in the November elections, but due to a new job he recently accepted, decided he could not fulfill his duties as a lawmaker.

Governor Jack Markell has announced that he plans to call a special session of the state senate on December 5 to consider various judicial nominations.

The senate will be considering and voting on seven judicial appointees nominated by the governor.

The Legislative Assembly of Alberta crept closer to approving changes to the province’s elections act last week. The bill, which is in the process of going through its second reading, will give the chief electoral officer the power to inform the public who is being fined and to better identify parties receiving cash.

This past May, Elections Alberta fined over 20 corporations for making illegal donations, but was unable to identify the corporations fined or the parties receiving the illegal contributions. The bill will allow the department to go back and reveal the fines of the past three years.

The new bill will also increase disclosure rules for people making political contributions. If the bill is approved, parties or constituency associations will have to disclose any donors who contribute $250 or more. Currently, donors can remain anonymous until they contributed at least $375.

However, many in the province do not think the bill goes far enough. Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said the new bill is “feeble, weak, pale, insufficient, and poor. This is not 21st century thinking and it does not address any of the recent scandals that have come up.”

Once the bill passes the second reading, which it is expected to do, it will head to the Committee of the Whole.

An old lawsuit has been resurrected that could leave Washington’s public disclosure law involving grassroots lobbying in jeopardy. Two groups, Conservative Enthusiasts and Many Cultures, One Message, sued the Washington Public Disclosure Commission in 2010 claiming their free speech rights were violated by the law requiring grassroots campaigns to register and report with the state.

The case was dismissed by a magistrate for lack of standing. However, last week, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court heard the appeal on the dismissal and will soon be making a decision on the law in question.

At issue in the case will be whether the law is unconstitutionally vague. The law defines lobbying, among other things, as attempting to influence the passage of legislation. Included in the definition of legislation is “any other matter that may be the subject of action” by the legislature. It is this language that is the nature of the lawsuit. The two groups claim that the language is overly vague and includes “an endless possibility of matters.”

Now, it is up to the appellate court to decide whether the case will go back to the trial court for a hearing on the merits and whether the dismissal will be upheld.

The New York State Board of Elections has approved and adopted rules concerning independent expenditures, but many feel the rules won’t do a thing to slow down the campaign money train. According to the rules, people making independent expenditures will have to register and report as if they were a political committee.

Independent expenditures are defined by the state as expenditures that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate that the candidate did not authorize in any way. Expressly advocated is defined as containing express words calling for the election or defeat of a candidate. Therefore, committees can run advertisements that avoid using certain words and can escape registration and reporting requirements.

Bill Mahoney, a research coordinator for a New York good government group said the new rules “will make it even easier for independent expenditure committees, Super PACs, to hide who’s paying for them, and because of that it will lead to language that is much more harsh than what we’ve heard before.”

Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco is ready to play hard ball with campaign finance violators. Tedisco and two other lawmakers are hoping to introduce a “three strikes and you’re out” type of a bill for people who fail to file campaign financing reports with the state.

The possible legislation would send those who fail to file reports on three separate occasions to prison. This comes in the wake of serious scandals sweeping the state, including former state Senator Pedro Espada who was convicted of tax fraud and is awaiting sentencing. Espada owes around $30,000 in fines to the state, which the state is highly unlikely to ever see.

Tedisco says New York needs laws on the books that have teeth, so politicians are not willing to circumvent the rules. It does not seem likely for a bill of this nature to pass both houses of the general assembly, especially when the sponsor of the bill is coming from the minority party. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo is making a big push for campaign finance reforms, so an increase in penalties and enforcement is not impossible.

As Tedisco said, “Sunshine is truly the greatest disinfectant. That’s why we need to strengthen the laws to allow for full disclosure and transparency.”

Photo of Jim Tedisco courtesy of UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Illinois’ limits on campaign financing will remain in force at least through the upcoming general election. Illinois Liberty PAC initially sought an injunction to suspend the limits, but its effort was refused by the district court. They appealed and the appellate court ruled that the PAC’s attorneys “have not shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge to contribution limits.”

The case will now go back to the district court, where the actual merits of the case can be decided. The PAC claims that the limits violate their First Amendment right to free speech and their equal protection rights because it allows political parties to spend unlimited amounts of money, while limiting contributions from other sources.

The PAC was not surprised by the ruling saying, “We knew it was going to be an uphill battle.”

A special election is set for December 11 in the race for the Iowa State Senate District 22 seat due to very unfortunate circumstances. State Senator Pat Ward passed away from breast cancer on October 15, making the special election necessary.

Both Ward and her opponent, democratic candidate Desmund Adams, will still appear on the November 6th ballot, but the state will not count any of the votes. The Republican Party will select a candidate at a special nominating convention to run against Adams. The republicans must select a candidate by November 13.

Adams has decided to suspend his campaign to allow the district to mourn the loss of Ward.

The Seattle City Council approved a bill last night that changes the way campaign finance will work in future elections. Council Bill 117548 was approved by a 7-2 vote, but it will not take effect until after the upcoming November elections.

The new law changes the definition of election cycle, which now starts January 1 in the year prior to the general election for that office and will end April 30 following the election. Candidates will only be allowed to raise money and accept contributions during the election cycle period. The new law also limits the amount of money incumbents can carry over to the next election. The council believes that this will give challengers more of an opportunity to unseat an incumbent.

Currently, there is no limit to how much money candidates can stockpile, leading most incumbents to create massive war chests to fend off challengers. The new law does not allow any candidate to carry money over past the end of the election cycle. Current city council members have 30 days to transfer their current funds to a new campaign without being subject to the rules. Political committees are also subject to the carry-over provisions.

Finally, the new law also raises the contribution limits from $600 to $700 to candidates for mayor, city council, or city attorney.