Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill allowing the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) to enforce new campaign finance rules in the county. This is the first time the FPPC has been authorized by statute to contract with a county to enforce its campaign contribution limits.

County Supervisor Janice Rutherford originally proposed contracting with the FPPC to enforce a proposed county campaign law in lieu of creating a county ethics commission. Now with statutory permission in place, the county may proceed to craft a campaign finance law and negotiate contractual terms with the FPPC. Rutherford plans to bring her previous proposal to limit campaign contributions to $3,900 back before the board on August 21, 2012 for consideration.

Seal of San Bernardino County by Jetijones on Wikipedia.

Governor Jerry Brown has approved Assembly Bill 2452, which changes the criteria local government agencies must meet in order to require campaign and lobbying reports to be filed electronically. The bill was chaptered in the Political Reform Act as section 84615.

A local government agency requiring campaign committees and lobbyists to file electronically must provide a secure, standardized, and free filing system. In addition, if a local ordinance requires a statement or report to be filed electronically, local officials can no longer require an additional copy to be filed in paper format.

The law becomes effective January 1, 2013.

A citizens’ oversight committee to take on ethics-related issues will be studied by a committee of city council. City coalitions, including a group of organizations that are pushing a sunshine ordinance, are pushing for a city ethics commission in order to review issues having to do with campaign finance, regulation of lobbyists, and transparency.

Proponents say the ethics commission could be created by voters or the council. David Tristan, deputy executive director of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, will talk about what his commission does, and the forum will take up the possibility of creating an ethics commission in Santa Ana.

For information about the July 26, 2012 forum, email info@santaanacoalition.org.

The Fair Political Practices Commission has approved a change to simplify lobbyist reporting requirements for “drop-in” events.

The amendment to regulation 18640 allows appetizers and beverages to be excluded from the gift valuation for an official who does not stay for any meal or entertainment. The value of the gift is now any specific item, other than food, presented to the official and guest accompanying the official, if the official notifies the lobbyist in writing that the official did not stay for any meal or entertainment.

The amendment provides consistency with regulation 18946.2(e), which was previously amended to exclude the value of appetizers and drinks from the value of a gift received by an official who briefly appears or drops by an invitation-only event. Prior to the amendment, the value of the gift received was limited to the actual value of the food and beverages consumed by the official and guest, along with the value of any specific item received at the event.

Image of the Seal of California courtesy of Zscout370 on Wikipedia.

The San Diego Ethics Commission is meeting June 14, 2012 to discuss a prepared draft of municipal code amendments concerning campaign related issues, including one which pertains to the lobbying ordinance. Decision point 14 would amend applicable provisions of the lobbying ordinance to require the disclosure of contributions provided to, and fundraising performed for, committees that are primarily formed to support city candidates.

The draft amendments are available on the commission’s website.

The public is invited to provide comment on the proposed amendments at the June 14, 2012, meeting, which will be held at 5:00 p.m. in the committee room on the 12th floor of the city administration building. Correspondence may also be sent by e-mail at: ethicscommission@sandiego.gov.

Photo of the San Diego skyline by Tomcio77 on Wikipedia.

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.

“Big lobbying spending dips” by Dave Levinthal in Politico.

“U.S. Chamber of Commerce Continues to Spend Heavily on Lobbying, Filings Show” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“K Streeters Adjusting to Loss of Earmarks” by Kate Ackley in Roll Call.

“Fears of lame-duck session in Congress could boost K Street’s bottom line” by Kevin Bogardus and Rachel Leven in The Hill.

California: “How to wire a state capital” by Charles Mahtesian in Politico.

California: “AT&T wields enormous power in Sacramento” by Shane Goldmacher and Anthony York in The Los Angeles Times.

Minnesota: “Not all laws come from high-powered lobbying campaigns” by John Reinan in the MinnPost.

Federal: “How to Beat Citizens United” by E.J. Dionne, Jr. in The Washington Post.

Arkansas: “Arkansas attorney general certifies ballot wording for item on lobbying, campaign finance” by The Associated Press in The Republic.

California: “State political watchdog chair wants bloggers to reveal payments” by Brian Joseph in the Orange County Register.

California: “California ethics czar urges disclosure of payments to Web pundits” by Patrick McGreevey in the Los Angeles Times.

California: “California looks to crack down on political bloggers paid by campaigns” by Jim Sanders in The Sacramento Bee.

Virginia: “New Electronic Campaign Filing Lauded in Virginia” by The Associated Press in Governing.

Federal: “Two SEC Commissioners Could Dramatically Change Campaign Finance” by George Zornick in The Nation. ↬via Eric Brown’s Political Activity Law blog.

California: “State political watchdog ramps up enforcement” by Brian Joseph in the Orange County Register.

Connecticut: “Connecticut legislators set focus on campaign finance reform; look to increase transparency” by Jordan Fenster in The Register Citizen.

District of Columbia: “Campaign money orders to cease?” by Jim McElhatton and Luke Rosiak in the Washington Times.

District of Columbia: “D.C. ethics law overhaul hampered by hiring difficulties, enforcement duties” by Mike DeBonis in The Washington Post.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission voted Thursday to raise campaign contribution limits for candidates in the upcoming municipal election. Candidates for city council may accept $700 per donor per election cycle, up from a $500 limit. Candidates for citywide offices including mayor, city attorney, and city controller may accept $1,300, up from $1,000.

The new limits go into effect immediately, giving candidates in the March 2013 election the opportunity to contact donors who have already reached the old contribution maximums.

Critics of the new limits believe the commission is tipping the scales in favor of well-connected incumbents who have historically met the contribution threshold more often than their challengers.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission has voted to shorten the length of time during which candidates for office may conduct fundraising.

If the commission’s ruling is approved by city council, candidates for city council will have 12 months instead of the current 18 months for fundraising, and citywide candidates will have 18 months instead of the current two year period for fundraising.

The commission additionally decided to delay the vote on whether or not the campaign contribution limit should be increased from $500 to $1,100 per donor.

Photo of the Los Angeles City Hall by Brion VIBBER on Wikipedia.

Lobbyist disclosure statements are now accessible by the public on the San Francisco Ethics Commission website. You can search lobbyists, lobbyist clients, lobbying firms, reported public officials, and lobbying subjects of concern.

According to the site:

This site contains information about lobbying activities for all lobbyist who are registered with the Commission. The Commission requires these lobbyists to submit monthly statements of their lobbying activities including: Activity Expenses, Political Contributions, Contacts of Public Officials, and Payments Promised by Clients.

The Ethics Commission is also offering an API (Application Programming Interface) for programmers to take the raw data from lobbyist reports and create mashups and aggregate reports of their own.

For news coverage, read “San Francisco Publishes New Tool To Interpret Local Lobbying Information” by Sarah Lai Stirland on techPresident.

“Candidate and Super Pac Spending” by Khang Nguyen in the Los Angeles Times.

“Bill would require disclosure of campaign spending” by Alia Beard Rau in the Arizona Republic.

“California could be model for ‘super PAC’ disclosure” by Josh Richman in the San Jose Mercury News.

California State Senator Leland Yee has formally announced plans to introduce legislation to raise the lobbyist registration fees upon commencement of the 2012 legislative session.

The money raised by the increased fees would be used to finance maintenance and upgrades to CAL-ACCESS, the state transparency database for lobbying and campaign finance filings. CAL-ACCESS has been down since the end of November.