President-elect Joe Biden’s newly formed inauguration committee will not be accepting contributions from registered federal lobbyists, foreign agents registered under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or from fossil fuel companies, their executives, or PACs organized by them.

The Biden Inaugural Committee, a 501(c)(4) non-profit entity named PIC 2021, Inc., will still accept contributions from American corporate entities and associations to fund the celebratory events of the January 20, 2021 inauguration.

The contributions, which are not tax deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes, will also be accepted from labor organizations, U.S. citizens, and lawfully admitted permanent residents.

An inaugural committee is responsible for activities connected with the inaugural ceremony, except for the swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol and a luncheon honoring the president and vice president.

Contributions to an inaugural committee are not subject to any contribution limits.

Missouri House Democrats have introduced a bill to require future governors to publicly disclose donations for gubernatorial inauguration activities.

Lawmakers hope to eliminate the appearance of corruption by allowing Missourians to see how much money corporations and lobbyists donate to fund inaugural events.

Recently, Gov. Eric Greitens issued a list of benefactors who contributed to his inaugural celebration but refused to confirm how much was contributed by each donor and how much money was actually spent.

He formed a nonprofit to raise money for the inauguration and the contributions, therefore, were not subject to state campaign finance laws.

The inauguration of the 45th President of the United States was held on Friday, January 20, promptly at noon as stated in the US Constitution. Regardless of your thought about the person, the event happened.

State and Federal Communications took the opportunity to bring clients, colleagues, and friends together at our Inaugural Appreciation Party. It was a great time to watch the Inauguration on any one of 20 televisions inside the Penn Quarter Sports Tavern. Thanks to Mike Brand, owner, and John Scheer, general manager, who helped transform a sports bar into a totally All-American News Pub for us to keep track of activities all throughout the day.

One group of attendees were the students from Kent State University Washington Program in National Issues studying in DC this semester. I am a big fan of the program because I was assistant director of it when I was a graduate student in 1982. These students had a great time—who wouldn’t with all-you-can-eat/drink all day—but more important it was an opportunity to speak to them.

I do remember college, and I remember college at Kent State University where there are a lot of liberal students. I emphasized I was not having a celebration of our new President, but the process and no better place to be but in DC to learn about working with people on the other side of the aisle.

And, that my friends, is the point of this column. I believe it is so important to help students understand there are “other sides” of opinions and thoughts and there are tons of “other sides” for them to learn in Washington, DC. We do not have to agree 100 percent of the time. We do not even have to be friends. We do need to be collegiate. Remember, Republican President Ronald Reagan ate dinner with Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill every Sunday.

Sigh…those were good times.

It has been a busy month.  The future will be very interesting.

Thank you.

Elizabeth Z. Bartz

President and CEO
@elizabethbartz

President-Elect Trump’s Inauguration is estimated to cost around $200 million. The official events, including the swearing-in ceremony, security, and the parade, will be paid for by the federal government.

Security is the biggest expense, accounting for almost half of the budget. The inaugural ball and other festivities will be covered by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which raises money through private donors. The committee has raised a record $100 million-plus, which is almost double the committee for President Obama raised in 2009.

Inaugural committees have few regulations, but each administration sets their own rules and limits on donations. President George W. Bush capped the amount each individual and corporation could donate. In 2009, Obama allowed individual gifts up to $50,000, but banned donations from lobbyists and corporations.

Trump did not place restrictions on donations from individuals, but his committee has refused donations from federal lobbyists and capped corporate contributions to $1 million.

If you are a government relations professional looking for information about the upcoming 36 Gubernatorial Inaugurations, State and Federal Communications has got you covered!
Watch the video below to see what our research team provides for you in this definitive Inaugurations Guide.

Click here to sign up for your own Inaugurations Guide.

The research team at State and Federal Communications has developed an Inaugurations Guide to help provide our clients with the most up-to-date changes. The guide is based on the November 2014 elections and provides names of the governors, inauguration dates, rules about providing tickets to events, and contributing to inaugural committees.

This guide provides you with yet another compliance reference tool to effectively handle the changing legislation as it pertains to government affairs. For non-subscribers you can gain access to the guide by clicking on the following link, Inaugurations Guide.