The Maryland House of Delegates elected Del. Adrienne Jones as the new House speaker on May 1.

Last month, Gov. Larry Hogan called the special session to elect a successor to the late Michael E. Busch, who passed away on April 7.

Del. Jones was the speaker pro tem and had been Busch’s second-in-command for 16 years.

The special session was delayed for more than two hours as Democrats battled over who should succeed the longtime speaker.

After much debate, Del. Jones won the nomination and was subsequently elected to the position, making her the first female and first African American speaker in state history.

Gov. Larry Hogan signed House Bill 679 on April 30.

The bill prohibits a state official from unlawfully harassing or discriminating against a regulated lobbyist based on any characteristic protected by law.

Additionally, House Bill 679 prohibits a regulated lobbyist from discriminating or harassing a state official or employee.

The Department of General Services will be able to revoke the special access to the state legislative complex granted to a regulated lobbyist who violates this prohibition.

House Bill 679 becomes effective October 1.

The Montana Legislature adjourned Sine Die on April 25, 2019, three days before it was scheduled to adjourn on the 90th legislative day.

During the session, Senate Bill 150 passed changing the method for filing and reviewing ethics complaints.

The Legislature also passed Senate Bill 326 adding a new provision prohibiting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Included in the prohibitions are expenditures for electioneering communications.

Other notable bills of the 375 passed during the 66^th Legislature include a re-authorization of the state’s Medicaid expansion and several anti-abortion bills likely to be vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock.

The Iowa Legislature adjourned sine die April 27 after a 104 day session.

In addition to legalizing sports betting and instituting limits on local government property taxes, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill to modify disclosure requirements for gifts or bequests to the state.

House File 393 requires the governor and executive departments to file the gift report electronically with the Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board if receiving a gift or bequest on behalf of the state of over $50.

The bill removes filing requirements with the General Assembly and for any gift less than $50.

More ethics and campaign finance changes happening at the state level. Check out which states are making moves in today’s NYCU Video Digest!

The Washington Legislature adjourned sine die April 28.

During the 105-day legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1195 amending the definitions of commercial advertiser and independent expenditure.

House Bill 1195 requires independent expenditures to be reported electronically with the Public Disclosure Commission if the aggregate value of similar expenditures from the same source exceeds $1,000.

The Legislature also passed House Bill 1379 raising the threshold for identifying and disclosing the top five contributors of a political advertisement sponsored by a political committee from $700 to $1,000.

House Bill 1379 requires political advertisements to disclose the sponsor’s top five contributors and if any are political committees the sponsor must also disclose the top three donors to those contributors.

The bills have been delivered to the Gov. Jay Inslee to sign, veto part of it, or veto all of it.

On April 24, a bill relating to lobbying activities by political subdivisions was introduced into the Iowa Senate.

Senate Bill 639 would enact new statutes concerning political subdivisions contracting with or otherwise compensating a person to lobby on behalf of the political subdivision.

The legislation requires authorities for a political subdivision to use requests for proposals to solicit lobbying services, limits the duration for lobbying contracts to five years, and prohibits renewals of contracts without new requests for proposals.

Additionally, the bill requires public disclosure of the lobbying contract.

The proposed legislation defines “political subdivision” as a county, city, township, community college, area education agency, or school district.

The legislation also defines “lobbying” as direct action to encourage the passage, defeat, approval, veto, or modification of legislation, a rule, or an executive order being considered by the general assembly, a state agency, or a statewide elected official.

The city of Chicago’s lobbyist ethics training for 2018-2019 is now available.

The deadline to complete the mandatory training is before 11:59 p.m. on Monday, July 1.

The ethics training course is available at the Chicago Board of Elections website.

The first regular session of the 121st Indiana General Assembly adjourned sine die on Wednesday, April 24.

The legislative session lasted 112 days, with adjournment coming five days before the statutory April 29 deadline.

During the last day of the session, legislators approved more than three dozen bills including a two-year state budget.

Additionally, the legislature passed a gaming bill that legalizes sports wagering.

The second regular session of the 121st General Assembly is scheduled to convene on January 2, 2020.

An organization day scheduled for November 9, 2019.

This week, the regular session of the 92nd Arkansas General Assembly adjourned sine die.

Lasting a total of 88 days, the session ended Wednesday, April 24.

The 93rd General Assembly is scheduled to convene on Monday, January 11, 2021.

A special election will take place on November 5 to fill vacancies in House Districts 99 and 158.

Rep. Jean Evans resigned from District 99 to become executive director of the Missouri Republican Party.

Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick left District 158 to serve as state treasurer.

Last week, the Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission voted to raise contribution limits.

For statewide elected offices the contribution limits raised from $6,600 to $7,000 for primary and general elections.

Primary and general runoff elections limits were raised from $3,900 to $4,100 for statewide elected offices.

Contribution limits for all other offices were also raised from $2,600 to $2,800 for primary and general elections and from $1,400 to $1,500 for primary and general runoff elections.

The previous contribution limits had not changed since 2016.

Gov. Larry Hogan signed Senate Bill 79 on April 18.

The bill requires lobbyists to file registrations and certain reports electronically with the State Ethics Commission.

The State Ethics Commission is also required to develop procedures regarding these electronic filings by lobbyists.

Gov. Hogan also signed an executive order calling for the Maryland General Assembly to convene a special session on Wednesday, May 1.

The special session will allow the House of Delegates to elect a successor to the late Speaker Michael E. Busch, who passed away on April 7.

The Texas Legislature is currently considering a bill to allow its counties to enforce local ethics rules.

Senate Bill 710, the Local Government Reform Act, seeks to allow each county to adopt an ethics code enforceable by a local ethics commission.

There is a similar law already in existence allowing local ethics enforcement in counties with a population over 800,000 and an international border.

El Paso County is the only county currently meeting this description.

Also moving through the Legislature is House Bill 1495, aiming to give ethics enforcement powers to El Paso and Montgomery Counties.

If passed, both bills would go into effect on September 1, 2019.