The 2014 session of Iowa’s 85th General Assembly adjourned Friday, May 2, 2014.

While in session, legislators considered an array of legislation, including anti-bullying and the use of medical marijuana for epilepsy patients.

Legislators also agreed on the 2015 fiscal budget for the state.

Corporations in Iowa are still prohibited from making campaign contributions, despite an attempt by non-profit corporation Iowa Right to Life Committee, Inc. to remove the ban. The Supreme Court of the United States denied review of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals case with no comment.

In Iowa Right to Life v. Tooker, plaintiff Iowa Right to Life alleged the ban on corporate contributions is an unconstitutional bar to free speech and equal protection. The Eighth Circuit did not agree, thus upholding the ban.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Disclosure Board has proposed a requirement for all campaign finance reports to be filed electronically. Currently, the only reports required to be filed electronically are those of legislative and statewide campaigns.

In order for the proposal to become law, it must be approved by the Iowa Legislature. An amendment to the bill allowing waiver by the state ethics board of the e-filing requirement for extenuating circumstances is likely to be considered by the House State Government Committee.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has called a special election to fill the vacant House District 25 seat.

The special election will be held on Tuesday, January 7, 2014.

At present, there are two Republican candidates and no Democrats.

The ethics board in Iowa issued an advisory opinion allowing political candidates in the state to use campaign funds to attend a presidential inauguration.

The board’s reasoning for its decision centered around the value to a candidate’s campaign of attending an inauguration event.

Under the opinion, a campaign committee can pay for the candidate’s travel and lodging, but cannot pay such expenses for anyone else.

The Iowa Ethics & Campaign Disclosure Board is developing new auditing procedures for political committees receiving donations from entities. This action was likely prompted by the recent controversy over the funding of prominent PAC Iowans for Tax Relief, which was almost exclusively funded by trusts whose identities remained unknown until recently.

The ethics board also proposed legislation to be introduced when the legislature goes into session in January. The bill includes a $1,000 reporting threshold, and would allow campaigns to collect anonymous donations of up to $25. The bill would also require all campaign committees to file electronically by 2015.

A special election has been called for Iowa’s 13th Senatorial District, formerly held by Senator Kent Sorenson.

The election will be held on November 19, 2013.

Voters in Polk County will be heading to the polls this October to elect a new representative in the State House. State Rep. Kevin McCarthy announced he will resign his seat effective Thursday to accept a position in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office.

Gov. Terry Branstad announced the special election to replace McCarthy will take place on October 22.

McCarthy, a Democrat, was first elected in November 2002 to lead House District 33 and during his time in office served four years as the House majority leader. Two Democrats have already thrown their hats into the ring to replace McCarthy; Joe Henry, an advocate for union workers, and Karl Schilling, a long-time member of Iowa Civil Rights Commission. More people are expected to enter the race before the parties hold their nominating conventions.

Hawaii and Iowa will be seeing some changes in their campaign finance laws as a result of passed bills and court decisions.

In Iowa, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the state’s law requiring groups making independent expenditures to disclose information about their spending, but struck down the part of the law requiring those same groups to file supplemental reports. Under the old law, if a group spent more than $750 on independent expenditures it would be required to file a report within 48 hours, and if the group spent more than $1,000 in expenditures it would be required to file a supplemental report on the 19th of January, May, July, and October. However, in Iowa Right to Life Committee, Inc. v. Tooker, the court held the supplemental reports to be “additional, redundant, and more burdensome.” Therefore, groups making independent expenditures are no longer required to file supplemental reports.

In Hawaii, Governor Neil Abercrombie signed two bills into law. Senate Bill 31 changes the way noncandidate committees, corporations, and other associations active in elections disclose their political spending. In the past, those groups were required to file supplemental reports on January 31 and July 31 only in years following an election. Under the new law, which took effect immediately upon Abercrombie’s signature, the January 31 supplemental report must be filed every year. The bill also requires those groups, when filing the reports, to make a distinction between contributions made and contributions received.

Abercrombie also signed House Bill 1147 into law. This bill, which takes effect November 5, 2014, requires noncandidate committees making only independent expenditures to include, in a prominent location, the names of the top three contributors making the highest aggregate contributions to the noncandidate committee for the purpose of the advertisement. This requirement only applies to advertisements which are broadcasted, televised, circulated, or published, and are of a duration so as not to create a hardship to the committee. The bill also requires a noncandidate committee making an independent expenditure in the last two weeks before an election exceeding $500 to file a late expenditure report.

Governor Terry Branstad announced that a special election will take place on January 22, 2013 to fill the now-vacated district 52 house seat.

Representative Brian Quirk had won the seat in the November elections, but due to a new job he recently accepted, decided he could not fulfill his duties as a lawmaker.

A special election is set for December 11 in the race for the Iowa State Senate District 22 seat due to very unfortunate circumstances. State Senator Pat Ward passed away from breast cancer on October 15, making the special election necessary.

Both Ward and her opponent, democratic candidate Desmund Adams, will still appear on the November 6th ballot, but the state will not count any of the votes. The Republican Party will select a candidate at a special nominating convention to run against Adams. The republicans must select a candidate by November 13.

Adams has decided to suspend his campaign to allow the district to mourn the loss of Ward.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board issued an advisory opinion clarifying the disclosure rules a trust must follow when making a political contribution.

If a trust raises or spends more than $750 for campaign activities, it will have to register with the ethics board as a political committee.

As a political committee, the trust will have to file periodic reports with the board and will also have to identify the name of the trust, the trustee, and the trustor.

The committee that receives the contribution will also to have to disclose the trust, trustee, and trustor on its disclosure report.

The opinion also restricts prohibited contributors, such as corporations, insurance companies, or banks, from giving money or anything of value to a trust that makes campaign contributions.

The advisory opinion was in response to a 2002 advisory opinion which incorrectly allowed trusts to anonymously give money to political committees for the past 10 years.

Iowa legislators have finally decided to call it quits for 2012. More than 22 days after the schedule adjournment date, the Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die on Wednesday night.

Since the Legislature stayed in session beyond the adjournment date, they have not received any stipends for the past three weeks.

On the session’s final day, the Senate and House finalized the state budget and a major mental health system reform, but failed to come to an agreement on property tax relief. Since the property tax relief package was not agreed upon, both sides conceded there could be a special session called, but only if they can get closer to an agreement.

Photo of the Iowa State Capitol building by Ashton B. Crew on Wikipedia.

National and Federal

“Can 46 rich dudes buy an election?” by Charles Riley in CNN Money.

“Obama ‘Super’ PAC Donors Among White House Guests” by Jack Gillum (Associated Press) in The San Francisco Chronicle.

“Planners for Democratic convention in Charlotte scramble to raise funds” by David Nakamura in The Washington Post.

In the States

Indiana: “Super PACs start battle in Senate race” by The Associated Press in the Indianapolis Business Journal.

Iowa: “Group wants to close campaign finance loophole” by Rod Boshart in the Sioux City Journal.

Montana: “New arguments filed in campaign finance case” by Matt Gouras in the Great Falls Tribune.