Governor Scott Walker announced the dates of the special elections for a state Senate seat that was recently vacated. Rich Zipperer resigned his seat in 33rd senate district, which represents the Milwaukee area, to serve as Walker’s chief of staff.

The special primary election will take place on November 6 and the general election will take place on December 4. The primary elections will only take place if there are two or more candidates from the same party who declare for the seat.

Two republican candidates have already announced their intentions to run for the Senate seat.

A federal appeals court in Chicago upheld an Illinois state law regarding disclosure related to campaign advertisements. The Center for Individual Freedom, a Virginia based advocacy group, sued the state, claiming that its First Amendment rights were violated by a law that requires all entities, regardless of whether their main purpose is influencing elections, to register and report as a political committee once it spends $3,000 for independent expenditures in a 12-month period.

In dismissing the case, the court ruled this law did not violate the free speech rights of organizations. The case was originally dismissed in district court last year on the same grounds.

This continues an ongoing cycle where groups are suing states, and obtaining mixed results, for the state’s disclosure laws based on the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision in 2010. Most experts believe these cases will eventually end up in Supreme Court, where the nation’s highest court will determine whether states can force groups to disclose donors who wish to remain anonymous.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board issued an advisory opinion clarifying the disclosure rules a trust must follow when making a political contribution.

If a trust raises or spends more than $750 for campaign activities, it will have to register with the ethics board as a political committee.

As a political committee, the trust will have to file periodic reports with the board and will also have to identify the name of the trust, the trustee, and the trustor.

The committee that receives the contribution will also to have to disclose the trust, trustee, and trustor on its disclosure report.

The opinion also restricts prohibited contributors, such as corporations, insurance companies, or banks, from giving money or anything of value to a trust that makes campaign contributions.

The advisory opinion was in response to a 2002 advisory opinion which incorrectly allowed trusts to anonymously give money to political committees for the past 10 years.

Mayor Vincent Gray and Attorney General Irvin Nathan have introduced a proposal for an overhaul of the city’s campaign finance laws. The proposal includes pay-to-pay provisions that will limit when contractors may contribute to public officials. It will also make electronic disclosure mandatory and increase the disclosures already in place. The proposal would also ban lobbyists from bundling political contributions.

These proposed reforms come at a time when the district has been inflicted with a rash of campaign scandals, including one involving Mayor Gray’s campaign.

The proposal will now go through a public comment period until September 17th. At that point, the proposal will be formally sent to the district council.

Photo of the John A. Wilson Building by Awiseman on Wikipedia.

The state legislature will convene a special session Friday afternoon to approve a flood relief package for parts of the state which were devastated by summer flooding. The session will convene at 2:00 p.m. and must end by 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

The legislature will vote on a $167.5 million relief package, but it is expected to pass without issue. Governor Mark Dayton and the legislative leaders have already agreed on the package and the deal restricts any other legislators from making changes to the bill.

Governor Jack Markell signed three bills into law in an attempt to shine more light onto the state’s lobbyist and campaign finance reports.

Senate Bill 185 requires lobbyists to report any direct communication with a public official concerning a bill, resolution, or regulation pending before the general assembly or a state agency. The report will be due within five days of the first direct communication by the lobbyist. The bill also makes electronic registration and reporting mandatory for lobbyists. The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2013.

House Bill 300 requires a political committee to register within 24 hours after it receives any contribution or makes any expenditure that would cause the aggregate contributions or expenditures to exceed $500 during an election period. It will also increase disclosure and reporting requirements for campaign and third-party advertisements. These new requirements will go into effect June 30, 2013.

House Bill 310 increases the penalties and the number of people who can be penalized for late, incomplete, or missing campaign finance reports. These new penalties will go into effect immediately.

Councilman Mike O’Brien has introduced a bill to the city council in hopes of limiting the advantages incumbents currently have in city elections. The bill, which has been placed into committee, would limit the election cycle, limit the time frame a person can raise money for a campaign, and limit the amount of money a candidate may keep at the end of the election cycle.

The new election cycle would start on January 1st of the year that office is up for election and end on April 30th following the general election. Also, a candidate would be forced to get rid of the money in his or her war chest following the end of the election cycle. Councilman O’Brien believes this will limit the advantage an incumbent has over challengers and encourage more people to run for city office.

The bill would take effect 30 days after the mayor signs it, however any money received by a candidate prior to the effective date may be retained until the next election for that office.

Governor Mark Dayton and the leaders of the state legislature have tentatively agreed on August 24 for a special session date. The legislature will convene in order to appropriate monies to disaster relief for counties that were ravaged by flooding earlier this year.

The date is still tentative as the final damage numbers are still being totaled. The federal government will supply 75% of the funding if the state picks up the last 25% of the cost.

Once the final numbers are set, Governor Dayton will have to officially call the legislature back to work.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill he hopes will help ease the financial burdens facing some local governments within the state. Senate Bill 5525, which was passed by the state legislature in late June, allows all New York cities and counties to piggyback contacts from other cities and counties.

If a public contract already exists, a city or county may choose to use the contract already in existence, instead of having to solicit the work itself. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the original contract must have followed all state and local laws involving the procurement of government contracts, including competitive bidding requirements.

The law takes effect immediately.

The Chicago City Council voted unanimously to pass Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s ethics ordinance. The ordinance, which is the first overhaul of the city’s ethics code in 25 years, institutes the recommendations made by an ethics board Emanuel appointed to study the city’s ethical issues.

The newly passed ordinance will increase the gift prohibition for city officials and employees. Officials and employees will now only be able to accept gifts that are less than $50 in value. It also limits the ability of lobbyists and contractors to make political contributions. It also includes a reverse revolving door provision, which limits a city official or employee’s participation in matters involving former employers.

The ordinance will go into effect on November 1, 2012.

Photo of Chicago’s City Hall and Daley Plaza by JeremyA in Wikipedia.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new proposed ethics ordinance has advanced out of committee and will now head to a full city council vote. The proposal, which stems from the first set of recommendations handed out by Emanuel’s appointed Ethics Board, will, among other things, lower the value of gifts that city’s employees and officials may receive. Currently, the limit is $100, but the proposed ordinance lowers that limit to $50.

The proposal is expected to pass the city council. The ethics board is expected to release its second set of ethics recommendations in late summer.

Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed House Bill 2175 into law, exempting certain people from the state’s revolving door provisions.

In an effort to increase participation amongst the state’s experts and those with special knowledge, the law exempts members of a state task force from the revolving door provisions. A task force is a group which is created to study a specific problem for a specified period of time.

The law will take effect immediately.

Photo of Governor Abercrombie courtesy of Wikipedia.

On Friday, July 6, 2012, Governor Pat Quinn signed Senate Bill 3722 into law, rewriting the state campaign contribution limits. Under this new law, if a natural person or an independent expenditure committee makes independent expenditures in support of, or in opposition to, the campaign of a candidate or incumbent in an amount over $250,000 for statewide office, or $100,000 for all other elective offices, then the contribution limits are waived for all candidates for that specific office. For example, if an independent expenditure committee spends more than $250,000 for commercials against candidate A, who is running for governor, then the contribution limits do not apply for any of the gubernatorial candidates.

The new law also establishes registration and reporting requirements for independent expenditure committees. The law goes into effect immediately, which means these rules apply for the state house and senate seats which are up for election in November.

The Illinois Secretary of State announced that the lobbyist affirmation statement for the period of January 1 to June 30, 2012 is due on August 4, 2012.

For this report, the lobbyists will have to affirm its employers’ reports are accurate as they pertain to the itemized expenditures.