Rep. Jennifer Williamson resigned from her Oregon House of Representatives District 36 seat to focus on her campaign for secretary of state.

Multnomah County Democrats can forward three to five names to the Multnomah County Commission for a replacement.

The commissioners will hold a public hearing on January 16 to decide which of the Democratic Party’s several nominees to select to fill the vacancy.

The Portland Auditor has announced administrative rule changes to the city’s lobbying regulations.

The revised rules clarify the definition of lobbying to include grassroots lobbying and attempts to gain goodwill.

Fiscal disclosures are required to include expenses related to grassroots lobbying.

The rule changes also provide guidance on governments registering as lobbying entities if certain types of lobbying occur.

Governments will be considered lobbying entities when certain outside individuals lobby on their behalf.

The regulation changes also exclude certain cultural gifts from the city’s lobbying registration and reporting requirements if the market value of the gift cannot be easily determined and declining the gift is likely to cause offense.

Additionally, the revised rules provide guidance on when lobbying groups and city officials may be fined for late filings.

The auditor’s office will issue a warning notice for late filings.

Reports must be filed within 24 hours after the deadline or a late fee will be assessed up to $500 per report.

Sen. Cliff Bentz announced his intention to resign from the Oregon State Senate District 30 seat, effective January 2, 2020.

Bentz intends to run for the 2nd Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. Greg Walden, who announced that he will not run for reelection in 2020.

The 2nd Congressional District is one of the largest in the nation and covers about two-thirds of state.

At a meeting of the Senate Campaign Finance Committee, Sen. Jeff Golden proposed new regulations that would place ceilings on the amount of money individuals and various types of political committees could give to candidates, campaigns, and one another.

Oregon is currently one of only a few states that has no campaign contribution limits.

Under this new proposal, individual donors would be limited to giving $2,000 per election for statewide races and $750 per election for House and Senate races.

Those same restrictions would apply to candidates contributing to other campaigns and multi-candidate committees, which would be similar to current special-interest PACs.

State political parties and committees associated with party members in the House or Senate could contribute up to $40,000 per election to statewide candidates and $15,000 per election to legislative candidates.

The same limits would also be applied to new small-donor committees. In exchange for being able to donate larger sums, those committees could only support a single candidate for a single election.

The committees could accept no more than $200 per election from individuals and many PACs.

In November 2020, Oregon voters will decide whether to modify the state’s constitution to explicitly allow campaign finance limits.

The Oregon Supreme Court is also considering whether to overturn a two-decade-old decision that struck down the state’s voter-approved campaign finance limits.

The court is considering the constitutionality of a 2016 ordinance passed by Multnomah County voters that places a $500 per person limit on campaign donations.

Given all that, lawmakers hope to have a framework ready should the legal landscape shift.

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners adopted campaign finance disclosure regulations aimed at changing how money influences politics.

Beginning December 7, 2019, all county candidates will be required to disclose funding sources on campaign communications funded with more than $300.

The disclosure requirements also apply to individuals and entities such as political organizations, corporations, and nonprofits that fund communications in support of or opposition to county candidates.

After reviewing public comments, the Portland Auditor has further revised and offered clarification to proposed rule changes to the city’s lobbying regulations.

The amended rules are available at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/auditor/proposedrules.

An additional public comment period will be open until November 18.

The Portland Auditor has announced new campaign finance disclosure and contribution requirements and a new public campaign financing program.

Committees must now timely file disclosures of financing for certain election communications advocating for or against a city candidate. Additionally, committees must provide names of individuals or other entities contributing to the committees.

Entities making more than $750 in independent expenditures to support or oppose city candidates must now register with the secretary of state as a political committee or independent expenditure filer and provide certain disclosures.

Public and private employers must now allow employees to donate to political committees through payroll deduction if they allow similar post-tax deductions for other purposes.

The public campaign financing program will require candidates to agree to limit individual contributions to $250 or less and abide by other fundraising limits. Qualified candidates will receive a six to one match for campaign contributions of $50 or less.

Candidates will not be required to participate in the program.

The new disclosure rules went into effect Wednesday, September 4. City candidates are eligible to qualify for the public campaign finance program on Thursday, September 12.

The Portland Auditor has opened the public comment period for the proposed administrative changes to the city’s lobbying regulations.

The revised rules clarify lobbying including grassroots lobbying and attempts to gain goodwill.

Fiscal disclosures will be required to include expenses related to grassroots lobbying.

The proposed rule changes will also provide guidance on governments registering as lobbying entities if certain types of lobbying occur.

Governments will be considered lobbying entities when certain outside individuals lobby on their behalf.

The regulation changes will also exclude certain cultural gifts from the city’s lobbying registration and reporting requirements if the market value of the gift cannot be easily determined and declining the gift is likely to cause offense.

City officials will not be required to report certain ceremonial, hand-made, or other culturally specific gifts.

However, such gifts must still be accepted on behalf of the city and documented in accordance with city rules.

Additionally, the revised rules will provide guidance on when lobbying groups and city officials may be fined for late filings.

The auditor’s office will issue a warning notice for late filings.

Reports must be filed within 24 hours after the deadline or a late fee will be assessed up to $500 per report.

The public comment period will be open until September 23.

Four more states making changes to lobbying and ethics laws. Find out which jurisdictions in this edition of News You Can Use Video Digest!

Republican leaders representing state House District 55 have selected three candidates to replace recently resigned Rep. Mike McLane.

McLane resigned on July 1 to become a judge on the 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court.

Vikki Iverson, Deborah Tilden, and Peter Sharp were chosen during the meeting in La Pine.

The final decision will be made by county commissioners from areas within the district.

A decision must be made by August 13.

The appointee will fill out the remaining portion of McLane’s two-year term and will have to run for the office in 2020.

Gov. Kate Brown signed two campaign finance bills requiring more disclosures in Oregon elections.

House Bill 2716 requires advertisements supporting or opposing a candidate to disclose who funded them.

The bill also requires ads funded by non-candidate PACs to disclose the top five donors who have contributed at least $10,000 to those groups.

House Bill 2716 becomes effective December 3, 2020.

House Bill 2983 requires “dark money” groups to disclose their largest donors if they spend more than $100,000 on ads related to statewide races or races in cities or counties with at least 60,000 residents.

For legislative races and contests in smaller jurisdictions, the bill requires groups to disclose donors after spending at least $25,000 on ads.

House Bill 2983 became effective when signed by the governor.

Gov. Kate Brown signed legislation on July 23 requiring registered lobbyists to attend annual training beginning in 2021.

House Bill 3377 directs lobbyists to certify training attendance to the Oregon Ethics Commission.

The bill also requires the commission to report lobbyist training attendance to the legislative equity officer.

House Bill 3377 becomes effective on January 1, 2021.

The Oregon Republican Party has nominated Becky Mitts, Raquel Moore-Green, and Brad Nanke as the three finalists to replace Denyc Boles as state representative for District 19.

Boles resigned from the District 19 seat on June 28 after being appointed to replace the late Jackie Winters as state senator for District 10.

The Marion County commissioners plan to make a selection on July 23.

However, the commissioners have 10 days after the names are filed with the secretary of state to make a decision.

The Oregon Legislature adjourned on June 30, pushing through over 100 bills.

The Senate passed two campaign finance bills and a resolution to limit the amount of money flowing into Oregon politics and improve transparency in the election process.

House Bill 2716 requires communications made in support of or opposition to a candidate or measure to identify who paid for them.

House Bill 2983 builds on the transparency requirements set up in House Bill 2716.

The bill requires qualifying organizations making political expenditures file a donor identification list identifying donors making donations above $10,000 during the election cycle with the Office of the Secretary of State .

Senate Joint Resolution 18 proposes an amendment to the Oregon Constitution authorizing adoption of state and local laws requiring campaign finance related disclosures.

The proposed amendment would also authorize limiting political contributions and expenditures.

The resolution will send to voters the question of amending the state Constitution to allow governing bodies to pass laws on campaign finance.

House Bill 3377 was also passed, requiring registered lobbyists to attend annual training beginning in 2021.

The bill directs lobbyists to certify training attendance to the Oregon Ethics Commission and the commission to report lobbyist training attendance to a legislative equity officer.