March 27, 2012 •
Tuesday Campaign Finance News Roundup
Disclosure and campaign finance reform issues made the news today. Take a look at today’s articles:
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.
March 9, 2012 •
Los Angeles City Ethics Commission Passes Adjusted Contribution Limits
Increased limits effective immediately
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.
February 24, 2012 •
Los Angeles City Ethics Commission Votes to Shorten Fundraising Period
Delays Vote on Contribution Limits
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.
January 24, 2012 •
San Francisco Now Has Searchable Lobbyist Database
Started on January 19, 2012.
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.
January 19, 2012 •
SuperPAC Spending and Disclosure in the News
Here is a chart revealing television ad spending in South Carolina by candidates versus spending by super Pacs, legislation in Arizona that would require disclosure of corporate spending on campaigns, and a run-down of super PAC disclosure in California:
“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.
December 27, 2011 •
Senator to Propose Lobbyist Registration Fee Increase
CAL-ACCESS to Benefit
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.
December 15, 2011 •
California Campaign Transparency Website is Still Down
Secretary of State unable to give a date when the system will be back online.
California’s campaign finance online database, the Cal-Access system, has been out of service for two weeks leaving people unable to search the state’s political contribution and lobbying reports.
The Los Angeles Times reported about the situation in “Campaign database still down, prompting calls for investigation” by Patrick McGreevy.
According to the article, “State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) announced Wednesday that he is introducing legislation to double the registration fees paid by the state’s 1,000 lobbyists to finance proper maintenance of Cal-Access.”
December 14, 2011 •
San Francisco Hackathon Produces Open Government Apps
Legislative alerts, ethics, and lobbying information made available and searchable
CityCampSF gathered app developers for a hackathon last weekend. The result was a series of apps that took raw government datasets and turned them into usable, searchable information. One app will allow people to receive city legislative alerts and agenda item alerts based on keywords. Another app will make ethics commission data and lobbyist filings searchable.
Don’t miss what Govtech reported in “SF Hackathon Produces Legislative Alert App Prototype” by Sarah Rich.
Here is CityCampSF’s summary of the results from the Hackathon in “CityCampSF Outcomes” on AdrielNation’s blog:
“What happened at CityCampSF Hackathon 2011 on Saturday and Sunday? Lots of great discussion about technology and open government, folks meeting for the first time over pizza, Red Bull and Peanut M&Ms, and some civic hacking on online lobbyists filings, timber harvest plans and text notifications for public meeting agenda keyword alerts.”
December 12, 2011 •
FPPC Passes New Gift Regulations
Regulations take effect January 1, 2012
The California Fair Political Practices Commission has approved changes to the gift regulations which will take effect on January 1, 2012.
Changes to the regulations include the ability for public officials to accept gifts from lobbyists without disclosure if a dating relationship exists.
Additionally, officials will be able to accept tickets to sporting events if the officials are attending the event to perform a ceremonial duty.
In such circumstances, the gifts are to be reported by the agency and not the official.
December 6, 2011 •
Los Angeles City Council Responds to Citizens United
Vote on Proposed Resolution Scheduled for Today
The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on a proposed resolution which calls on the U.S. Congress to pass a constitutional amendment declaring only living persons, not corporations, have constitutional rights and money is not the same as free speech.
The resolution, proposed in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, further declares the Citizens United decision supersedes state and local efforts to regulate corporate political activity.
If the resolution passes, Los Angeles will join other municipalities such as Missoula, Montana and Boulder, Colorado which have passed similar resolutions.
Seal of the City of Los Angeles by Mysid on Wikipedia.
November 14, 2011 •
Lobbyist Frank Molina Fined $30,000 by FPPC
Sacramento Bee reports
The Sacramento Bee reported last week that California’s Fair Political Practices Commission has opted for a $30,000 fine against lobbyist Frank Molina, instead of the higher $5o,000 fine it had considered.
You can read the whole story here: “FPPC sticks with $30,000 fine for lobbyist Frank Molina,” by Laurel Rosenhall and Torey Van Oot.
Seal of the State of California by Zscout370 on Wikipedia.
November 7, 2011 •
FPPC Issues Notice of Proposed Guidelines
Committee Designation to be Addressed
The Fair Political Practices Commission has issued notice of proposed amendments to the California Code of Regulations to be considered at a public hearing on December 8, 2011. The proposed regulations codify commission guidance instructing filers to treat an in-kind contribution of the services of salaried personnel to a committee and the expenditure by the person making the salary payment as a contribution made on the payroll date of the salaried personnel.
The commission will also consider regulations which differentiate a contribution from a donation. Under the proposed regulation, a contribution is a payment made for a political purpose and includes payments to a multi-purpose organization. By contrast, a payment to a multi-purpose organization that is not made or used for a political purpose is to be treated as a donation and not a contribution for the purposes of identifying reportable contributions.
Lastly, the commission will consider amendments to the provisions pertaining to primarily formed and general purpose committees to assist filers in determining which label fits the purpose and structure of their committee.
The regulations define a general purpose committee as an ongoing committee which supports multiple candidates and measures in successive elections. General purpose committees include associations, political action committees, political party committees, major donors, as well as entities and individuals making independent expenditures.
The regulation proposes a standard for determining whether a committee is a state, county, or city general purpose committee. A committee will be considered a city or county committee if more than 70 percent of their activity is at the city or county level. Classification as a state committee will be the default.
Pursuant to the proposed regulation, a primarily formed committee is a committee formed or existing to support a single candidate or measure in a specific election. A committee will be considered primarily formed if more than 70 percent of the committee’s contributions and expenditures are for specific candidates or measures during the 24 months preceding the date where the candidate or measure is on the ballot.
Image of the Seal of California by Zscout370 on Wikipedia.
November 1, 2011 •
Riverside County Enacts Mandatory Electronic Filing Ordinance
Candidates, Candidate Controlled Committees, and Independent Committees Affected
The Riverside County Board of Supervisors has approved ordinance number 913 which makes electronic campaign finance disclosure mandatory for candidates, candidate controlled committees, and independent committees which receive contributions or make expenditures of $5,000 or more.
Once the electronic reporting threshold has been met, all subsequent reports must be filed electronically.
The ordinance will take effect on November 28, 2011.
October 24, 2011 •
San Francisco Ethics Commission Passes Campaign Finance Reform
Third Party Disclaimer, Disclosure, and Reporting to be Required
The San Francisco Ethics Commission has approved amendments to the campaign finance reform ordinance. The language of the amendments is forthcoming and will be approved by the commission at the November 14, 2011 meeting.
Amendments that were proposed and approved at the October 19, 2011 commission meeting include disclaimer, disclosure, and reporting requirements for communications that are paid for by third parties concerning candidates for city elective office, an affirmation of the $500 per person contribution limit to candidates, and permission for campaign funds to be used by a candidate to attend a fundraiser for a charitable organization. The commission also approved a provision which will allow the commission to modify the $500 limit to reflect the consumer price index for future elections.
The commission further clarified that a candidate may transfer funds from the candidate’s committee only before the funds become surplus.
State and Federal Communications, Inc. provides research and consulting services for government relations professionals on lobbying laws, procurement lobbying laws, political contribution laws in the United States and Canada. Learn more by visiting stateandfed.com.