Today, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) published its price index adjustments for expenditure limitations and lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold in the Federal Register. The lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold remains unchanged for 2016 and continues at the 2015 rate of $17,600. 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 2016.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has reversed a lower court ruling and rejected the challenge from Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) concerning a Federal Election Commission (FEC) rule about reporting of electioneering communications or advertisements picturing or naming candidates within 60 days of an election. In doing so, the federal appeals court upheld the FEC rule requiring public reporting only of donors who earmark contributions for the ads.

Van Hollen and other campaign finance disclosure advocates argued the rule was too narrow and did not conform to a 2002 law prohibiting “soft money” in federal elections.

President Obama could soon issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose political campaign contributions, according to the New York Times. On January 19, White House officials said the president is “seriously considering” the order, as reported by the paper. The order has been pushed by many outside groups and by Democratic members of congress, who have in the past, and as recently as January 7th, presented the president with letters urging executive action.

Those opposed to an executive order argue, among other things, disclosure requirements encroach on free speech and are politically motivated. “The real goal of the disclosure proponents is to harass, intimidate and silence those with whom they disagree,” Blair Latoff Holmes, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is quoted as saying in the Times.

On January 19, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal arguing against a federal law banning political contributions to candidates from federal contractors. Last year, in Miller v. Federal Election Commission, formerly Wagner v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld the constitutionality of the law barring contractors from contributing to candidates, parties, and candidates’ and parties’ committees.

Plaintiffs had challenged the constitutionality of 52 U.S.C. § 30119(a)(1), which prohibits any vendors with contracts with the federal government from making political contributions to federal candidates or political parties. The plaintiffs had asked the court to declare the law unconstitutional as applied to individuals who have personal services contracts with federal agencies. Because federal workers who are not contractors may make federal political contributions while contractors performing the same work may not, the suit argued the law violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and the First Amendment.

Photo of the United States Supreme Court by UpstateNYer on Wikimedia Commons.

On January 19, U.S. Congressman David Jolly introduced legislation prohibiting members of the U.S. Congress from personally asking people for money. The Stop Act would ban federal officeholders from directly soliciting political contributions, but would allow them to attend fundraisers and speak to donors. As noted in Jolly’s press release, this prohibition is similar to rules controlling some state judicial elections barring candidates from personally asking for contributions. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld a comparable Florida Statute.

“It’s time members of Congress stop asking people for money and start doing their jobs.  Let’s close the integrity gap and the performance gap of our elected officials by eliminating their fundraising solicitations and put them back to work,” said Jolly in his press release.

Among the riders in the federal 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill passed into law on December 18, 2015, were two provisions affecting campaign finance. Congress explicitly prohibited the Internal Revenue Service from making new rules concerning the political speech or activity of 501(c)(4) organizations. The legislation also prohibits the Securities and Exchange Commission from issuing regulations requiring corporations to disclose their political activity to their shareholders.

The Senate’s version of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2016, Senate Bill 1910, contained language altering the law regarding coordination between candidates and political parties. However, opposition from both parties prevented this rider making it in the final passed bill. The final bill also did not include a rider from House Resolution 2995, the House’s version of the bill, which would have barred the use of funds to recommend or require any entity submitting an offer for a federal contract to disclose specified political contributions as a condition of submitting the offer.

Photo of the United States Capitol by Martin Falbisoner on Wikimedia Commons.

Changes to the federal campaign finance laws may be included in the looming appropriations bill Congress considers this month.

The Senate version of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2016, Senate Bill 1910, contains language altering the law regarding coordination between candidates and political parties.

House Resolution 2995, the House’s version of the bill, contains three riders concerning campaign finance. One of its provisions would prohibit the IRS from using funds provided by the bill to determine a church is not exempt from taxation for participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign unless the IRS Commissioner consents, Congress is notified, and the determination is effective no earlier than 90 days after congressional notification. Another section of the House bill prohibits the SEC from using funds provided by the bill to require the disclosure of political contributions, contributions to tax exempt organizations, or dues paid to trade associations. A further change to campaign finance law included in the House version of the appropriation bill would bar the use of funds to recommend or require any entity submitting an offer for a federal contract to disclose specified political contributions as a condition of submitting the offer.

Rep. Paul Ryan has been elected as the new Speaker of the House. The seat was left vacant after John Boehner’s resignation.

The vote took place this morning on the Hill, where Ryan needed 218 votes to win the majority. He received 236 votes, while Rep. Nancy Pelosi received 184 and Rep. Daniel Webster received 9. Three votes for unofficial candidates were cast, including Rep. John Lewis, Rep. Jim Cooper, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In his speech, Ryan acknowledged the vast difference between Republicans and Democrats, but encouraged unity to fight problems head on. He also reminded Congress they work for the American people.

Ryan is the 62nd Speaker of the House.

Q. We recently hired a lobbyist that is coming to our company directly from spending a number of years as a Senate staffer.  What restrictions should we be aware of as her new employer in terms of who she can contact on the Hill?

A. Both the House and the Senate have post-employment restrictions for certain individuals leaving their employment on the Hill.  Importantly, the House and Senate ethics committees will discuss with the staffer prior to his or her departure the restrictions under which he or she must operate.  That said, as her new employer you should definitely be aware of what restrictions are applicable to her situation so neither the company nor she violates the rules.

For the Senate, senior staff (currently defined as individuals whose annual salary is $130,500 or more) are subject to a one-year, Senate-wide ban.  Essentially, senior staff leaving the Senate may not lobby the entire Senate for one year following their departure – this includes lobbying contact with personal, committee, and leadership offices.  Staff making less than $130,500 a year are subject to a one year ban from lobbying their particular office – whether personal, committee, or leadership office.

The House restriction for senior staff is a one year ban from lobbying the particular office for which the former staffer worked and there is no ban in the House for staffers making less than $130,500.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: experts@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner will resign and give up his seat in Congress at the end of October, according to his aides. He is currently under intense pressure from conservatives to defund Planned Parenthood as he attempts to keep the government open through the end of the year. Several members of the conservative base vowed not to vote for a bill if it did not defund the organization, and some are on a path to remove him as speaker.

Since becoming speaker in 2011, Boehner has struggled to navigate politically with a polarized Congress and its increasingly conservative Republican members. Boehner’s announcement comes just a day after he had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Capitol. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is expected to serve as the next speaker.

President Obama marked Labor Day by signing an Executive Order requiring federal contractors to offer their employees up to seven days of paid sick leave per year. The order also allows employees  to use paid sick leave to care for themselves,  a  family member, a domestic  partner, or another loved one, and grants leave for absences resulting from domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, according to a White House press release.

The While House hopes the Executive Order will set a standard prodding “lawmakers, private employers, and state and local governments to expand their leave policies,” according to the New York Times. The order’s requirements will take effect with new contracts starting in 2017.

On August 31, in a column on the Huffingtonpost.com, Hillary Clinton announced her support for a bill to limit the revolving door between the financial sector and the federal government.

In the post, Clinton and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the sponsor of the bill, specifically emphasized the bill would prohibit private sector employers from offering bonuses to employees when they leave to join the government.

House Resolution 3065, the Financial Services Conflict of Interest Act, also increases the prohibition on lobbying the federal government from one to two years, expands the definition of lobbying contact to include any lobbying activities and strategy, and requires senior financial service regulators to recuse themselves from any official actions directly or substantially benefiting the former employers or clients for whom they worked in the previous two years before joining federal service. The press release for the bill can be found here.

Photo of Hillary Clinton by Hillary for Iowa on Wikimedia Commons.

A new bill entered in the U.S. Senate would permanently ban members of both houses of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists. The legislation was introduced on August 5 by Sens. Michael Bennet and Al Franken.

The Senate bill, entitled the Close the Revolving Door Act of 2015, additionally increases certain lobbying bans for senior Senate and House staff members from one year to six years after leaving the job. Another change the bill would implement is requiring lobbying firms to disclose paid consultant services by any employee who is a former senator or representative and certain former congressional staffers who made at least $100,000 in any one year, worked for four or more years as a staff member, or held a senior staff position in Congress. The bill also increases the maximum penalty for violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act, bans lobbyists from joining congressional staffs or committee staffs that they lobbied for six years, and creates a website to provide searchable disclosures on lobbying activities.

“The revolving door between Congress and the lobbying industry is a problem that needs fixing, because our democracy can’t function the way it’s supposed to when big interests have more power than the American people,” Franken said in a press release.

Federal contractors may be required to provide “paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative,” according to an article published in today’s New York Times.

The paper says it obtained a confidential draft of a presidential executive order, marked “pre-decisional and deliberative,” requiring all federal contractors and subcontractors to provide leave for illnesses and for care of “a child, parent, spouse, domestic partner ‘or any other individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.’” The White House has refused to comment on the draft document.