Both houses of the New York state Legislature recently passed a bill aimed at lowering procurement costs for municipalities. Senate Bill 5525 authorizes state municipalities to piggyback off existing public contracts entered into by the federal government, any state, or any municipalities within those states.

New York state municipalities will still have to abide by state contracting rules when utilizing this piggybacking ability. Therefore, the original contract must have utilized competitive bidding when necessary and the municipalities must still comply with the laws regarding minority and women owned businesses as well as any preferred source requirements.

The bill will now head to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s desk where he will decide whether to sign it into law or veto it.

Photo of the New York State Capitol by UpStateNYer on Wikipedia.

Sarah Kovit is a Compliance Associate at State and Federal Communications who is a fluent Spanish speaker and who has experience working with Puerto Rican officials and tracking newly enacted legislation. She is here to assist you with your Puerto Rican compliance needs.

According to Kovit: “Navigating the lobbying, political contribution, and procurement lobbying laws in Puerto Rico can be tricky. English copies of newly enacted legislation are rarely available and English language assistance with your questions is not always available. In the last year alone, Puerto Rico has passed a new election code, updated the PAC reporting structure, and created a pay to play law which affects organizations conducting business in Puerto Rico.”

You can contact Sarah Kovit at skovit@stateandfed.com.

The 18 month time-limit prohibiting political contributions under New Jersey’s pay-to-play law starts from the time when bids for a request for proposals (RFP) are submitted, a court has ruled.

The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey affirmed a decision prohibiting Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. from contracting with the New Jersey Schools Development Authority because of a political contribution given prior to Langan’s submission of its bid. Langan had submitted its bid on the due date for the RFP.

The Court examined the language in N.J.S.A. §19:44A-20.14, which describes the prohibition period as “within the 18 months immediately preceding the commencement of negotiations for the contract or agreement.”

The Court reasoned, “[W]e deem the point at which bids are submitted to be the time when ‘negotiations’ occur. Stated differently, because the submission of the bid is the triggering event culminating in the eventual award of a contract, and because the term ‘negotiations’ suggests a point in time at the beginning of the contracting process … the term ‘negotiations’ describes the point in time when bids are submitted. Consequently, we conclude that the agency’s receipt of bids constitutes the ‘commencement of negotiations’.” It rejected the appellant’s contention that a disqualification period begins on the day a political contribution is made, and continues for the next eighteen months.

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County rolled out a new online procurement system today. The system, iProcurement, was developed by Oracle Procurement Software.

Vendors and suppliers, as well as all subcontractors, wishing to do business with the Metro Government will have to register with the new system. The new system can be accessed through the Metro Government’s Procurement Division website.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, and John Cozine, Research Manager for the company, contributed to a publication by the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO). The white paper, “Effective Communication between State Procurement and Industry,” was presented at NAPSO’s recent national meeting.

The How to Market to State Governments Meeting was held April 15-17 in Orlando, Florida.

State and Federal Communications’ contribution can be found in the “Vendor Reporting and Disclosure” section, which covers compliance issues regarding lobbying, vendor disclosure, and pay-to-play.

“We felt it was important that we participate to make sure the paper included information about compliance,” said Bartz.

Governor John Kitzhaber has signed Senate Bill 1518. The bill’s provisions are intended to improve transparency in the procurement process.

The bill prohibits a vendor from writing the specifications of a project and then turning around and bidding on the project. Bidders will be able to include information on the number of jobs that will be created if the bid is chosen for the project.

In addition, the Department of Administrative Services will have to report to the legislature about special procurements, a contracting procedure that allows state agencies to bypass competitive bidding rules.

Although the bill took effect upon passage, the operative date for the above provisions is January 1, 2013.

Take a tour of our site and click on the “Free Live Online Demo” on the middle of the left column of the home page. You will open a page with three blue links, located in the middle of the page:

•Executive Source Guide on Lobbying Laws
•Executive Source Guide on Political Contributions
•Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying

Click on any one – or all three – to view the state of Alaska compliance information we provide to clients. This comprehensive and vital compliance information is updated continuously.

We have this same online information for all 50 states, the federal government, and 226 municipal and regional governments.

If you would like to view everything we have for online clients, contact us at info@stateandfed.com or 330-761-9960 and ask about our two-week trial. There is no cost for the trial, and you are under no obligation to purchase.

We can think of no better way for you to see the value in our online resources than for you and your team to actually use them for two weeks in your compliance efforts.

The 2013 Federal Budget proposed by President Obama would remove provisions put in the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which prohibit federal agencies from requiring the disclosure of political contributions and expenditures from vendors bidding on federal contracts.

The prohibition was inserted into the 2012 Act as a response to a draft executive order which was leaked in the spring of last year. The executive order would have required disclosure of campaign contributions and political expenditures by bidders of federal contracts.

“The White House, contrary to the intent of Congress, is apparently still trying to advance a policy that would inject politics into the federal contracting process instead of focusing on promoting competition and best value in contracting,” said U.S. Senator Susan Collins in a minority press release from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

Even with the current prohibition of disclosure from bidders, some groups are urging the President to require federal contractors disclose their political contributions after the bidding process is completed and a federal contract is awarded.

A brief review of this issue can be found here.

Petitions with more than 100,000 signatures have been submitted to the White House urging the president to require federal contractors to disclose political contributions.

Last spring a leaked draft executive order requiring vendors submitting offers for federal contracts to disclose political contributions and expenditures resulted in both fervent support and opposition. A compromise amendment was inserted into the 565-page National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2012, which passed in December, precluding federal agencies from requiring vendors bidding on federal contracts to disclose political contributions.

In their press release arguing for full transparency of corporate political spending, Public Citizen and MoveOn.org explained its petitions are asking for disclosures after the contracts are awarded.

For previous articles on Lobby Comply by George Ticoras on this topic, you can read posts from May 10, May 12, May 20, June 1, July 28, 2011, and January 5, 2012.

Photo of the The White House by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

Lobbying

“K Street headhunters enamored with upcoming class of retiring lawmakers” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

“Lobbyists get face time with House GOP at retreat” by Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer on Politico.

Procurement

“Cuomo Limits State Money for Salaries of Contractors” by John  Eligon in The New York Times.

Government 2.0

“State Legislatures’ Mobile Websites” on the NCSL website.

A new law signed by President Obama precludes federal agencies from requiring vendors bidding on federal contracts to disclose political contributions.

Buried in the 565-page National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2012, House Resolution 1540, is language amending Chapter 137 of Title 10 of the United States Code.

The amendment explicitly prohibits requiring a contractor to submit political information as part of a solicitation, or a request for bid or proposal. It also bars contractors from being required to submit political information during the modifications of a contract, or while exercising a contract option.

The language was added as an amendment to HR 1540 in response to a leaked draft executive order which required every entity submitting offers for federal contracts to disclose certain political contributions and expenditures made within the two years prior to submission of their offer.

For previous articles on Lobby Comply by George Ticoras on this topic, you can read posts from June 1, May 20, May 12, and May 10, and July 28, 2011.

This quick desk reference combines information from our online resources and lists the information by state:

– The Executive Source Guide on Lobbying Laws™;
– The Executive Source Guide on Political Contributions™; and
– The Executive Source Guide on Procurement Lobbying™.

This guidebook is filled with valuable information. However, we also caution it has two limitations:

The online resources, which you receive either through your subscription or as part of your lobbying compliance service, are comprehensive. This guidebook summarizes information in the online resources, and is meant only as a quick-reference guide.

While this guidebook is accurate and timely when we print it, please understand our online resources are updated continually. We provide this guidebook to you as a convenience, but your ultimate source of information should always be the online resource(s) to which you subscribe.

We consider this guidebook another value-added benefit of your partnership with State and Federal Communications. You also receive, via e-mail, monthly updates of important compliance legislation on the federal and state levels; News You Can Use™, our weekly summary of current news and events regarding compliance; and the Compliance Now newsletter with even more information.

Please call us at (330)761-9960 or email marketing@stateandfed.com if you would like to learn more about State and Federal Communications’ compliance services. Be sure to contact us if you are already a client and need to have your subscription username or password forwarded.

We are privileged to have you as clients, and are pleased to be your trusted adviser for government affairs compliance.

Federal:

FEC Leaves Unclear Path for Super PACs

Gingrich’s Work Shows Limits of U.S. Lobbying Law

From the States and Municipalities:

Arizona

Clean Elections Foes Say Public Funds Are Used to Influence Election Outcomes

Colorado

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler Proposes Rewriting of State Campaign Finance Rules

Georgia

Ethics Commission Deals with Challenges of Change

Indiana

Marion County Judge Scolded for Fundraising Language

Kansas

Kansas Governor Says Staff Overreacted to Teen’s Tweet

Massachusetts

Columbus Center Developer Fined $1.6 Million

Nevada

Ethics Commission Party May Not Have Been So Ethical

New York

Second Bribe Case for Lawmaker Just Acquitted

North Carolina

Three Perdue Associates Indicted

South Carolina

S.C. Governor’s Chef Told to Reimburse State after Using Its Resources for Catering

Washington

Washington Rep. Hinkle Seeks Change to Fundraising Law

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.

This week the Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether lawmakers acted illegally in a legislative attempt to increase ethics requirements. The case appeals a ruling by Circuit Judge Daniel Green finding Senate Bill 844 to be a violation of the constitution’s single subject requirement.

What began as a one-page bill allowing officials to use the Office of Administration for procurement decisions became a 69-page bill entitled “relating to ethics.” The bill changed campaign finance laws, gave greater authority to the Missouri Ethics Commission, created new crimes for ethics violations, and required Capitol dome keys be given to all lawmakers.

Judge Green’s ruling struck down all but the original procurement provision. The Attorney General believes the bill can be saved by striking only the provision regarding Capitol dome keys. Those challenging the bill argue the entire bill is unconstitutional.

Photo of the Missouri Supreme Court building by Americasroof on Wikipedia.