Lawmakers passed two measures dealing with ethics and transparency during the regular legislative session that wrapped up in April.

House Bill 2319 will become effective July 5, requiring candidate committees for members of the Legislature to make additional disclosures of contributions and fundraising events while the Legislature is in session.

House Bill 2001 will become law July 7, requiring companies contracting with state agencies on contracts over $100,000 to make disclosures listing interested parties to the contract.

Bills that were not approved during the legislative session do not carry over.

The Montana Legislature adjourned the 2017 regular session April 28, 2017.  House Bill 340, eliminating the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices, made it through the House but was tabled in the Senate and did not pass.

Senate Bill 368, increasing contribution limits for both individuals and political action committees and placing the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices under the jurisdiction of the state Attorney General, passed at the last minute and will be sent to the Governor.

The Montana Legislature will pick up again in January 2019.

On April 18, Long Beach City Council approved a measure to repeal a local campaign finance law which barred elected officials from contributing officeholder funds to other candidates running for elective office.

The restriction risked being challenged as unconstitutional and the repeal brings city law more in line with current state rules.

The City Council voted 5-3 in favor of the repeal.

A state ban on political contributions to candidates by businesses was upheld by a Suffolk Superior Court judge last week. Massachusetts campaign finance law prohibits contributions from businesses but allows contributions from labor unions.

Two businesses active in a fiscally conservative advocacy group challenged the law hoping for a change in favor of businesses wishing to contribute, asserting the same political contribution rules should apply to businesses and unions.

The Office of Campaign and Political Finance argued businesses are different from unions and the state is within its rights to regulate each entity differently, maintaining the state’s interest in preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption.

Under the upheld law, individuals can contribute $1,000 per year to candidates and labor unions can contribute up to $15,000.

Gov. Matt Bevin approved changes to a campaign finance law yesterday, March 27, 2017.

Senate Bill 75 doubles current contribution limits for individuals giving to candidates, state executive committees, and caucus campaign committees. The limit for individuals giving to PACs also increases from $1,500 to $2,000.

Contributions to candidates and PACs will be indexed for inflation every odd-numbered year based on the Consumer Price Index. The bill also creates a single reporting threshold of $3,000 for campaign finance reports.

The bill is effective June 28, 2017, or 90 days from adjournment sine die of the regular session of the Legislature.

The Kentucky Legislature passed a bill this week to double the limits on contributions from individuals and PACs to candidates, state executive committees, and caucus campaign committees.

Senate Bill 75, according to supporters, provides greater transparency and will make it easier for everyday citizens to compete with dark money while running for office.

Opponents, however, believe the focus should be on curbing dark money and adding more money to the equation will further erode public trust.

Nonetheless, the bill will now be sent to the governor for review.

A bill to raise the limit on what individuals may contribute to campaigns has passed the Kentucky Senate.

Senate Bill 75, sponsored by Sen. Damon Thayer, doubles the limit for individuals giving to candidates, caucus committees, and political parties.

The bill, similar to a measure introduced by Thayer in the past, also creates an additional disclosure report 60 days prior to an election. The bill has been transmitted to the House for consideration.

The Missouri Ethics Commission recently released a series of advisory opinions related to Constitutional Amendment 2. The amendment, passed by the voters in the November election, amended state campaign finance laws.

The new advisory opinions address issues not fully articulated in the constitutional amendment. Opinions confirm: contribution limits do not apply to local candidates; the definitions of continuing and political action committees are substantially the same and are interpreted to be the same; and contribution limits only apply to continuing or political action committees if a contribution to the committee is designated for a specific candidate.

Another opinion finds a limited liability company to be a corporation for the purpose of the corporate contribution ban if the LLC is an eligible entity electing to be classified as a corporation under the federal tax code.

Other opinions relate to the eligibility of foreign corporations contributing to Missouri PACs, the application of the $25,000 per election aggregate limit to be received by a political party, and the applicability of contribution limits to state legislative campaign committees.

Rep. Knute Buehler is set to introduce two bills to restrict pay-to-play politics.

House Joint Resolution 17 seeks to amend the Oregon Constitution to ban corporations, nonprofits and labor unions from making contributions to candidates or political action committees.

House Bill 2914 would require bidders on state contracts to disclose their five greatest campaign contributions in the state.

If passed, the measures would likely face legal challenges on the basis of free speech restrictions.

Vermont has increased contribution limits to candidates, PACs, and political parties.

By statute, contribution limits are reevaluated and adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index. A 2.1 percent increase was implemented allowing statewide candidates and PACs to receive $4,080 per election cycle, state Senate candidates to receive $1,530, and state representative candidates to receive $1,020.

Each limit applies to contributions from a single source or PAC.

This change is effective for two years, and thereafter, increases will apply for the term of two two-year general election cycles.

On Friday, February 3, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published its price index adjustments for expenditure limitations and the federal lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold.

The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold has increased for 2017 from $17,600 to $17,900. This threshold amount is adjusted annually. Federal law requires authorized committees of federal candidates, leadership political action committees (PACs), and political party committees to disclose contributions bundled by lobbyists and lobbyists’ PACs.

Additionally, the FEC published its adjusted Coordinated Party Expenditure Limits for political parties for 2017.

Today, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published the 2017-2018 election cycle contribution limits, which have been indexed for inflation. As required by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, the FEC must adjust certain contribution limits every two years.

The individual and nonmulticandidate PAC contribution limit to federal candidates will remain at $2,700 for both primary and general elections, allowing for a total of $5,400 for a federal candidate. The limits on contributions by individuals to national party committees has increased from $33,400 to $33,900 per calendar year.

Individuals may now contribute $101,700 per calendar year to committees of a national political party for presidential nominating conventions, to committees of a national political party for preparation for and the conduct of election recounts and contests and other legal proceedings, and to committees of a national political party for the construction, purchase, renovation, operation, and furnishing of one or more buildings for party headquarters.

The new limits are effective retroactively to January 1, 2017.

On January 12, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was unable to agree on a policy to clarify when and if a U.S. domestic subsidiary corporation of a foreign national is illegally involved in political activity.

Federal law prohibits foreign nationals from directly or indirectly making contributions, donations, expenditures, independent expenditures, and disbursements in connection with federal, state, or local elections. FEC regulations also prohibit foreign nationals from directing, controlling, or participating in the decision-making process of any person, such as a corporation, with regards to decisions concerning the making of contributions, donations, expenditures, or disbursements in connection with elections in the U.S.

Additionally, the FEC was unable to reach an agreement on the creation of a safe harbor for political committees to accept corporate contributions deemed not to have come from foreign national sources.

In response, Vice Chair Caroline C. Hunter and Commissioners Matthew S. Petersen and Lee E. Goodman issued a statement.

A previous attempt to reach an agreement on this issue in September also failed.

Constitutional Amendment 2, a reform measure approved in November, is facing a second legal challenge in federal court from plaintiffs who claim the amendment unconstitutionally restricts free speech and association.

The suit was filed by Farmers State Bank and Herzog Services, with additional plaintiffs including the American Democracy Alliance, Missourians for Worker Freedom, Freedom PAC, the Free and Fair Election Fund, and John Elliott, a citizen. Plaintiffs contend the amendment’s contribution restrictions impermissibly prohibit corporate (including nonprofit) contributions in ballot measure and judicial retention campaigns.

A separate suit was filed by the Association of Missouri Electrical Cooperatives earlier in December.