House Bill 4134, a bill tightening timelines for reporting for lobbyist’s clients and lobbyist registration, has passed both the Oregon House and Senate, and will head to Gov. Brown’s desk for approval. The bill requires lobbyists to register within three business days after meeting the threshold instead of the current 10 day time period.

The bill also requires a client or employer of a lobbyist to sign an authorization for the lobbyist within 10 calendar days after the lobbyist files a registration statement.

The bill will become immediately effective if approved by Gov. Brown.

A task force on campaign finance reform has recommended changes to the Oregon Constitution which would allow limits to be placed on political contributions. The task force urged the Legislature to make the changes by approving a constitutional amendment allowing limits to be enacted by either the Legislature or a ballot measure.

Currently, Oregon is one of only six states with no campaign spending limits. The Legislature will consider the recommendation at the beginning of this year’s legislative session, which kicks off on February 1.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has announced the date their new online filing system will go live for lobbyist registration.

Starting December 15, lobbyists should be able to register through the new online system for 2016.

The online system has been planned since 2007, and aims to increase transparency by allowing the public to view lobbying and public official financial disclosures online.

The Oregon Office of the Secretary of State has ruled a recall campaign against state Sen. Floyd Prozanski did not violate election law to collect the signatures it turned in.

This ruling means the recall effort will be able to continue.

The secretary of state has until Monday to check the 10,027 signatures collected. In order for a recall election to be called, there need to be 8,415 valid signatures from voters in the senator’s district.

If there are enough valid signatures, the election would have to be held before October 23.

Gov. Kate Brown signed House Bill 2019 into law, expanding the membership of the Oregon Ethics Commission from 7 members to 9, effective July 1, 2016.

Lawmakers passed many ethics reforms during the 2015 legislative session as a result of the ethics scandals and resulting resignation of former Gov. John Kitzhaber.

Gov. John Kitzhaber announced he will resign, effective February 18, 2015. The governor is the target of a criminal investigation involving payments he authorized to his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, as a paid consultant to the state. The first couple was also named in three ethics complaints from 2014 surrounding the consulting payments.

Earlier this week, top state leaders, including Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek, told Kitzhaber he should resign as details of the scandal began to unfold.

Secretary of State Kate Brown will become the governor of Oregon as a result of Kitzhaber’s resignation.

Photo of Gov. John Kitzhaber by Jonathan Maus on Wikipedia Commons.

Prompted by Secretary of State Kate Brown, a bill in the Oregon Senate would impose campaign contribution limits in a state where contributions are currently unlimited.

Senate Bill 75, now in committee, sets the individual and entity contribution limit at $2,600 per calendar year and the political committee limit at $5,000 per calendar year. These limits are aggregate limits, so total yearly contributions to any state, county, or city candidate or committee cannot exceed the stated limit.

The bill is an amendment to the state constitution, so it would have to be approved by voters before becoming law.

Photo of Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown by Josh.Goldberg on Wikimedia Commons.

The Oregon Legislative Assembly adjourned sine die on Friday, March 7. The 2014 session lasted 33 days, 2 days short of the maximum allowed under the Oregon Constitution.

Lawmakers will now turn their attention to campaigning, as all 60 House seats and half of the 30 Senate seats will be up in November.

ORESTAR, Oregon’s online campaign finance filing system, is back up and running after a security breach disabled the system for almost three weeks.

All saved passwords have been deleted. Users must create a new password when logging in to ORESTAR.

Deadlines for PAC filings have been extended due to the security breach. The new deadline for all transactions formerly due between February 4 and February 26 will now be March 7 at 11:59 p.m.

Regular deadlines will apply to all transactions due on February 27 or later.

The Legislature adjourned a special session on Wednesday, October 3, 2013, after passing a package of bills referred to as the “grand bargain.”

The diverse collection of bills passed included government pension reform, additional education and mental health funding, and a farming regulation that limits local regulation of genetically modified plants.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has announced he will call a one-day special legislative session on September 30, 2013. The special session bill package would raise tax revenues to provide $100 million for K-12 education and $40 million for higher education to prevent tuition increases in the 2013-15 biennium.

It is not yet clear whether the legislative caucuses have the votes to pass all the bills in the package.

Kitzhaber has indicated he will sign none of the bills unless all bills pass.

A special session of the legislature is set to convene today, December 14, 2012. Governor John Kitzhaber called the legislature into session to approve a tax incentive program for Nike.

The governor believes the potential economic development benefits are worth the costs associated with a special session.

Nike says it will expand in Oregon and hire at least 500 people if the state will immediately promise not to change the method of calculating its state income taxes.

The Oregon Supreme Court has sided with state officials who refused to enforce a ballot measure limiting campaign contributions and spending. In 2006, voters approved Measure 47, but also rejected Measure 46, a constitutional amendment needed in order to allow the Measure 47 regulations.

Then-Secretary of State Bill Bradbury did not enforce Measure 47 based on the failure of Measure 46 and a 1997 decision by the high court finding contributions were protected under Oregon’s constitutional guarantee of free expression. Unless voters change the state constitution, or a future court decides differently, Oregon will continue to allow unlimited campaign contributions.

Governor John Kitzhaber has signed Senate Bill 1518. The bill’s provisions are intended to improve transparency in the procurement process.

The bill prohibits a vendor from writing the specifications of a project and then turning around and bidding on the project. Bidders will be able to include information on the number of jobs that will be created if the bid is chosen for the project.

In addition, the Department of Administrative Services will have to report to the legislature about special procurements, a contracting procedure that allows state agencies to bypass competitive bidding rules.

Although the bill took effect upon passage, the operative date for the above provisions is January 1, 2013.