The Board of Aldermen passed two bills on October 7 to establish campaign contribution limits and clarify gift reporting.

Board Bill 53 limits campaign contributions in city elections to $10,000 per election cycle. Violations could result in 90 days of jail and a $500 fine. If signed by Mayor Francis Slay, the bill would be effective April 6, 2017, just after the spring mayoral election.

Board Bill 126 requires elected officials to report gifts and travel expenses valued at $375 or more when given by interested persons. Violating the reporting requirement would result in docked pay. Currently, the code requires reporting of gifts exceeding $250, but it is not clear whether public officials are reporting gifts as required.

Photo of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis by Daniel Schwen in Wikimedia Commons.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther signed emergency legislation yesterday creating a City Council Ethics Policy. The ethics policy aligns with state ethics law as well as with an executive order signed by Ginther in May 2016.

Ginther’s executive order was immediately effective for executive branch public officials and employees. The new City Council policy has nearly identical provisions on prohibited conduct and financial disclosure, but is applicable to all public officials and city employees.

Effective immediately, public officials and employees may not solicit or accept gifts or employment from anyone doing business with the city. They also must wait at least one year after leaving public service before representing any person or entity before any city department or division with respect to a matter they personally participated in while serving with the city.

Designated officials and employees must also file financial disclosure statements each year. The statements must include a description of each gift, or aggregate of gifts, exceeding $75 from certain sources during the previous calendar year.

Photo of Mayor Andrew Ginther by David Paul on Wikimedia Commons.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission voted unanimously to submit an initiative ordinance to the November 2016 ballot.

The measure would restrict lobbyist gifts, campaign contributions, and bundled contributions.

If passed by voters, the ordinance will become effective January 1, 2018.

Sen. Todd Kaminsky and Representative Charles Lavine have introduced a new bill which would amend the penal law relating to unlawful giving. Senate Bill 8169 would close a loophole allowing public officials to receive or give gifts or benefits in excess of $3,000 simply because of their official position.

The bill does not affect campaign contributions, which are already monitored by the Board of Elections.

The legislation is a response to the recent Supreme Court decision in McDonnell v. The United States, which permits officials to receive lavish gifts so long as the gifts are not exchanged for promises to perform governmental acts.

Q. In what ways are my company and I allowed to get involved in the 2016 national party conventions?

A. The opportunities for individuals and companies to involve themselves in this year’s party conventions are legion, but caution must be exercised to avoid running afoul of the many intersecting laws governing your interaction with the delegates and other officials in attendance as well as the committees putting on the conventions.

Convention delegates and those seeking selection as delegates are subject to the federal contribution rules, which means corporations, labor organizations, foreign nationals and businesses, and federal contractors are not permitted to make contributions. However, those permitted to contribute may do so without limits. Delegates who are public officials are subject to the gifts laws governing the office they hold. In other words, federal officials are subject to federal gift laws, state officials are subject to state gift laws, and local officials are subject to any state and local laws applicable to their office.

Individuals and organizations seeking to become involved with the conventions may contribute to the convention host committees. The host committees are nonprofit organizations set up to encourage commerce in and project a favorable image of the convention city. Organizations and individuals may donate money and make in-kind donations to the host committee to defray the costs of the convention, including costs related to promoting the city and welcoming attendees, providing information and samples to attendees, administrative expenses, providing the use of convention facilities, transportation, law enforcement, hotel rooms, accommodations and hospitality for party site selection groups, and for other convention-related facilities and services.

Convention committees are related to the national party organizations and therefore federal campaign finance laws apply. As a result, direct and in-kind contributions using funds from a corporation, labor organization, foreign nations and businesses, and federal contractors are prohibited. Goods and services may be provided to the national committee in the ordinary course of business. Obviously, it’s quite important to distinguish the host committees from the convention committees. Thankfully, both host committees, the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee and the Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee, use the word “host” in their official names.

The national party conventions represent high profile ways to gain exposure both personally and for your organization. This high profile is also why compliance with the rules governing your dealings with committees, delegates, and attendees is so important.

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(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.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther signed Executive Order 2016-01 on Tuesday, May 10, establishing ethics guidelines for public officials.

Effective immediately, public officials and employees may not solicit or accept gifts or employment from anyone doing business with the city. They also must wait at least one year after leaving public service before representing any person or entity before a department, board, or commission with respect to a matter they personally participated in while serving with the city.

Designated officials and employees must also file financial disclosure statements each year. The statements must include a description of each gift, or aggregate of gifts, exceeding $75 from certain sources during the previous calendar year.

Ginther believes the order will help to improve public opinion of City Hall.

Today, amendments to a Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) conflict-of-interest rule concerning gifts and gratuities take effect. MSRB Rule G-20 includes restrictions limiting gifts to $100 for municipal advisors giving gifts to employees of entities engaged in municipal securities activities. Municipal advisors are also prohibited from receiving reimbursement of entertainment expenses from the proceeds of an offering of municipal securities. The rule is intended to protect against improprieties and conflicts of interest arising when regulated entities give gifts related to the municipal securities or municipal advisory activities of the recipients’ employers.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission has announced two interested persons meetings on May 11 and May 16 to discuss a proposed November 2016 ballot measure that would ask San Francisco voters to place new restrictions on lobbyist contributions, bundling of contributions by lobbyists, and gifts from lobbyists.

The feedback from these meetings will be used in the analysis and recommendations on the proposed ballot measure presented at the May 23, 2016 commission meeting.

Written comments and RSVPs can be sent via email to ethics.commission@sfgov.org.

Former state lawmaker Holli Woodings is leading the campaign for a voter initiative to make large-scale changes to state ethics laws. Changes would include prohibiting political contributions from state contractors as well as cutting contribution limits across the board, banning gifts of more than $50 from lobbyists, and creating a one-year revolving door provision for public officers.

Having collected the required 48,000 signatures in less than two months, Woodings hopes the measure will appear on the November 2016 ballot. Signature collection will continue to be sure enough valid signatures have been gathered before the April 30 deadline.

Meeting today for its annual veto-session, the Virginia General Assembly turned its attention to ethics legislation amendments recommended by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Lawmakers recently passed identical bills, Senate Bill 692 and House Bill 1362, to roll back some of the changes made last year to restrictions on gifts from lobbyists.

McAuliffe proposed tightening the limits further and prohibiting bundling of gifts from multiple sources to avoid the threshold. The Senate, today, voted against adopting those proposals. The governor must now choose between signing or vetoing the bills as passed by both houses.

Photo of the Virginia State Capitol by Anderskev in Wikimedia Commons.

The Honolulu Charter Commission is considering a proposal today to clarify conflict-of-interest provisions for city employees and officials. Current charter provisions prohibit employees and officials from soliciting or accepting any gift, directly or indirectly, if it can reasonably be inferred the gift is intended to influence the officer or employee in the performance of official duties. The new proposal would prohibit only those gifts intended to influence an officer or employee in the performance of official duties and benefiting the official, his or her family, or individuals or organizations with which he or she has a past, present, or future connection.

Proponents argue the proposal creates a clear standard of conduct, while opponents claim the changes would make it more difficult to enforce gift restrictions in the future. It is inherently difficult to prove the intent behind a gift or the existence of a connection with the recipient. The proposal, therefore, will likely result in individuals, namely lobbyists, avoiding penalties. Interestingly enough, several commission members are current or former lobbyists, or work for organizations employing lobbyists.

Gov. Tom Wolf is pushing to extend the range of the gift ban he imposed on executive branch employees after taking office. His plan is to make his executive order a permanent, statutory prohibition and create a similar restriction on gifts to legislators.

While the reception he has received from Democratic lawmakers has been positive, Republicans, who control both houses of the General Assembly, are less eager to make a change. Gov. Wolf has stated he would prefer a complete ban, but is willing to work with legislators on a compromise. With ongoing budget issues, however, ethics reform appears to be taking a back seat for the time being.

The Alexandria City Council enacted a resolution over the weekend to promote greater transparency and ethics guidelines for city officials. The resolution, in part, creates a nine-member committee to draft a code of conduct and ethics pledge for elected and appointed city officials as well as seeks authority from the General Assembly to enact limits, or a complete ban, on gifts to elected officials. As a Dillon Rule state, it is unclear whether the legislature will grant such lawmaking power to the city.

The city attorney’s office must finalize the language of the resolution before the text will be made available to the public.

Photo of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia by ShuminWeb on Wikimedia Commons.

Four ethics bills have passed out of the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee and now move to consideration by the entire House.

These bills include banning statewide elected officials or legislators from working as political consultants while in office, creating a “cooling off” period of at least a full legislative session before elected officials or officials in jobs subject to Senate confirmation may work as lobbyists, requiring public officials to file semiannual reports detailing their personal finances, and reporting any out-of-state travel for official business when paid for by a third party.

Rep. Gina Mitten questioned the effectiveness of the revolving door bill during the committee hearing, asking if the cooling off period was long enough. She advocated having the measure cover legislative staff, requiring elected officials who leave office early to be prohibited from acting as lobbyists until the end of the term, and making the measure become effective as quickly as possible.

Hearings for bills regulating how to handle surplus campaign funds once an official leaves office and the banning of gifts from lobbyists have been delayed due to issues with the drafting of the bills. The committee will take those bills up next week.

Photo of the Missouri Capitol courtesy of RebelAt on Wikimedia Commons.