On July 27, a bill was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives to prevent the firing of a director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) without cause.

House Resolution 3462, The Office of Government Ethics Independence Act, would amend federal law by clarifying that the director of the OGE may only be removed for the neglect of duty or instances of wrongdoing. It would also require the president to provide Congress with 30 days advanced notice of his or her intent to fire the director and to inform Congress as to the reasons for the action taken.

On July 19, Walter Shaub Jr. resigned as director from the OGE. Shaub, in his position as the director, had repeatedly questioned various possible conflicts of interests of President Trump and of members of the president’s White House staff. The current acting director of the OGE is David Apol, who was selected by President Trump to replace Shaub until a permanent director is announced and subsequently confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Lobbying

New York: “De Blasio Ally Didn’t Register as Lobbyist Despite Big Push for a Donor” by William Neuman for New York Times

Ethics

“Manafort Agrees to Turn Over Notes That Could Provide New Details on Trump Tower Meeting with Russian Lawyer” by Rosalind Helderman and Karoun Demirjian for Washington Post

“Five Sentenced to Days in Jail for Supreme Court Disruption Over Campaign Finance” by Spencer Hsu for Washington Post

Elections

“Federal Judge Allows Trump Commission’s Nationwide Voter Data Request to Go Forward” by Spencer Hsu for Washington Post

California: “A New Suit Says Lawmakers Broke the Law When They Changed California’s Recall Election Rules” by John Myers for Los Angeles Times

Virginia: “Transgender Woman Challenges Virginia Bathroom Bill Sponsor” by 2017 Sarah Rankin (Associated Press) for Roanoke Times

Legislative Issues

“In Congress, New Fears and New Protections in Wake of Baseball Team Shooting” by Ed O’Keefe for Washington Post

Procurement

Illinois: “New Details Emerge of Former DCFS Head’s Controversial Contracts, Hires” by David Jackson and Gary Marx for Chicago Tribune

Lobbying

“Cash Surges to Lobby Firms in Trump Era” by Megan Wilson for The Hill

Arizona: “Arizona Legislators Attend Conference with Help from Corporations That Lobby Them at Home” by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez for Arizona Republic

Campaign Finance

Michigan: “GOP Consultant’s Purchase of Michigan Talk Radio Stations Sparks Concerns” by Paul Egan for Detroit Free Press

Ethics

California: “Is Riverside’s Ethics Code Broken? Seven Hearings, $57,000 Later, Some Say Yes” by Alicia Robinson for Press-Enterprise

Florida: “Miami Lobbyist’s Business Made $1 Million Profit on State Anti-Hazing Contract” by Arek Sarkissian for Naples News

South Carolina: “FBI Investigating South Carolina Statehouse Corruption, Could Expand Scope of State Probe” by Andy Shain, Glenn Smith, and Schuyler Kropf for Charleston Post and Courier

Elections

“Local Governments Keep Using This Software – But It Might Be a Back Door for Russia” by Jack Gillum and Aaron Davis for Washington Post

“Ivanka Trump Received at Least $12.6 Million Since 2016, Disclosure Shows” by Rachel Abrams and Jesse Drucker for New York Times

Legislative Issues

Nevada: “20 Years of Term Limits: How the faces of Nevada’s Legislature have changed” by Yvonne Gonzalez for Las Vegas Sun

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is threatening to call lawmakers back to Springfield if he does not receive Senate Bill 1, an education funding reform bill, before noon today.

Legislators already passed the bill but chose not to send it to the governor after Rauner promised to amendatory veto the legislation to remove grant funding for Chicago Public School pensions.

Some lawmakers are seeking ways to avoid convening an expensive legislative session and have, instead, suggested a meeting between legislative leadership and the governor.

Following a brief adjournment on July 3, the Maine Legislature convened for one day on July 20. The Legislature will meet for one additional legislative day on August 2.

The 128^th regular session has been delayed twice due to disagreements on the budget and other topics.

On August 2, lawmakers will consider possible objections of Gov. Paul LePage to any bill or resolution presented to him by the Legislature.

Federal:

Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions
New York Times – Peter Baker, Michael Schmidt, and Maggie Haberman | Published: 7/19/2017

President Trump said the never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.” Trump complained that Sessions’ decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. In an interview with The New York Times, the president accused former FBI Director James Comey of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Trump also took on Robert Mueller, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.

Couple Wants to Make Lobbying Accessible and ‘Good’
Roll Call – Alex Gangitano | Published: 7/13/2017

Less than a year after their wedding, Billy and Callie DeLancey started Lobbyists 4 Good to give the public access to K Street lobbyists. The group uses a crowdfunding platform, which allows anyone to create advocacy campaigns around social issues they care about and start raising money. Anybody who creates a campaign and raises $31,000 within a year gets access to either a lobbyist or a lobbying firm on retainer for six months to work on the issue, or a partnership with other nonprofits in the field. “Long-term, we hope to see as many lobbyists working for the people as there are lobbyists working on behalf of the business community,” Billy DeLancey said.

FEC Contacts with IRS Broke No Rules, Report Says
Bloomberg BNA – Kenneth Doyle | Published: 7/19/2017

The FEC’s inspector general found that agency staffers contacted former IRS official Lois Lerner about tax-exempt groups involved in politics, but the contacts did not violate any rules and were not intended to target conservative groups. The conclusion contradicted suggestions by congressional Republicans and others that FEC and IRS staff deliberately targeted Tea Party and other conservative nonprofit groups. The controversy followed the release of a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which said certain political organizations, primarily conservative groups, received more scrutiny than others when applying for tax-exempt status.

Health Care Has G.O.P. Down. Tax Cuts May Be the Cure.
New York Times – Jeremy Peters | Published: 7/19/2017

With the collapse of the effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, the Republican vision of enacting significant conservative reform fell victim to the intraparty division, dysfunction, and gridlock that one-party control had been expected to eliminate. Now, some of the conservative groups that helped the GOP win control of Washington are increasingly worried their party’s inability to pass ambitious legislation will imperil its chances in next year’s elections. Republicans fear they could be looking at a worst-of-two-worlds scenario in which they have a historically unpopular president dogged by persistent legal and ethical questions, at the same time they remain unable to restore a semblance of functionality to Capitol Hill.

Outgoing Ethics Chief: U.S. Is ‘Close to a Laughingstock’
New York Times – Eric Lipton and Nicholas Fandos | Published: 7/17/2017

The outgoing leader of the federal government’s ethics office warns in a new interview of the ethics crisis created by President Trump, saying he thinks the country is “pretty close to a laughingstock.” Walter Shaub Jr. said the Trump administration had flouted or directly challenged long-accepted norms in a way that threatened to undermine the United States’ ethical standards, which have been admired around the world. Shaub called for nearly a dozen legal changes to strengthen the federal ethics system – changes that, in many cases, he had not considered necessary before Trump’s election.

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama: Gov. Kay Ivey Bans Lobbyists from Executive Branch Appointments
AL.com – Mike Cason | Published: 7/13/2017

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey banned officials in the executive branch from appointing registered lobbyists to serve on state boards and commissions. In an executive order, Ivey said more than 100 registered lobbyists now serve on boards or commissions. The order says lobbyists represent the interests of their clients and employers, rather than the public. Ivey said that creates conflicts-of-interest and undermines the public’s confidence in the government.

California: What Happens to Local News When There Is No Local Media to Cover It?
Washington Post – Paul Farhi | Published: 7/17/2017

In many respects, East Palo Alto, California, is a “news desert,” a community overlooked, if not entirely ignored, by the media. It is one of thousands of towns across America in which community reporting is shrinking and sometimes disappearing. The biggest factor, according to study of the phenomenon, are cutbacks, consolidation, and closures of daily and weekly newspapers, the traditional lifeblood of local reporting in the U.S. The pressures on local news outlets have been building for years, driven by the recession and the disruption caused by the shift to digital media.

Colorado: What Does $80 Million Buy Oil and Gas Interests? Voter Profiles, Door Knocking and Influence at Local and Statewide Levels
Denver Post – Christopher Osher | Published: 7/16/2017

The oil and gas industry has spent more than $80 million in Colorado over the past four years to shape public opinion and influence campaigns and ballot initiatives. That political muscle came into play recently when the industry successfully lobbied to defeat legislation tightening regulations in the wake of a fatal home explosion investigators have blamed on a severed gas pipeline. The new approach has been broad, sustained, and effective in its reach, according to interviews and a review of industry documents, campaign finance records, and public remarks by an industry consultant who helped develop the strategy.

Florida: Corey’s Ties to Others in FBI Probe Run Deep
Tallahassee Democrat – Jeffrey Schweers | Published: 7/14/2017

Lobbyist and restaurateur Adam Corey has built a business and political portfolio that has seen its share of success and failure, even as it has drawn him deep into the circle of Tallahassee’s new generation of power elite. Those twin rails of ambition have also drawn Corey into the midst of an FBI probe of the city’s redevelopment agency and several other high-profile entrepreneurs it has done business with in the last five years. Front and center are Corey and former lobbying partner at Unconventional Strategies, Nick Lowe, who arranged meetings between city and county officials and three mysterious developers whom sources say are FBI undercover agents.

Illinois: Emanuel Email Case Nets Five More Lobbying Violations
Better Government Association – Jared Rutecki | Published: 7/19/2017

The Chicago Board of Ethics found that five more people who sought to influence City Hall by contacting Mayor Rahm Emanuel on his personal email broke the city’s lobbying laws. The board also leveled fines of $2,500 against an Emanuel campaign donor and the husband of a city council member that it had found illegally lobbied the mayor without being registered lobbyists. In addition, the board released a list of more than two-dozen lobbyists it said had failed to undergo required lobbyist training and could be subject to fines of up to $750 for every day they are in non-compliance.

New York: Airbnb Fights Back Against Lobby Groups, Demands Info on Their Funding Sources
New York Daily News – Kenneth Lovett | Published: 7/17/2017

The battle between Airbnb and its hotel industry-backed nemesis ShareBetter is intensifying. The hotel listing site plans to file a complaint with the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics alleging the advocacy group failed to register as a lobbyist. The move comes after it was reported that ShareBetter pays for spies who pose as Airbnb customers to expose illegal listings. Airbnb claims that the group failed to register as a lobbyist and disclose its funding and expenses, even though it is legally required to do so.

South Dakota: Revolving Door Rarely Swings for Lawmakers Returning as Lobbyists
Sioux Falls Argus Leader – Dana Ferguson | Published: 7/17/2017

A review identified 14 former South Dakota legislators who made the jump to lobbyist since 2012 after serving in office between 2006 and 2017. Only four registered less than two years after vacating their legislative seats. Under a state law that took effect recently, the required waiting period was extended from one year to two. Supporters said the added buffer time was needed to prevent undue influence of lawmakers returning to lobby their peers. Meanwhile, lawmakers who transitioned to lobbyists more quickly said 12 months is enough of a time cushion.

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 60 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

Lobbying

“Couple Wants to Make Lobbying Accessible and ‘Good’” by Alex Gangitano for Roll Call

Florida: “Lobbyist Give $2,000 to Miami Politician After He Appointed Him to Powerful Board” by Jerry Iannelli for Miami New Times

Illinois: “Emanuel Email Case Nets Five More Lobbying Violations” by Jared Rutecki for Better Government Association

Campaign Finance

“FEC Contacts with IRS Broke No Rules, Report Says” by Kenneth Doyle for Bloomberg BNA

Maine: “Three of Four Casino Campaign PACs Fail to Meet Finance Reports Deadline” by Steve Mistler for Maine Public Radio

Missouri: “Gov. Greitens’ Nonprofit Gives $250,000 in Dark Money to Right-to-Work PAC” by Jason Hancock and Neil Nakahodo for Kansas City Star

Missouri: “Lawmaker from Berkeley Fined $114,000 for Campaign Finance Violations” by Kurt Erickson for St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tennessee: “Nashville Sen. Thelma Harper’s Campaign Report Showed More Money Spent Than in Account” by Dave Boucher for The Tennessean

Elections

“Trump Election Commission, Already Under Fire, Holds First Meeting” by Michael Wines for New York Times

Legislative Issues

“For Republican Party, Governing Is a Long-Term Problem” by Jeremy Peters for New York Times

Lobbying

Colorado: “What Does $80 Million Buy Oil and Gas Interests? Voter Profiles, Door Knocking and Influence at Local and Statewide Levels” by Christopher Osher for Denver Post

Florida: “Corey’s Ties to Others in FBI Probe Run Deep” by Jeffrey Schweers for Tallahassee Democrat

New York: “Airbnb Fights Back Against Lobby Groups, Demands Info on Their Funding Sources” by Kenneth Lovett for New York Daily News

Campaign Finance

“Officials Clash at FEC Over Confronting Russian Influence in 2018 Elections” by Lisa Hagen for The Hill

Ethics

“Outgoing Ethics Chief: U.S. Is ‘Close to a Laughingstock’” by Eric Lipton and Nicholas Fandos for New York Times

“Trump Campaign Is Sued Over Leaked Emails Linked to Russians” by Charlie Savage for New York Times

“State Department Spent More Than $15,000 for Rooms at New Trump Hotel in Vancouver” by Amy Brittain for Washington Post

“Break-In Reported at Office of GOP Senator Considered Swing Vote in Health-Care Bill” by Amy Wang and Ed O’Keefe for Washington Post

Legislative Issues

North Carolina: “Rev. Barber Remains Banned from Legislative Building; Some Protesters Can Return If Invited” by Anne Blythe for Raleigh News and Observer

Lobbying

California: “California Lawmakers Want Data on Lobbyists’ Race, Sexual Orientation” by Taryn Luna for Sacramento Bee

Pennsylvania: “House Approves Bill That Strengthens Lobbying Law” by Logan Hullinger for Altoona Mirror

Campaign Finance

New Jersey: “Last Birdsall Executive Pleads Guilty in Pay-to-Play Scheme” by Andrew Goudsward for Asbury Park Press

North Carolina: “Loophole Lets Lawmakers Take Campaign Cash with Legislation Still Pending” by Laura Leslie for WRAL

Elections

“Trump Jr. Was Told in Email of Russian Effort to Aid Campaign” by Matt Apuzzo, Jo Decker, Adam Goldman, and Maggie Haberman for New York Times

Ethics

“At Private Dinners, Pence Quietly Courts Big Donors and Corporate Executives” by Kenneth Vogel for New York Times

California: “OC Supervisors Seek More Power Over Ethics Commission, By Changing What Voters Approved” by Nick Gerda for Voice of OC

Iowa: “Trial Begins in Lawsuit Alleging Toxic ‘Boys’ Club’ at Iowa Statehouse” by Grant Rodgers for Des Moines Register

Legislative Issues

“Blue Cities Want to Make Their Own Rules. Red States Won’t Let Them.” by Emily Badger for New York Times

Texas: “Dallas Wants $8,000 Back from Philip Kingston for Missing Too Many Council Meetings” by Tristan Hallman for Dallas News

The Oregon Legislature adjourned July 7, three days before its July 10 constitutional deadline.

In the final days of the session, lawmakers passed a $5.3 billion package of taxes and fees to fund transportation upgrades and another bill to reduce state spending by $200 million over the next two years.

However, lawmakers failed to pass lobbying reforms introduced at the request of Gov. Kate Brown. Following a flurry of last-minute activity in the House to pass Senate Bill 43, a bill to modify Oregon’s lobbyist registration and reporting requirements, the Senate opted to let the bill die.

On June 30, the North Carolina General Assembly adjourned. The resolution to adjourn has lawmakers scheduled to reconvene in August and September.

The session scheduled for August 3, 2017 will primarily address any veto overrides; however, the adjournment resolution grants lawmakers the ability to use the session to take up measures that got stuck in House and Senate negotiations in the final weeks of the regular session.

The September 6, 2017, session will mostly focus on redistricting.

The adjournment resolution also set the regular session to reconvene on May 16, 2018.

Senate Bill 43, a bill to modify Oregon’s lobbyist registration and reporting requirements, is set for its third reading in the House on July 6.

The bill clarifies certain public officials and persons who provide professional services to entities meeting specified criteria are not exempt from lobbyist registration and reporting requirements. Senate Bill 43 expands current lobbyist exemptions to additionally include elected public officials, certain representatives supervising an entity’s lobbying activities, and individuals who meet with legislative members in a personal capacity.

The measure expands the information a lobbyist must include on a registration statement. The registration must name each political committee the lobbyist advises or controls, each political committee for a candidate or elected official the lobbyist-controlled political committee made political campaign contributions to, and an acknowledgement the lobbyist has read and understands laws and administrative rules governing lobbyists.

Senate Bill 43 requires lobbyist reporting statements to include identification of each topic and each measure lobbied on and will require statements to be filed monthly during the legislative session. The bill also requires the Oregon Government Ethics Commission to conduct random audits of lobbyist reporting statements. The effective date for changes to lobbyist reporting statements is April 1, 2018.

The bill declares an emergency, meaning most provisions will become effective upon passage. Senate Bill 43 was introduced at the request of Gov. Kate Brown and she is expected to sign the legislation if passed by the July 10 constitutional adjournment date.

The New York Legislature’s two-day special session adjourned sine die on June 29, 2017.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the special session to enact legislation extending mayoral control over the city of New York’s school district. The legislation extends city control over the city district for two years.

Barring another special session, the Legislature is set to return in January 2018.

In an attempt to prevent doctors from overprescribing opioids, the Maine Legislature recently passed a bill prohibiting manufacturers or wholesalers, or an agent of either, from offering gifts to health care practitioners.

A “gift,” as it pertains to the Maine Pharmacy Act, will not include samples of prescription drugs to be given to patients for free, items with a total value of less than $50 over a calendar year, payments to sponsors of educational programs, honoraria and payments of expenses incurred at an educational conference or meeting, compensation for research, publications or educational materials, and salaries or other benefits paid to employees.

The bill will become effective 90 days from the end of session.