At any given time, more than 1,000 legislative bills, which can affect how you do business as a government affairs professional, are being discussed in federal, state, and local jurisdictions. These bills are summarized in the State and Federal Communications digital encyclopedias for lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying, and can be found in the client portion of the State and Federal Communications’ website.

Summaries of major bills are also included in monthly e-mail updates sent to all clients. The chart below shows the number of bills we are tracking in regards to lobbying laws, political contributions, and procurement lobbying.

Lobbying

“Lobbyists Snag Top Staff Positions on Capitol Hill” by Lee Fang in The Nation.

Tennessee: “Tom Ingram faces possible fine for failing to register as lobbyist” by Tom Humphrey in the Knoxville News.

Texas: “Lobbyist transparency bill sent to Perry” by The Associated Press in the Houston Chronicle.

Campaign Finance

FEC commissioners speak: “Hard truths of campaign finance” opinion piece by Donald F. McGahn, Caroline Hunter and Matthew Petersen in Politico.

“Why Big Money Still Won in 2012” by Jonathan Backer in the Huffington Post.

Alabama: “Bill before House today repeal state limit on corporate campaign contributions; Lawmaker says it’s a ‘pretend’ cap” by Kim Chandler in the Birmingham News.

New Jersey:  “Lawmakers Get Cold Feet About Campaign Finance” by Hank Kalet in NJ Spotlight.

New York: “Carlucci, other senators study plans for campaign finance reform” by Laura Incalcaterra in the Journal News.

Ethics

New York: “Ex-lawmaker to be sentenced in NYC in fraud case” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Daily Star.

Political Advertising

“House Backs Updating Rules on Political Ad Disclosures” by Becca Aaronson in the Texas Tribune.

Government Tech and Social Media

“Ohio City Deploys 2-in-1 Email and Social Media Archiving” by Sarah Rich in Government Technology.

Procurement

“Most Top Contractors Increased Business With Federal Government in 2012” by Eric Katz in Government Executive.

Perhaps the most talked-about piece of legislation this session, Senate Bill 2 was passed unanimously by both houses of the Florida Legislature.

The final ethics bill:

• Prohibits members of the legislature from acting as lobbyists for compensation before an executive branch agency, agency official, or employee for two years after leaving office. The version passed by the House eliminated an original provision preventing legislators from becoming lobbyists or principals of lobbying firms lobbying the legislature;
• Provides for a fine of up to $5,000 for executive branch lobbyists who fail to disclose required material facts as required or knowingly provide false information;
• Allows the Commission on Ethics to investigate whether a lobbyist has made a prohibited expenditure if a complaint is filed; and
• Prohibits vendors from providing gifts to a reporting individual or procurement employee for vendors doing business with the reporting individual’s or procurement employee’s agency.

The ethics bill was a top priority of Senate President Don Gaetz. He called the bill his “proudest moment as a senator.” The bill was sent immediately to Governor Rick Scott, who has seven days to sign or veto the bill.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Board of Supervisors President David Chiu have introduced legislation to better regulate lobbying and campaign finance within the city. The ordinance would amend the Campaign and Governmental Conduct Code to expand the definition of lobbyist and require lobbyists to complete training online.

The lobbying exemption for contractors and their attorneys would be limited to in-house officers and employees. Outside consultants communicating with public officials regarding contract bidding and negotiating would be subject to the registration and reporting requirements of lobbying.

The ordinance would also require the Ethics Commission to publish a guide for campaign contributors regarding contribution regulations and reporting requirements.

The board may begin discussion of the legislation at the next meeting in May.

Lobbying

“K Street’s bounce proves elusive” by Kevin Bogardus and Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“Chamber of Commerce Still Keeping Lobbyists Busy” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.

“Religious Groups Throw Lobbying Cash at Immigration Reform” by Elizabeth Flock in U.S. News & World Report.

Montreal, Quebec: “City asked to investigate undeclared lobbying” by Monique Beaudin in the Montreal Gazette.

Pennsylvania: “Mensch: Improve Campaign Finance, Lobbyist Reporting” in the Lehigh Valley Patch.

Campaign Finance

New York: “Reform does work, New York” editorial piece by Denise Merrill,  the Connecticut secretary of the state and Miles Rapoport, president of Demos and former Connecticut secretary of the state in the Albany Times Union.

Ethics

District of Columbia: “D.C. wraps audit of Gray campaign, doesn’t release findings” by Alan Blinder in the Washington Examiner.

New York: “NY governor replaces head of troubled ethics board with lawyer who represented Bernard Madoff” by The Associated Press in the Washington Post.

Procurement

Ohio: “Franklin County, Ohio, Builds Transparent Procurement System From Scratch” by Colin Wood in Government Technology.

Government Tech and Social Media

“Federal Web Visitors are Coming Via Mobile” by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

Lobbying

Georgia: “Ga. Senate expected to unveil lobbying rules” by The Associated Press in WSAV TV.

Indiana: “Purdue moving to trim its federal lobbying costs” by The Associated Press in the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Ethics

Arizona: “Campaign-finance case against Horne recommended for dismissal” by Lindsey Collom and Craig Harris in the Arizona Republic.

Georgia: “Ethics reform at critical juncture” Chris Joyner and Kristina Torres in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

New Jersey: “N.J. Politics Roundup: House committee investigates Andrews over spending” by Brent Johnson in the Star-Ledger.

Rhode Island: “R.I. ethics panel mulls statute of limitations on complaint filings” by Karen Lee Ziner in the Providence Journal.

Elections

Ohio: “Ohio House panel OKs elections bill” by Michelle Everhart in the Columbus Dispatch.

Procurement

Iowa: “Iowa businesses would get preference on state contracts under bill approved by Iowa Senate” by William Petroski in the Des Moines Register.

From the State Legislatures

“State Legislative Leaders Gather in Washington” by  Jon Kuhl in NCSL’s The Thicket.

Term Limits

Texas: “Senate votes to let voters decide on term limits for statewide officeholders” by Mike Ward in the Austin American-Statesman.

Lobbying

“Howard Berman signs up for K Street job” by Tarini Parti in Politico.

“K Street Files: Under Attack, Gamers Add In-House Lobbyists” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“K Street lobbyists leap to the planet’s defense after asteroid scare” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

Utah: “Legislature to change law on who probes campaign violations” by Robert Gehrke in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Vermont: “Vermont Senate panel delays vote on campaign finance” by Dave Gram in the Burlington Free Press.

Ethics

“Florida Official Resigns in Wake of Gambling Probe” by Cameron McWhirter and Ana Campoy in the Wall Street Journal.

“Fla. charity probe to next focus on campaign money” by Mike Schneider and Gary Fineout in the Miami Herald.

Open Government

“Oversight panel pushes for transparency” by Eric Martinson in Politico.

Kansas: “Senate committee discusses changes to ‘open records’ law” by Stevi Wilson in the Lawrence Journal-World.

North Carolina: “How to bring more sunshine to the NC legislature” by John Frank in the News & Observer.

Procurement

Iowa: “Panel told of revised process for equipment procurement” by Jason Noble in the Des Moines Register.

Legislative Issues

Kentucky: “Ky. lawmakers approve 107 bills during first 28 days of legislative session” by Jack Brammer in the Herald-Leader.

Montana: “Montana lawmakers consider longer term limits” by The Associated Press in the Billings Gazette.

Redistricting

Wisconsin: “New court filing: Documents were deleted from GOP redistricting computers” by Patrick Marley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

There are a number of terrific LinkedIn groups devoted to government relations professionals and to the industry in general. What we found was that there was no group specifically for the discussion of compliance.

We are excited to announce that we are meeting that need by forming the Government Relations Compliance group.

Government relations professionals can discover what colleagues are saying about complying with government rules and regulations for lobbying, grassroots lobbying, political contributions, and procurement.

Join the conversation!

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is presenting the second installment of the Public Affairs Council’s State Procurement Webinar Series. The webinar, “Procurement Prospects: Learning to lobby for government contracts,” will take place today from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST.

Bartz will be speaking on state pay-to-play laws, the effective elements of a pay-to-play compliance program, and current trends in procurement.

According to the Public Affairs Council website:

Not adhering to the rules and regulations for acquiring government contracts could put your entire business at risk. Many of the laws for compliance in the procurement process differ from those commonly followed in other areas of government relations. Part two of this three-part series will cover how to build a sustainable state procurement compliance strategy and how to legally interact with government officials.

A Federal District Court has held Congress may constitutionally bar federal contractors from contributing to candidates, parties, and their committees.

Finding in favor of the Federal Election Committee (FEC), the United States District Court for The District of Columbia granted a summary judgment on Friday, November 2.

In Wagner v. FEC, the Court rejected challenges to the constitutionality of section 441c of Title 2 of the U.S. Code, which prohibits any vendors with contracts with the federal government from making political contributions to federal candidates or political parties.

The case, initially brought by the ACLU, asked the Court to declare the law unconstitutional as applied to individuals who have personal services contracts with federal agencies. Because federal workers who are not contractors may make federal political contributions, while contractors performing the same work may not, the suit argued section 441c violates both the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and the First Amendment.

The Court found no First Amendment or Equal-Protection violations, noting “the dissimilar roles of contractors and employees, moreover, justify the distinct regulatory schemes that the Government has fashioned.”

Lobbying

“Trade groups fear gift ban after the election” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

Florida: “Senate president scolds lobbyists who opposed his candidates” by Mary Ellen Klas in the Tampa Bay Times.

Campaign Finance, Campaigns and Elections

“How the presidential campaigns are spending money, in one chart” by Sean Sullivan in the Washington Post.

“‘Super PACs’ Finally a Draw for Democrats” by Nicholas Confessore in the New York Times.

“Money trouble: Barack Obama faces a cash gap in the final weeks of the campaign” in The Economist.

“Attentive.ly, a Tool to Mine Your Supporters’ Minds, Just Launched” by Miranda Neubauer in TechPresident.

Pay-toPlay

“Goldman Sachs Will Pay $14.4 Million to Settle Pay-to-Play Cases” by Joshua Gallu, Michael McDonald, and Christine Harper in Bloomberg’s Businessweek.

Ethics

“Watchdog Groups Urge House Leaders to Fill Vacancies on Ethics Board” by Janie Lorber in Roll Call.

California: “After shoplifting plea, lawmaker seeks another office” by Michael J. Mishak in the Los Angeles Times.

Maryland: “Alston’s Maryland law license lifted for ethical violations” by David Hill in the Washington Times.

Procurement

“New federal contracting jobs site launches” by Kedar Pavgi in Government Executive.

President Obama has signed an Executive Order “to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not contribute to trafficking in persons.”

The Executive Order, “Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts,” signed yesterday, orders the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council to amend its regulations and implement specific requirements of federal contractors.

For example:

• Vendors will be required to agree to cooperate fully in providing reasonable access to allow audits, investigations, or other actions to ensure compliance;
• Contractors will be prohibited from charging employees recruitment fees;
• Contractors will be prohibited from destroying, concealing, and confiscating an employee’s identity documents, such as passports or drivers’ licenses; and
• Contracting officers will have a duty to notify the government if they become aware of any activities concerning the use of forced labor, trafficking in persons, and other specified illegal activities.

While the order is effective immediately, it will apply to solicitations issued after the FAR Council makes its rules. FAR has six months to realize the regulations.

Campaign Finance
“Ethics czar angers bloggers with proposal to shine light on campaign pay” by Patrick McGreevey in the Los Angeles Times.

“Contributions to PACs in Vt. may be known soon” by Dave Gram (Associated Press) in the Bennington Banner.

Lobbying

Minnesota:  “Lobbyist fined who donated to Davids’ campaign” by Heather J. Carlson in the Post-Bulletin.

Redistricting

Arkansas: “Judges uphold Senate district redistricting” by John Lyon in the Arkansas News.

Elections

Kansas: “Ex-lawmaker named elections official” by The Associated Press in the Lawrence Journal World.

Procurement

“Contractor suspensions and debarments on the rise, says White House” by Charles Clark in Government Executive.

Federal:

Skinny-Dipping in Israel Casts Unwanted Spotlight on Congressional Travel

Text ‘GIVE’ to Obama: President’s campaign launches cell phone donation drive

Twitter’s Role in the Upcoming Conventions

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Higher Lobbyist Fees Approved to Fix Campaign Finance Database

California

San Bernardino County: Contribution limits approved

Florida

Campaign Vendors Say Republican Congressman David Rivera Funded Democrat’s Failed Primary Bid

Illinois

Illinois House Expels Rep. Derrick Smith over Bribery Charge

Minnesota

Donor against Marriage Amendment Will Remain Unnamed

Missouri

Akin Says He’ll Stay in Senate Race, Heightening Tension within GOP

New Hampshire

Most Campaign Money Remains Hidden in New Hampshire

New York

Gifts End in $1.7 Million Deal

North Carolina

Despite Laws, NC Legislators Still Ask Lobbyists for Money

Oregon

Oregon Political Social Scene a Thing of the Past

Pennsylvania

Report Faults Ethics Board: Small staff and lack of authority cited

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.