The North Dakota Senate approved House Bill 1521 on Wednesday, April 17.

The bill would implement the state’s new ethics rules established by the voter’s passage of Measure 1 last year.

House Bill 1521 prohibits a lobbyist from giving, offering, soliciting, initiating, or facilitating a gift over $60 to a public official.

A lobbyist will also be required to file a report with the secretary of state if they spend more than $200 on lobbying.

The bill has been returned to the House for consideration before the end of the legislative session on April 26.

Gov. Matt Bevin signed House Bill 81 on April 9.

The bill expands and updates the definitions of officer and public servant. House Bill 81 also defines salaried for the purposes of gift restrictions. The bill becomes effective June 28.

Gov. Bevin also vetoed House Bill 358 aimed at providing pension relief for Kentucky’s quasi-governmental entities.

He announced that an extraordinary session will be called prior to July 1.

New Gift Laws, Campaign Finance, Elections and Ethics; four stories from around the country you don’t want to miss!

The Arkansas Ethics Commission clarified a gift exception in Advisory Opinion No. 2019-EC-001.

A local lobbying firm wants to hold a 20^th anniversary event and invite public officials. In turn, the firm requested more information regarding the exception permitting anything to be given to public officials if it is also readily available to the general public.

The commission stated the exception does not apply to an event where invitations are issued to friends, family members, clients, former clients, and business associates only.

In order for an event to be readily available to the general public, the general public would have to be made aware of the event’s existence.

For the event to qualify for the gift exception, an entity could make an announcement of the event on widely-used social media platforms and through traditional media, such as a state-wide newspaper, to make sure the general public knows the event is not limited to invitees.

Additionally, holding an event at a venue open to the public, like a park or convention center, would help meet the gift exception.

The state Senate introduced two bills amending political contributions and gift disclosure.

Senate Bill 215 limits political contributions from contractors to a candidate to $2,400 per election and contributions to a business entity or political action committee supporting a candidate to $5,000 per election.

In addition, the state Senate also introduced Senate Bill 216 requiring public officials to disclose gifts from a friend with a value of $250 or more.

If passed, both bills would go into effect within 60 days.

Rep. John Kavanagh introduced House Bill 2038 to the Arizona Legislature.

The bill defines “hosted event” to include an event or function where one or more state officers or employees are invited and attend organized and paid for by a principal.

Event or function includes a party, dinner, or luncheon, but does not include an athletic event or other entertainment.

A hosted event must be reported by the actual cost incurred for food, beverage, and other tangible benefits but do not include the overall sponsorship amount incurred by the principal or lobbyist.

Opponents to the bill say only reporting the food and beverage amount and not including the price of the ticket to the event is misleading.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an executive order superseding an ethics policy implemented by his predecessor, former Gov. Eric Greitens.

Greitens’ first act as governor in 2017 was to issue Executive Order 17-02, banning executive branch employees from accepting lobbyist gifts and prohibiting governor’s office personnel from lobbying the executive branch if they leave their jobs.

Parson’s Executive Order 18-10 now bans employees of the Office of the Governor from acting as an executive lobbyist until the end of the administration in which he or she served.

The order also alters what gifts executive branch employees are banned from accepting from lobbyists, opening the door for “educational” materials such as books and souvenirs valued at less than $10.

The executive order became effective as of November 20, 2018, when it was signed.

On November 15, the California Fair Political Practices Commission approved proposed regulations to make biennial cost of living adjustments to campaign contribution and gift limits that will apply from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2020.

The proposed regulations would change the gift limit from $470 to $500 and make increases to campaign contribution limits for candidates.

Adjusted contribution limits for gubernatorial candidates would increase from $29,200 to $31,000.

City of San Diego voters approved Measure L to limit lobbying and campaign activities of elected city officers.

The measure increases the restriction on lobbying by former city officials from one to two years.

The measure also eliminates the city elective officer exception to receiving honoraria prohibited by state law.

A public interest law firm challenged an executive order banning lobbyists from giving anything of value, including written materials, to executive branch officials.

The Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based nonprofit libertarian law firm, filed suit against Gov. Mike Parson and members of the Missouri Ethics Commission for enforcing Executive Order 17-02, which expands the definition of gift to include publications addressing public policy issues.

The Institute for Justice claims that by prohibiting the distribution of two of its public policy publications to government officials, the executive order violates the law firm’s First Amendment right to free speech. The law firm also claims the executive order violates its right to equal protection by prohibiting only lobbyists from sharing publications with state officials of the executive branch.

The order was issued on January, 9, 2017, by former Gov. Eric Greitens.

On November 15, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) will consider proposed regulations to make biennial cost of living adjustments to campaign contribution and gift limits that will apply from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2020.

The proposed regulations would change the gift limit from $470 to $500 and make increases to campaign contribution limits for candidates. Adjusted contribution limits for gubernatorial candidates would increase from $29,200 to $31,000 per person.

The FPPC is accepting written comments on the proposals until November 13, 2018.

On June 11, several significant amendments to Alberta’s provincial lobbying law took effect when the Lobbyists Amendment Act, 2018, came into force by Royal Assent. The most substantial change in the existing Lobbyist Act is the reduction of an organizational lobbyist’s time threshold from 100 hours annually to 50 hours annually.

For the purposes of determining whether lobbying amounts to 50 hours annually, time spent lobbying includes time spent preparing for communication and communicating with a public office holder. Contingency lobbying is now prohibited under the Act.

Another change to the law amends the definition of lobbying to statutorily include grassroots communication as a form of regulated lobbying requiring registration. Grassroots communication does not include communication between an organization and its members, officers or employees or between a person or partnership and its shareholders, partners, officers or employees.

A lobbyist gift ban has been enacted and reads as follows, “Lobbyists are prohibited from giving or promising any gift, favor or other benefit to the public office holder being, or intended to be, lobbied that the public office holder is prohibited from accepting or that, if given, would place the public office holder in a conflict of interest.”

An additional exemption to the requirement of registering as a lobbyist was added for individuals who are recognized as elders by their aboriginal community.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf announced his Citizen First ethics reform plan this week. Gov. Wolf, who took office in 2015, has been a proponent of broad ethics and government reform.

The Citizens First ethics reform plan includes a gift ban for all public officials. Gov. Wolf already banned members of his administration from accepting gifts but is seeking a broader permanent ban to stop politicians from accepting unlimited gifts.

Along with a gift ban, the plan includes campaign finance reform creating contribution limits, restriction on political action committees, and heightened reporting requirements.

The proposed campaign finance reform would also include pay-to-play provisions requiring the disclosure of campaign contributions made by entities seeking contracts with the state.

The Missouri Senate made changes to the lobbyist gift ban passed by the House last month. The bill must pass the Senate before returning to the House for debate.

The original version banned most gifts from lobbyists, while the Senate’s version allows officeholders to accept up to $40 of gifts per day. The amended bill would also allow officials to reimburse lobbyists for gifts exceeding $40 and permit lobbyists to cover a legislator’s constituent expenditures.

If a lawmaker accepts an event ticket from a lobbyist, however, the bill requires the lobbyist to attend the event with the lawmaker.

While the Senate’s version of the bill is less stringent than the House version, it is still considered a step towards ethics reform.

Current law permits elected officials to receive unlimited gifts of any value.