The Mississippi online campaign finance system has been disabled due to recent concerns over its reliability.

Issues have been reported with the filing system and include incorrect itemization, missing signatures, and no filings appearing to be filed with the Office of Secretary of State when they had actually been filed by the candidate or committee.

The office is currently working to replace the outdated system.

Candidates and political committees must now file their campaign finance reports via email, in person, mail, or through fax.

The next campaign finance report due date is July 10.

The House and Senate adjourned sine die on June 29 after passing legislation relating to the environment and elections.

House Bill 281 removes the requirement that small scale energy generators like solar farms be located in the same municipality as their customers.

Senate Bill 61 directs state regulators to develop new rules specific to the site where a landfill is proposed to keep landfills away from bodies of water.

Senate Bill 157 requires the secretary of state to conduct audits of a certain number of ballot counting machines after state primaries, general elections, and presidential primaries.

Lastly, Senate Bill 70 establishes an election information portal and allows grants to be given to cities and towns for the purchase of election equipment.

A vote on the future of Wisconsin’s top elections official ended in partisan deadlock amid Republican calls for the nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe to resign over how she ran the 2020 presidential election.

The six commissioners are evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Republican commissioners voted to reappoint Wolfe, but Democrats abstained from Tuesday’s vote for fear that reappointing her would allow the Republican-controlled state Senate to reject her confirmation.

If the commission eventually appoints Wolfe or someone else to replace her, they will need to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled state Senate.

If a commission appointee is rejected by the Senate, then commissioners would need to make a new appointment within 45 days or else a legislative committee controlled by Republicans could choose the next administrator.

Gov. Phil Murphy appointed four new commissioners to the state’s campaign finance watchdog agency.

The Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) oversees campaign spending, lobbying, and pay-to-play in the state. 

In addition to providing Murphey with the power to appoint these commissioners, Senate Bill 2866 made a number of substantial changes to ethics laws.

These changes included increasing spending and contribution limits; overhauling pay-to-play laws; and shortening how long the state’s election watchdog commission can investigate campaign finance violations. 

Vermont legislature held a veto session on Tuesday, June 20.

During the day-long session, lawmakers successfully overrode five gubernatorial vetoes.

The bills now passed include House Bill 217, which institutes a new payroll tax to raise revenue for child care, and House Bill 305 relating to the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation.

Notably, lawmakers also overrode the Governor’s veto on the 2024 state budget thanks to a 105-42 vote in the House and a 25-5 vote in the Senate.

The three bills that were vetoed but did not come up for a vote during the override session are eligible to be overridden when the legislature reconvenes in January 2024.

The general assembly officially ended the 2023 legislative session on June 16.

Lawmakers passed a bevy of bills addressing procurement small purchase limits, contribution limits, and primary election dates.

House Bill 5962 and Senate Bill 0846 raise the minimum aggregate reporting limit for candidates and committees of all contributions received and expenditures made from any one source within a calendar year from $100 to $200.

The bills also raise the contribution limit for individuals and political action committees from $1,000 to $2,000 per year.

If signed by the Governor the bills would take effect on January 1, 2024.

House Bill 5463 increases the maximum state and municipal small purchase limits from $10,000 to $25,000 for construction projects and from $5,000 to $10,000 for all other state and municipal purchases.

If signed by the governor this bill will take effect on December 31, 2023.

Finally, House Bill 6033 allows the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the month preceding the special election to be available to hold the special primary. This bill has been signed by the Governor and will take effect immediately.

A special election will take place on November 7, 2023 for Senate District 42.

Senator Marlon Kimpson previously held the seat but resigned upon being tapped to join the Biden administration.

Sen. Kimpson was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

If necessary, a special primary election will be held on September 5 and the special election primary runoff on September 19.

This does affect reporting, and the next report will be due on October 23, 2023.

Gov. Kay Ivey has announced that she plans to call a special session.

The session is intended to address the congressional voting maps.

This follows a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that found the recent voting maps to be discriminatory towards black voters, and a deadline of July 21 was given to draft and approve new maps.

The special session is planned to take place from July 17 to July 21, 2023.

The New York Legislature adjourned on June 10 after the Clean Slate Act passed both houses.

The legislation, which still must be signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul, wipes a New Yorker’s conviction record clean three years after sentencing for misdemeanors and eight years for certain felonies.

The Senate is not expected to return to session but the Assembly will likely return in the near future to complete unfinished work.

The State Board of Elections has selected a new employee to take over the role of elections administrator.

Jared DeMarinis was unanimously voted by the board to take over the position.

DeMarinis currently works as the director of the board’s candidacy and campaign finance division.

In order for him to take over the role, a confirmation hearing will be held at the next session of the state Senate.

If confirmed he will succeed the previous elections administrator, Linda Lamon, who will be retiring this summer.

A newly filed ballot measure has been introduced to reestablish campaign contribution limits in Alaska.

In 2021, a federal appeals court struck down most of Alaska contribution limits on First Amendment grounds.

The ballot measure would cap contributions at $2,000 per election, with limits being adjusted for inflation every 10 years.

The new initiative will appear on the 2024 ballot if it is certified by the lieutenant governor and collects the requisite number of signatures.

Q: My organization wants to sponsor a reception in Texas. State legislators, staff, and family members are likely to be in attendance. As a registered lobbyist, what are my limits and reporting obligations?

As a registered lobbyist, there are several items to keep in mind when sponsoring an event. First, a lobbyist can provide an unlimited amount of food and beverage to an official, employee, immediate family member, or guest when the lobbyist attends the event. If not present at the event, food and beverage expenditures are limited to $100 or less.

Next, when engaging with officials at the event, sponsorship is considered a lobbying expenditure and will need to be disclosed on the appropriate lobbying report. These reports break expenditures down by type (food and beverage, entertainment, transportation, etc.) and by recipient. This may seem straightforward, but if your sponsorship goes to the organizing entity, how do you know how your dollars are being used?

The state provides some guidance here. When reporting expenditures for a reception or banquet type event, the Food and Beverage category includes all items needed to hold the event such as room rental, table settings, and printing costs. Other categories may need to be included depending on the specific event.

Additionally, you will need to know who among the attendees are in a reportable category of persons benefitted. Generally, this is state senators/representatives, state officers, state employees, immediate family members, and guests. If a combination of these groups are in attendance, or a combination of covered and non-covered individuals, the expenditure should be divided appropriately based on the numbers in each category. If all members of the legislature are invited, the entire expenditure is reported under that category. As long as all members are invited, it does not matter how many actually attend.

Finally, keep in mind the detailed reporting threshold. If the per person costs exceed the threshold, currently $132.60, the individuals must be identified and other details disclosed.

For more information, please see the “Reports Required” and “Gift Law” sections of the Lobbying Compliance Laws online  publication for Texas. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

The Connecticut Legislature adjourned sine die on June 7 after passing a two-year $51 billion state budget.

The budget includes historic cuts to personal income taxes and the reduction is predicted to benefit approximately 1 million of the state’s 1.7 million income tax filers.

The new budget also boosts state aid for local school districts by an additional $329 million.

Once the budget is signed by Gov. Lamont, it will take effect July 1.

This does affect lobbying reporting. The final monthly activity report is due July 10.

Alabama lawmakers officially concluded the 2023 legislative session on June 6.

Legislation that passed included a grocery tax reduction, an exemption from state income tax for overtime work, and a tax rebate for both individual and married tax filers.

The $3 billion budget surplus ultimately gave way to what lawmakers called historic tax relief.