Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 3903, prohibiting vendors that offer or provide equipment or services for automated traffic law enforcement, automated speed enforcement, or automated railroad grade crossing enforcement systems to municipalities or counties from making campaign contributions to any political committee established to promote the candidacy of a candidate or public official.

Effective immediately, the bill also prohibits political action committees created by the vendor and vendor-affiliated persons from making campaign contributions.

Vendor-affiliated person is defined as any person with an ownership interest or distributive share in excess of 7.5% in a vendor, any executive employees of the vendor and any spouse, minor child, or other immediate family member living in the residence of any of them.

The bill also prohibits members of the General Assembly and officers or employees of a municipality or county from accepting employment or receiving compensation or fees for services from a vendor that provides automated traffic law enforcement system equipment or services or automated speed enforcement system equipment or services to municipalities or counties.

Former members, officers and employees must wait two years before accepting employment from such a vendor.

The general assembly officially ended the 2023 legislative session on June 16.

Lawmakers passed a bevy of bills addressing procurement small purchase limits, contribution limits, and primary election dates.

House Bill 5962 and Senate Bill 0846 raise the minimum aggregate reporting limit for candidates and committees of all contributions received and expenditures made from any one source within a calendar year from $100 to $200.

The bills also raise the contribution limit for individuals and political action committees from $1,000 to $2,000 per year.

If signed by the Governor the bills would take effect on January 1, 2024.

House Bill 5463 increases the maximum state and municipal small purchase limits from $10,000 to $25,000 for construction projects and from $5,000 to $10,000 for all other state and municipal purchases.

If signed by the governor this bill will take effect on December 31, 2023.

Finally, House Bill 6033 allows the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the month preceding the special election to be available to hold the special primary. This bill has been signed by the Governor and will take effect immediately.

A newly filed ballot measure has been introduced to reestablish campaign contribution limits in Alaska.

In 2021, a federal appeals court struck down most of Alaska contribution limits on First Amendment grounds.

The ballot measure would cap contributions at $2,000 per election, with limits being adjusted for inflation every 10 years.

The new initiative will appear on the 2024 ballot if it is certified by the lieutenant governor and collects the requisite number of signatures.

The 93rd session of the Minnesota Legislature adjourned sine die on May 22.

Lawmakers passed House File 3, a bill restricting political activities by foreign influenced corporations, and requiring corporations making political contributions to file certifications.

The bill requires any corporation making a contribution to a ballot question or an independent expenditure to submit a certification to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board that it was not a foreign-influenced corporation as of the date the contribution or expenditure was made.

The bill also broadens the definition of expressly advocating to include certain types of political communications, even if they do not use words or phrases of express advocacy, such as “vote for” or “vote against.”

Expressly advocating is used to identify certain types of independent expenditures that require disclosure and reporting to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

The bill becomes effective January 1, 2024.

San Diego, California’s contribution limits have been adjusted for the 2024 election cycle due to inflation. The maximum donation an individual can make to a candidate in a City Council race has increased from $650 to $750 and the donation limit to candidates for mayor and city attorney has increased from $1,200 to $1,350. This change is one of the largest adjustments in San Diego’s history, following historic inflation of around 7% during the two years since the contribution limits were last increased.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill changing the name of the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission back to the State Ethics Commission.

The much longer commission name was the product of a major ethics overhaul in 2010.

In addition to the name change, House Bill 572 also clarifies rules for late contribution reporting.

A contribution designated for a general election given close to a primary election date does not need reported within two days.

The new law will take effect on July 1.

The Ohio office of Secretary of State has published increased contribution limits.

The contribution limits for PACs, PCEs and individuals may contribute to statewide candidates, candidates for General Assembly, county parties, PACs, and PCEs increased from $13,704.41 to $15,499.69 per election; and from $41,113.24 to $46,499.08  per calendar year to state parties; and from $20,556.62 to $23,249.54 per calendar year to legislative campaign funds.

The amount of gifts corporations and labor unions may provide per year to a state political party, county political party, or legislative campaign fund, for certain specified purposes, such as facilities; equipment, and supplies, increased from $11,274.23 to $12,751.16.

Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas loaned $100,100 to his campaign after advancing to the April 4 runoff election against Brandon Johnson.

The two candidates may now receive unlimited contributions because contribution limits do not apply in any city race where the self-funding or independent expenditure threshold of $100,000 is exceeded.

The city’s pay-to-play limits on campaign contributions remain in place.

Companies and people doing business with the city or its sister agencies are limited to contributing $1,500 to any one candidate per year.

The Orange County Council has voted to raise the campaign contribution limit from $2,200 to $2,500 per election cycle.

The Orange County Campaign Reform Ordinance requires the board to adjust the campaign contribution limitation in February of every odd year.

The Orange County Council adjusts the contribution limit according to changes in the Consumer Price Index and rounds to the nearest $100.

The Vermont state’s Elections Division increased contribution limits.

Under the revised limits, contributions of up to $1,120 per election cycle may be made to state representative candidates, and contributions of up to $1,680 per election cycle may be made to state senate candidates.

Individuals and PACs may contribute up to $4,480 to statewide candidates and PACs per election cycle.

The adjusted limits represent a 6.4% increase for the entire 2024 election cycle.

The contribution limit for candidates and political committees in North Carolina has increased as mandated by state law.

The previous limit was capped at $5,600.

The new limit is now $6,400 and took effect on January 1 of the new year.

Campaign contribution limits have increased in the province of Ontario, Canada for 2023.

In a calendar year, a person individually may contribute $3,350 to each party, to each constituency association and nominations contestants of a party, and to each leadership contestant of a party.

Additionally, in a campaign period, a person may contribute $3,350 to each candidate of a party, and to each independent non-party candidate.

The total contribution made with respect to a single fundraising event by a contributor may not exceed $3,350 multiplied by the indexation factor.

The previous contribution limits from 2022 were $3,350.

Campaign contribution limits increased in British Columbia for 2023 to $1,401.40 for contributions to registered political parties, including their candidates, nomination contestants and registered constituency associations.

Additionally, individuals can also contribute up to $1,401.40 to independent candidates and leadership contestants, if a leadership contest is called in 2023. The previous limits from 2022 were $1,309.09.

Also increased to $400 is the limit of a fee paid to attend a leadership convention or other convention of a political party without counting toward the $1,401.40 contribution limit.

These contribution amounts are adjusted at the start of each calendar year.

“Going forward,” the Federal Election Commission (FEC) will require disclosure requirements for contributions received from limited liability companies (LLCs) be applied to independent expenditure-only political committees (i.e., Super PACs) in the same manner in which they are applied to all other political committees.

On April 15, four of the six commissioners issued a “Statement of Reasons” for their conclusion of a closeout of a complaint. In the statement, which refers to Matters Under Review (MUR) 7454, Chairman Allen Dickerson, Vice Chair Steven T. Walther, Commissioner Shana M. Broussard, and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub assert, “contributions from LLCs to committees must be attributed pursuant to Commission regulations, and those regulations apply to all committees, including [Super PACs]. The Commission will apply that understanding going forward, and may seek civil penalties in appropriate future cases.”

In MUR 7454, the Super PAC in question had not obtained the required attribution information for two contributions made by LLCs. The Super PAC attributed the contributions only to the LLCs. Regulations require committees to report certain attribution information for contributions from LLCs.

An LLC that has a single natural-person member and is not taxed as a corporation must be attributed only to the natural person member, and not the LLC. A contribution by an LLC that is disregarded for tax purposes and does not have a single natural-person member is treated as a partnership contribution; and, a partnership contribution must be attributed to both the partnership and each partner, either in proportion to his or her share of the partnership profits or by agreement among the partners.

In prior cases premised on similar facts, the FEC could not agree whether, following the Citizens United and SpeechNow.org v. FEC court decisions, LLC reporting rules and conduit contribution rules applied to contributions made to the newly formed Super PACs authorized by those judicial rulings. The commissioners determined that “with the passage of time, [Super PACs] have become a regular part of the campaign finance landscape, and…there is no longer a lack of clarity concerning the application of LLC reporting rules and conduit contribution rules in these circumstances.”

Because the FEC has not previously made this conclusion under similar cases, they did not seek a civil penalty against the Super PAC.