Lobbying

Missouri: “With Lobbyists, Missouri Lawmakers Golf and Dine Far from Jefferson City” by Eli Yokely for PoliticMo.com

Campaign Finance

“Jackson: Senate’s strict rule on donors used once” by Herb Jackson for Bergen Record

California: “Politicians Use ‘Ghost’ Campaigns to Fight Specter of Lost Funds” by John Wildermuth for San Francisco Chronicle

Kansas: “Judicial Retention Elections Becoming More High Profile in Kansas” by Brad Cooper (Kansas City Star) for Wichita Eagle

North Carolina: “Opinion Says Lawmakers Can Raise Money for Political Nonprofits” by Mark Binker for WRAL

Ethics

“GSA Loses Appeal in Firings of Top Officials; Appeals Board Orders Them Reinstated” by Lisa Rein for Washington Post

“Michael Grimm, in a Reversal, Will Resign From Congress” by Jason Horowitz for New York Times

“Republicans Try to Fix Damage Scalise’s 2002 Speech Could Do in 2016” by Jonathan Martin and Jackie Calmes  for New York Times

“U.S. Said to Investigate Sheldon Silver, New York Assembly Speaker, Over Payments” by William Rashbaum, Thomas, Kaplan, and Susanne Craig for New York Times

Procurement

Mississippi: “Task Force: Ban no-bid contracts in Mississippi prison system” by The Associated Press for Gulflive.com

Lobbying

“Dale Mallory Sentenced: ‘Nobody could ever buy my vote’” by Chrissie Thompson for Cincinnati Enquier

Campaign Finance

“The Special Powers of Super PACS, and Not Just for Federal Elections” by Derek Willis for New York Times

“Registration Rule for Political Groups Ruled Too Vague” by Howard Fischer (Capitol Media Services) for Arizona Daily Sun

“Koch-Backed Group Sues Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris Over Donor List” by Melanie Mason for Los Angeles Times

Ethics

“Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance with Attorneys General” by Eric Lipton for New York Times

“State Ethics Agency Faces More Changes” by Christina Cassidy (Associated Press) for Gainesville Sun

“Conviction of Kilpatrick Pal Beasley Likely End of an Era” by Tresa Baldas for Detroit Free Press

“Port Authority Board Debates Ethics Rules as Ex-Chairman David Samson Sues” by Shawn Boburg for Bergen Record

“After Ethics Panel’s Shutdown, Loopholes Live On in Albany” by Thomas Kaplan, William Rashbaum, and Susanne Craig for New York Times

“Rep. Sandra Williams Gets Suspended Jail Time, Fine for Misusing Campaign Funds” by Jeremy Pelzer (Northeast Ohio Media Group) for Cleveland Plain Dealer

“McAuliffe: No fundraising in special sessions” by Travis Fain for The Daily Press

Procurement

“Ex-Mayoral Aide Accused of Trying to Help Firm Get Camera Contract” by Luke Broadwater for Baltimore Sun

Gov. Tom Corbett has signed a bill to curtail pay-to-play politics in state procurement contracts. House Bill 201 prohibits individuals who were employed by an offeror within the previous two years from participating in the evaluation of proposals.

The new law will prevent recently hired government workers from rewarding their former employers with large state contracts.

This provision will go into effect on December 20.

The Internal Services Department in Miami-Dade County has combined the separate vendor enrollment and registration processes into one online vendor registration. The online vendor registration process can be accessed here.

Paper based registrations are no longer accepted.

All registered vendors whose status was “Active” prior to September 15, 2014 will be able to update their existing registration profiles through this portal. An email containing the login information will be sent to each firm currently registered or enrolled. These vendors will only be required to log-in to the portal to establish an online, secure profile. Thereafter, the existing registration records will be available to them online.

Vendors still must return a notarized business entity registration application by regular mail.

Q. Several employees from my organization engage in selling to the states.  Do they have any lobbyist registration or reporting requirements?

A. The answer to your inquiry depends on two things:  first, does the state regulate procurement lobbying, and second, is there an applicable bona fide salesperson exception to the registration requirement.  To determine whether a state regulates procurement lobbying, you can use our Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying.  The regulation of individuals attempting to influence the selection of a vendor has increased significantly, and this trend is expected to continue.

In states where procurement lobbying is regulated, individuals engaging in sales activity may be exempt from the registration requirement where a bona fide salesperson exception exists.  For example, in Maryland, a regular full time employee of a vendor paid to engage primarily in sales activity on behalf of the vendor is exempt from lobbyist registration.  In New York, the exception even extends to sales agents with contracts to represent their clients for a period longer than six months.

Absent an exception, sales employees who meet the lobbyist registration threshold in a state regulating procurement lobbying will be required to register.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(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.

On October 14, 2014, New Jersey will implement State of the Art Requisition Technology (NJSTART), a new eProcurement system designed to simplify the procurement process, drive efficiency, and promote competition. The system’s online business directory will be accessible by all state agencies, suppliers, and local governments. Vendors will be able to create individual profiles, receive email alerts for upcoming procurement opportunities, submit proposals, and access training manuals and reference guides.

NJSTART will replace the 25-year-old mainframe system and will allow vendors to access their profiles in real time at any time of day.

Early enrollment is available for vendors who would like to be properly registered when the new system goes live. Because vendors will only be paid if they are registered in the system, vendors on existing contracts are strongly encouraged to register in the system prior to October.

Elizabeth Bartz is the featured speaker in today’s Public Affairs Council State Procurement Strategies webinar. This presentation is the final installment of the four-part “Strengthening State Government Relations” series and will begin at 2:00 p.m.

You can find details of the webinar on the Public Affairs Council website.

On March 21, the Chicago Board of Ethics posted a summary of its reverse revolving door ruling on the city’s website. The ruling comes from a case brought before the board for the purpose of reviewing the conduct of a department director.

Chicago’s reverse revolving door ordinance prohibits employees or officials from personally participating in a decision-making capacity as to their immediate pre-city employers or clients for a period of two years after joining the city.

The board ruled an employee involved in a procurement process for the city violated the reverse revolving door provision even though he consistently avoided extraneous contact with personnel from his pre-city employer and from its umbrella organization. Simply scoring RFP responses in addition to training or meeting with employees from a pre-city employer or affiliate in the ordinary course of employment constitutes a minor violation.

Lawmakers are considering a bill to block one of the firms seeking to bid on a multibillion-dollar light rail project from winning its bid unless it agrees to pay reparations to Holocaust victims. Delegate Kirill Reznik co-sponsored House Bill 1326 to block Paris-based Keolis from winning a contract worth $6 billion for the state’s Purple Line project.

Keolis is a subsidiary of the government-owned French railway Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF), which has admitted transporting about 76,000 Holocaust victims to concentration camps in Nazi-occupied France.

The bill would expand a 2011 law requiring companies to disclose involvement in transporting victims during the Holocaust.

Lobbying

“K Street gears up for Hillary” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Groups Try to Mute the Comcast Lobby | K Street Files” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

Louisiana: “Former Jindal aide Rainwater looks to lobbying, consulting” by Michelle Millhollon in The Advocate.

New Jersey: “Lobbying expenditures climbed over $60 million in 2013, report finds” in PolitickerNJ.

Campaign Finance

“New Challenges to Campaign Finance Regulation” opinion piece by David Friedman in The Stanford Daily.

New York: “Women stump for campaign finance reform” by Casey Seiler in the Capitol Confidential.

Wisconsin: “Walker says he’s not focused on Republican bills affecting campaign donations, spending” by Scott Bauer (Associated Press) in The Republic.

Ethics

California: “Senate Democrats proposing revamp of campaign, gift laws” by Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times.

Campaigns and Elections

“Thought the Senate map was set?” by Jessica Taylor in The Hill.

“2014 Governors Races: A Look at the Too-Close-to-Call Contests” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

South Carolina: “Cheers! SC Bill Aims to Lift Booze Ban on Election Day” by Drew MacKenzie in Newsmax.

Procurement

“Bringing Innovation to Procurement” by Justin Brown in Government Technology.

SB12, signed into law September 2013, goes into effect today. The bill amends the state procurement code and makes changes to procurement preferences, contract awards, small purchase procedures and thresholds, minimum competition requirements, methods of bid submission, vendor registration requirements, and applicable definitions.

Vendors may contact Chief Procurement Officer Jason Soza with any questions concerning the bill. Additionally, a summary of all changes can be found on the Department of General Services website.

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday, February 4, to pursue outsourcing the enforcement of political ethics to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). Officials will ask the state Legislature to authorize the FPPC to enforce county ethics ordinances.

The unanimous vote was in response to a 2013 grand jury report titled, “A Call for Ethical Standards: Corruption in Orange County.”

Supporters of the approach cite San Bernardino County, which recently contracted with the FPPC to audit county campaigns and to prosecute ethics violations. The grand jury’s proposal would also give an independent authority the power to recommend ordinance changes concerning conflicts of interest, gifts, contract procurement, campaign finance, and lobbying.

The State of Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget –Procurement is holding a seminar on Contracting with the State of Michigan. It will be held January 23, 2014 from 2:00pm—4:30pm at Constitution Hall, 525 West Allegan Street, Lansing MI 48933.

Topics to be addressed include finding bid opportunities, where to register as a vendor, researching upcoming solicitations, common mistakes made when writing a proposal, rules and guidelines for state contracts, purchasing preferences, and bid solicitation structures.

Interested parties can register here.

Saskatchewan Energy and Resources Minister Tim McMillan is spearheading an effort to overhaul the disadvantageous procurement practices of other Canadian provinces. Specifically, McMillan wants to see the preference for local suppliers abolished, which he believes is in violation of trade obligations between provinces. In Ontario, for example, a local company would be awarded a contract even if its bid was slightly higher than the bid of a non-Ontario company.

A preliminary legal opinion exists on the issue. A final legal opinion is needed to resolve the issue, and before taking the concern to a final resolution panel, the accusing province must inform the offending province of its alleged violation and give an opportunity to correct the practice.

McMillan, along with about two dozen Saskatchewan companies, has asked for action from the government.