At its November 27 meeting, the San Francisco Ethics Commission gave final approval to recommend and transmit to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors its Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance.

The ordinance would create or expand certain pay-to-play prohibitions on political contributions, institute new disclosure requirements, create local rules for reporting behested payments, and create new rules regarding conflicts of interest.

The Commission will transmit its recommendations to the Board of Supervisors, where at least eight votes will be required to adopt the proposal.

State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Bocanegra initially stated he would resign in September and not seek reelection when allegations first surfaced. However, his resignation was accelerated after additional sexual harassment allegations emerged.

Gov. Jerry Brown has two weeks from Bocanegra’s resignation to declare a special election to fill the vacancy in Assembly District 39.

State Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

Bocanegra initially stated he would resign in September and not seek reelection when allegations first surfaced. However, his resignation was accelerated after additional sexual harassment allegations emerged.

Gov. Jerry Brown has two weeks from Bocanegra’s resignation to declare a special election to fill the vacancy in Assembly District 39.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 867 into law, recasting various provisions of the Political Reform Act regarding the definition of the term contribution.

The law moves the behested payment reporting requirements out of the definition of contribution, and instead places those requirements in the part of the campaign disclosure sections of the act.

Additionally, the law provides specific definitions for terms related to behested payments and the reporting of such payments.  The law is effective January 1, 2018.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed four bills into law – three amending the Political Reform Act and one amending post employment restrictions.

Assembly Bill 867 states behested payments are not contributions and recasts the provisions defining the term “contribution.”

Senate Bill 45 prohibits sending mass mailings within the 60 days before an election by or on behalf of a candidate on the ballot.

Senate Bill 226 requires slate mailer organizations to disclose on any mailing whether the organization represents public safety personnel.

Assembly Bill 1620 extends the time frame a member of the Legislature can lobby after resignation from one year after leaving office to one year after the adjournment sine die of the session in which the resignation occurred.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission has proposed to place strict limits on behested payments.

A behested payment is when a public official asks a person or group to donate to a civic or charitable cause instead of directly to the public official, and the proposal would ban these requests. The penalty for officials could be $5,000 for each violation, but there would be no penalty for the donor.

If this proposal becomes an ordinance, the city’s Board of Supervisors would have to approve it. The commission could also put the changes on a ballot, which would be decided by voters in June of 2018.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 267 and Senate Bill 358 into law.

Senate Bill 267 authorizes the Fair Political Practices Commission to have primary responsibility for the impartial, administration, implementation, and enforcement of a local campaign finance reform of the city of Sacramento, effective immediately.

Senate Bill 358 requires the secretary of state’s website to post hyperlinks to the website of any local government agency containing publicly disclosed campaign finance information.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 249 on October 7, which amends the Political Reform Act.

The bill requires campaign advertisements to identify the name of the committee paying for the advertisement, as well as clearly displaying the top three contributors to that committee.

The bill also expands disclosure requirements for mass electronic mailings and telephone calls. The bill is effective immediately.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 568 on September 27, moving up the state’s presidential primary to March 3, 2020.

The date of the 2016 primary was in June, but the Legislature pushed for an earlier primary in an attempt to have more of an impact on the national level.

The bill does not change the date of the 2018 primary.

The California Legislature adjourned in the early hours of September 16.

Bills passed in the late-night session include Senate Bill 568, which would move the presidential primary election to March; Assembly Bill 249, which would require campaign advertisements to clearly display their largest funders; and Assembly Bill 132, which would require counties to provide additional voter education and requires every signature of a recall petition to be examined and verified.

The bills are now waiting for Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto.

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has recommended multiple changes to the Municipal Lobbying Ordinance.

These changes include increasing the registration threshold from $2,000 to $5,000; expanding the 501(c)(3) organization exemption; amending and adding definitions regarding lobbying; expanding gift restrictions; revising registration statements, deadlines, and fees; creating a bimonthly reporting calendar instead of quarterly; and increasing civil penalties for violations of lobbying laws.

The next commission meeting is on October 17, and comments regarding the proposal can be emailed to ethics.policy@lacity.org.

A bill further restricting revolving door provisions was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration.

Assembly Bill 1620 would change the current law prohibiting legislators from lobbying from one year to up to three years, depending on when he or she steps down from office. The bill states a legislator could not lobby during the two-year session after he or she was elected, plus another full year after the session ends.

If signed by the governor, the bill is effective January 1, 2018.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 187 and Assembly Bill 551 into law on September 1, amending both lobbying and campaign finance laws.

Assembly Bill 187 requires a committee to file a report within 10 business days of making a contribution or independent expenditure aggregating $5,000 or more to support or oppose the qualification of a single local initiative or referendum ballot measure.

Assembly Bill 551 extends revolving door restrictions to independent contractors of a local government agency or a public agency who are appearing or communicating on behalf of that agency.

Both bills are effective January 1, 2018.

At its August 28, 2017, meeting, the San Francisco Ethics Commission discussed the adoption of the 2017 San Francisco Anti-Corruption and Accountability Ordinance to revise city campaign and government conduct laws.

The ordinance would create a series of new rules to reduce the incidence of pay-to-play politics by increasing the applicability of current pay-to-play laws to encompass more parties seeking contracts with the city. The ordinance would also create new limits and disclosure requirements on contributions and behested payments.

The commission voted 4-0 to continue the matter to its next meeting on September 25, 2017.