The topic of a living wage in Washington, D.C. has been revived in the City Council. A new proposal would increase the DC minimum wage to $11.50 per hour by 2016, making the wage one of the highest in the […]
The topic of a living wage in Washington, D.C. has been revived in the City Council.
A new proposal would increase the DC minimum wage to $11.50 per hour by 2016, making the wage one of the highest in the country.
The Council could vote on the measure as early as December.
The D.C. City Council failed to overturn a mayoral veto of The Large Retailer Accountability Act, a bill requiring large retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more to pay their employees a “living wage” of $12.50 per hour.
Seven of the 13 city council members voted to support the override of the veto, which was two votes shy of the nine votes needed for the measure to pass.
Voters also vote to give district spending autonomy
Voters in the District of Columbia participated in a special election Tuesday and chose a familiar face. Anita Bonds held off five challengers to win the council seat she currently occupies. Bonds was chosen to temporarily hold the at-large seat after Phil Mendelson became the council chairman.
Bonds declared victory shortly after midnight and according to unofficial results collected 32 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor, Elissa Silverman garnered 28 percent of the vote.
Turnout was very low for the special election, which was the district’s second special election in the past three years. One voter said, “I didn’t know any of them. But I’m a Democrat. So I voted for – who was it? – Anita (Bonds).”
The voters also passed a ballot measure seeking to give the district autonomy over spending its tax dollars. The measure, which passed with more than 80 percent approval, would allow the district to spend its tax dollars without congressional approval.
The measure will become law unless the United States Congress passes a disapproval resolution and that resolution is also signed by President Obama. The measure is the latest in the long struggle for district citizens to break free from the leash of the federal government.
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.
A former D.C. council candidate and a ward commissioner are submitting a ballot measure which would ban corporate contributions to electoral campaigns if approved by voters this November.
The summary of the initiative states that it will restore the public trust by eliminating the outsized influence corporate money has in D.C. government and elections by prohibiting direct contributions from corporations to elected officials and candidates for public office. The measure would align D.C. with federal law, which bans direct corporate contributions to public officials and candidates.
Proponents of the measure need to collect over 22,000 signatures from registered voters within six months for it to appear on the November ballot.
The exhibit that shows the Washington, D.C. that could have been.
What if the nation’s capitol had been built with a giant bronze chicken on top of it? What if the Washington Monument had been built with a giant statue of the first president standing atop? How about a Lincoln Memorial built as a giant pyramid?
This week’s Highlighted Site of the Week is the National Building Museum’s Unbuilt Washington, the official site for the exhibit that shows you “what might have been” in our nation’s capital.
The proposed pyramid-style Lincoln Memorial.
According to the site: “Unbuilt Washington reveals the Washington that could have been by presenting architectural and urban design projects that were proposed but, for widely varied reasons, never executed. … The physical character of Washington, D.C., that we take for granted today is the unique result of countless decisions, debates, successes, failures, reconsiderations, missed opportunities, and lucky breaks. To tourists and residents alike, the city’s greatest landmarks may seem so appropriate, so correct—it is hard to imagine that they could have turned out completely differently. But nothing in the built environment of Washington [or in any other city, for that matter] is predestined.”
You will find an interactive Google map for the sites of the would-be sites and memorials described in Unbuilt Washington.
Don’t miss the exhibit, which runs from November 19, 2011 – May 28, 2012. Here is the National Building Museum’s Twitter feed and Facebook.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: By a 12-1 margin, the D.C. Council has passed an ethics bill that seeks to increase accountability for council members.
The bill includes provisions to establish a new three-member ethics panel, bar felons from serving on the council or as mayor, and grant powers to the D.C. attorney general to prosecute elected officials accused of ethical misconduct.
The legislation will be sent to Mayor Vincent Gray for his approval.
Draft Seeks to Consolidate and Streamline Other Pending Proposals
The Council of the District of Columbia will soon consider legislation that would establish an independent ethics panel and reduce the amount of money council members can raise to help constituents. Council member Muriel Bowser has crafted draft legislation that seeks to streamline 10 separate reform proposals that have been introduced by council members in the aftermath of several ethics controversies.
The proposal sets up a three-member Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, prohibits lobbyists from offering discounted legal advice to council members, sets limits on how much the mayor and council chairman can accept from donors for transition and inaugural committees, and cuts by half the amount that council members can raise for constituent service funds. The proposal does not impose term limits or prohibit lobbyists from making political contributions as sought by other reform proposals.
Additional Filings Required Ahead of April 3, 2012 Primary
The Council of the District of Columbia has passed the Campaign Finance Reporting Emergency Amendment Act of 2011 which requires increased campaign finance reporting in the year preceding an election, commensurate with the change of the September primary election and the February presidential preference election to the 1st Tuesday in April in an election year.
A political committee supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must file reports of receipts and expenditures in the 7 months preceding the date on which the election is held.
Political committees supporting a candidate or candidates participating in the April 3, 2012 primary election must now file reports of receipts and expenditures on October 10, 2011; December 10, 2011; January 31, 2012; March 10, 2012; and March 26, 2012.
State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.
News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.
The Campaign Finance Accountability and Reform Amendment Act of 2011 establishes reporting requirements to the Office of Campaign Finance for contributions and expenditures related to transitions and inaugurations and prohibits the bundling of corporate contributions.
The Campaign Finance Reporting Amendment Act of 2011 alters the financial disclosure reporting schedule to coincide with the new primary election date of the first Tuesday of April in an election year.
The Government Vehicles and Fleet Management Rationalization Amendment Act of 2011 prohibits the procurement of “luxury-class” vehicles and freezes the current fleet size.
State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides research and consulting services for government relations professionals on lobbying laws, procurement lobbying laws, political contribution laws in the United States and Canada. Learn more by visiting stateandfed.com.
The topic of a living wage in Washington, D.C. has been revived in the City Council.
The D.C. City Council failed to overturn a mayoral veto of The Large Retailer Accountability Act, a bill requiring large retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more to pay their employees a “living wage” of $12.50 per hour.
Voters in the District of Columbia participated in a special election Tuesday and chose a familiar face. Anita Bonds held off five challengers to win the council seat she currently occupies. Bonds was chosen to temporarily hold the at-large seat after Phil Mendelson became the council chairman.
The District of Columbia Board of Elections has announced that a special election will take place on April 23, 2013.
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.
Federal: “Group wants investigation of lobby shop after Owens’s Taiwan trip” by Mike Zapler in Politico.
Federal: “Two SEC Commissioners Could Dramatically Change Campaign Finance” by George Zornick in The Nation. ↬via Eric Brown’s Political Activity Law blog.
A former D.C. council candidate and a ward commissioner are submitting a ballot measure which would ban corporate contributions to electoral campaigns if approved by voters this November.
What if the nation’s capitol had been built with a giant bronze chicken on top of it? What if the Washington Monument had been built with a giant statue of the first president standing atop? How about a Lincoln Memorial built as a giant pyramid?
WASHINGTON, D.C.: By a 12-1 margin, the D.C. Council has passed an ethics bill that seeks to increase accountability for council members.
The Council of the District of Columbia will soon consider legislation that would establish an independent ethics panel and reduce the amount of money council members can raise to help constituents. Council member Muriel Bowser has crafted draft legislation that seeks to streamline 10 separate reform proposals that have been introduced by council members in the aftermath of several ethics controversies.
The Council of the District of Columbia has passed the Campaign Finance Reporting Emergency Amendment Act of 2011 which requires increased campaign finance reporting in the year preceding an election, commensurate with the change of the September primary election and the February presidential preference election to the 1st Tuesday in April in an election year.
State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance. 
District of Columbia Councilman Tommy Wells has announced that he will introduce three ethics reform bills to address recent ethical issues raised in the district council.
