Nevada Assemblyman Pat Hickey has called for campaign finance, lobbying, and ethic reforms.

Assemblyman Hickey’s recommendations include expanding the reporting of lobbyists’ expenditures to include those made when the legislature is not in session, limiting political contributions to PACs, and creating a ‘cooling off’ period before an ex-legislator may become a lobbyist.

As reported in the Las Vegas Sun, the Assemblyman is also suggesting there be ‘real time’ reporting of political contributions.

Assemblyman Hickey made these recommendations at a news conference and has not yet requested a draft bill for these proposed changes. The Nevada Legislature currently is not in session and not scheduled to meet again until 2013.

More information from the Las Vegas Sun can be found here and here.

Photo of Assemblyman Pat Hickey courtesy of the Nevada Legislature Website.

Campaign Finance

“How Citizens United Is Affecting Campaigns” by Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call.

Massachusetts: “Mass. towns push against Citizens United” by The Associated Press in the Boston Globe.

Nevada: “Assembly GOP leader calls for campaign transparency” by Ed Vogel in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nevada: “Attempt to amend campaign finance not a new concept, but will it work this time?” by David McGrath Schwartz in the Las Vegas Sun.

Lobbying

“White House visitor logs provide window into lobbying industry” by T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post.

“To get a voice in Tallahassee, local governments spend millions on lobbyists” by Tia Mitchell in The Miami Herald.

“NY, 21 states join campaign finance fight” by Matt Gouras (Associated Press) in Newsday.

“Rules of the Game: Advocacy Groups Face New Ad Rules” by Eliza Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

“Feds probe donations to Ohio candidates” by Josh Lederman in The Hill.

“City lobbyists ready for action in Raleigh” by Patrick Gannon in the Star News.

Republican voters will answer whether they want to limit how much lobbyists spend on state lawmakers. State Senator Josh McKoon said party officials have agreed to include the non-binding advisory question on the July 31st primary ballot.

Senator McKoon filed legislation earlier this year that would have set a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and set a limit of $750 for travel, meals, and accommodations for conferences and speaking engagements for legislators. While the bill did not have much support among lawmakers, the ballot question is a chance to survey voter opinion of the issue.

National:

ALEC Memo Instructed Members to ‘Navigate Away’ from Tough Questions

Protesters Disrupt WellPoint Annual Meeting

Federal:

Court Ruling May Force Advocacy Groups to Disclose Secret Donors

Ex-Lawmakers on K Street Avoid ‘Scarlet L,’ Shy Away from Registering as Lobbyists

Gay Political Donors Move from Margins to Mainstream

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona

State Legislator Arrested in FBI Sting

Kentucky

City Paid Louisville Metro Councilwoman’s Grandson While Jailed

Missouri

Rush Limbaugh Inducted into Hall of Famous Missourians

Missouri

Spence Criticized for Handing Out Sports Tickets to Lawmakers

Montana

Judge Strikes Down More Election Laws

New York

Business Lobby Supporting Cuomo Files Late Data

New York

Study: Matching funds up donor diversity in NYC

Tennessee

Tennessee Legislative Event Costs Totaled

Wisconsin

Armageddon in Wisconsin

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

Delaware is now a signature away from adding to its lobbyist reporting requirements. On Thursday, the House passed Senate Bill 185, leaving the bill only a governor’s signature away from becoming a law.

The bill requires lobbyists to report to the Public Integrity Commission the identity of each bill, resolution, or regulation they have lobbied for or against. These reports would be due within five days after the first direct communication a lobbyist makes. The Public Integrity Commission will make the reports available online so that the public will be able to see who is lobbying on each measure going through the legislature.

If the governor signs the bill, which he is expected to do, the law would become effective in 2013.

Photo of Legislative Hall in Dover courtesy of Joshua Daniel Franklin on Wikipedia.

Campaign Finance

New Mexico: “King Appeals Ruling on PAC Donations” by James Monteleone in the Albuquerque Journal.

Lobbying

“Ex-lawmakers on K Street avoid ‘Scarlet L,’ shy away from registering as lobbyists” by Kevin Bogardus and Rachel Leven in The Hill.

“Common Cause complaint: ALEC skirting lobbying laws” by Beth Hawkins in MinnPost.com.

“Sports Lobby Is a Multi-Million-Dollar Enterprise” by Laurie Bennett in First Street.

Phildaelphia, PA: “Blackwell, others fined for campaign violations” by Catherine Lucey in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Washington: “Washington State Public Disclosure Commission adds lobbying data to online database” in the Maple Valley Reporter.

Ethics

Arizona: “State legislator Arredondo indicted in FBI sting” by JJ Hensley, Mary Jo Pitzl, and Craig Harris in The Arizona Republic.

Missouri: “Spence criticized for handing out sports tickets to lawmakers” by Jake Wagman in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Pennsylvania: “Pennsylvania governor, lawmakers report gifts, travel” by John L. Micek in The Morning Call.

From the State Legislatures

Alabama: “Bentley calls special session to address redistricting” by Sebastian Kitchen in the Montgomery Advertiser.

California: “California’s Prop. 28 would let legislative leaders serve longer stints” by Jim Sanders in the Sacramento Bee.

Campaign Finance

“Ads highlight cozy campaign-super PAC relationship” by Beth Fouhy in The Associated Press.

“Sen. McCain huddles with Dems on campaign finance reform” by Alexander Bolton in The Hill.

“Edwards’ campaign finance chairman paid mistress” by Michael Biesecker in Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Judges refuse to block disclosure ruling” by The Associated Press in Bloomberg Businessweek.

“Election decision may force disclosure of secret donors” by Matea Gold in the Los Angeles Times.

Lobbying

“Lobbying firms get big paydays in Tallahassee” by Jim Saunders in The Miami Herald.

“Law firm’s collapse leaves lobbying clients up for grabs” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Ethics

“Ethics Panel Opens Inquiry Into No. 2 Leader in State Senate” by Danny Hakim in The New York Times.

“‘Stunt’ alleged in ethics pursuit” by Casey Seiler in the Albany Times Union.

The new lobbyist registration ordinance in Palm Beach County took effect April 2, 2012. The expenditure report due date is now November 1 of each year, and continues to cover the period from October 1 – September 30.

Electronic registration is now available in addition to paper registration. Registrations now must also include the phone number of the lobbyist and principal, their signatures where both may be made electronically, and the county or municipalities to be lobbied.

The ordinance specifically excludes from expenditure reporting the salaries of the lobbyist and principal, office overhead expenses, and personal expenses for lodging, meals, and travel.

All registrations on file and in effect with the county prior to the ordinance’s effective date remain in full force and effect.

Quebec’s Lobbying Commissioner, François Casgrain, has proposed a major overhaul of the province’s law on lobbying that would expand the number of people required to register as lobbyists. Currently, only people who spend a “significant part” of their time lobbying must register. The proposed changes would require anyone seeking to influence the decision of a public official to register.

Registration would have to be completed by individual lobbyists, ending the practice of employers registering for them. Casgrain wants to expand the enforcement powers of the commission and increase fines for breaking the law. There also would be a blackout on lobbying between publication of a call for tenders on a public contract and the awarding of the contract.

The call for change follows a finding that some parties failed to register as lobbyists during negotiations of a controversial contract award for the still-unbuilt arena.

National:

Crop of College Super PACs Answer Call of Stephen Colbert

Federal:

Super PAC Supporting Romney Rethinks Donations from Federal Contractors

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Bond Firms’ Campaign Gifts Linked to Sales Pacts

Connecticut

Legislature Splits with Malloy over Campaign Bill

Florida

Palm Beach County’s Lobbying ‘Cone of Silence’ Questioned

Georgia

Despite Gift Ban, State Leaders Taking Them

Michigan

SEC Says Kilpatrick Extracted Lavish Gifts

Nevada

Political Favors ‘Just the Way You Do Business Here,’ Lobbyists Say

New Jersey

N.J. Senate Minority Leader Introduces Bill to Expand ‘Pay-to-Play’ to Labor Unions

North Carolina

Democrats Ask for Ethics Review of Tillis’ Office

Oklahoma

FBI Behind Illegal Contributions to Oklahoma Lawmakers

West Virginia

Unpopular Obama: Texas prison inmate gets four in 10 votes in Democratic primary in West Virginia

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

The Chicago Board of Ethics rolled out a new electronic lobbyist registration system on May 1, 2012. Lobbyists can now register online on the Electronic Lobbyist Filing System page.

Electronic registration is voluntary, so lobbyists may still file paper registrations if they choose to do so. For lobbyists who are already registered, they can use the online system to add clients to their registration forms. Registered lobbyists should contact the board of ethics if they need their login information.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto is preparing legislation in response to the alleged pay-to-play scandal at the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office. The bill, AB 404, would require tax agents to register as lobbyists in counties already regulating lobbying.

Tax agents are hired by property owners to persuade appraisers and the assessor that property values are lower than listed. While the bill leaves it up to the counties to craft specific regulations, the draft regulations would require tax agents to register as lobbyists with the county, would forbid them from making campaign contributions to any county elected official, and would also bar them from giving gifts worth more than $50 to county employees.

The district attorney’s office is investigating allegations that one tax agent, Ramin Salari, used contributions to obtain favorable treatment from Assessor John Noguez. A former appraiser, Scott Schenter, claimed to have cut roll values with the expectation that affected property owners would be more likely to donate to Noguez’s campaign.

Lobbying

“Panel discusses effect of campaign and finance reforms on lobbyist spending at St. Peter’s College” by Charles Hack in the Jersey Journal.

“Political favors ‘just the way you do business here,’ lobbyists say” by Joe Schoenmann in the Los Vegas Sun.

Jack Abramoff makes another statement in “Ex-lobbyist: Lawmakers, not lawbreakers, to blame” by Ross Ramsey in the San Angelo Standard-Times.

Campaign Finance

Connecticut: “Legislature splits with Malloy over campaign bill” by Mark Pazniokas in the Connecticut Mirror.

Louisiana: “Senate moves Jindal ethics bills” by Marsha Shuler in the Baton Rouge Advocate.

New Hampshire: “NH Senate considers campaign reporting today” by Grant Bosse in the New Hampshire Watchdog.

New Hampshire: “Campaign finance bill targets nonprofits” by Ted Siefer in the Union Leader.

Vermont: “State senator resigns from committee over campaign finance bill” by Olga Peters in The Commons Online.

Super Pacs

“Dem pollster: Independents want candidates to address money in politics” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Insight: Super PACS: Follow the money – if you can” by Marcus Stern, Kristina Cooke and Alexander Cohen (Reuters) in the Chicago Tribune.