Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed three bills relating to elections and campaign finance on January 24.

Assembly Bill 776 requires limited liability companies making expenditures for a political purpose to file with the State Board of Elections the identity of all direct and indirect owners of the membership interests and the proportion of ownership in the LLC.

Assembly Bill 779 creates a consolidated statewide primary election date and changes the protocol for calling a special election.

Senate Bill 1102 enacts early voting in the state.

Assembly Bill 779 and Senate Bill 1102 are effective immediately, and Assembly Bill 776 is effective January 31.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed three executive orders, changing former Gov. Bill Haslam’s policies on gifts to state employees, ethics disclosures for interactions with the General Assembly, and government hiring, among others.

Lee added to Haslam’s policy on gifts by including “beverage” and “refreshment” on the list of banned gifts that can be accepted by a state employee from those intending to conduct business with the state agency where the employee works.

Lee’s Executive Order 2 expands the scope of employees required to file ethical disclosures by adding senior members and all employees who regularly interact with the General Assembly.

Lee’s Executive Order 3 requires human resources and labor officials to train executive branch managers on nondiscrimination employment practices within 120 days and with “reasonable frequency” afterward.

Under Executive Order 4, Lee’s anti-discrimination policy in government hiring practices changes “gender” to “sex” and adds pregnancy, veteran’s status, and any other “category protected and/or federal civil rights laws”.

The executive orders were issued on January 24.

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the dates to hold a special election to fill the vacancy in House District 7.

The special primary election will take place on April 9, while the special general election will be on June 18.

The seat was vacated when Halsey Beshears resigned in order to serve as the head of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced he has scheduled a special election to fill Pennsylvania’s U.S. House District 12 seat for May 21.

Last week, Rep. Tom Marino announced he would be resigning to take a job in the private sector.

The special election coincides with the state’s primary election date.

Rep. John Kavanagh introduced House Bill 2038 to the Arizona Legislature.

The bill defines “hosted event” to include an event or function where one or more state officers or employees are invited and attend organized and paid for by a principal.

Event or function includes a party, dinner, or luncheon, but does not include an athletic event or other entertainment.

A hosted event must be reported by the actual cost incurred for food, beverage, and other tangible benefits but do not include the overall sponsorship amount incurred by the principal or lobbyist.

Opponents to the bill say only reporting the food and beverage amount and not including the price of the ticket to the event is misleading.

A Chicago-based real estate firm is challenging Illinois pay-to-play law in federal court as unconstitutional after losing a contract when its founder made contributions to gubernatorial candidates.

Plaintiffs, The Habitat Company and its founder Daniel Levin, lost a one-year management contract for a mixed-income building after Chief Procurement Officer Ellen Daley of the Illinois Procurement Office notified the firm that Levin’s campaign contributions to gubernatorial candidates in 2018 violated the state procurement code.

In Illinois, pay-to-play law prohibits government contractors or affiliated persons from making any contribution to a political committee established to promote the candidacy of the officeholder responsible for awarding the contracts.

The complaint alleges constitutional violations of Levin’s First Amendment rights of speech and association and Fourteenth Amendment rights of equal protection and due process of law.

Plaintiffs seek a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to void Daley’s decision and prevent the Illinois Housing Development Authority from entering into a property management contract with another company.

Three lobbying bills have been introduced in New Mexico.

House Bill 131 would require a post-session lobbying report due after the Legislature adjourns.

House Bill 140 would require periodic reports with estimated upcoming lobbying expenses for the year as well as actual previous expenses incurred.

Senate Bill 191 amends the current expenditure reporting threshold to include individual expenditures of less than $100 by lobbyists or the employer.

Gov. Greg Abbott has set a special election for House District 125 to occur on February 12.

State Rep. Justin Rodriguez resigned after being appointed as a Bexar County commissioner.

Early voting begins on January 28.

The Los Angeles Ethics Commission announced it will be taking another look at a proposal to ban certain developer contributions to elected officials and candidates after Los Angeles City Council members revived the idea.

Six council-members reintroduced the new motion last week, with Council President Herb Wesson seconding it.

The motion prohibits developers from making political contributions to city elected officials or candidates from the date of application for the property is filed until 12 months following the final resolution of the application.

The Ethics Commission also announced it could include restrictions on nonindividual entity contributors and payments made by third parties at the behest of elected officials.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed several campaign finance and ethics changes in his executive budget.

These recommendations include creating a code of conduct for lobbyists and campaign finance reform.

The lobbyist’s code of conduct would include lowering the registration threshold, require reporting of campaign contributions, increase the revolving door provision from two to five years, along with additional disclosures and penalties.

Cuomo also called for banning corporate contributions, as well as lowering individual contributions to statewide and General Assembly candidates.

He also urged the Legislature to pass a revision that closes the Limited Liability Company loophole and prevents LLCs from contributing more than $5,000 annually.

Sen. Richard Alloway announced his retirement from Senate District 33 effective February 28.

Sen. Alloway served the state Senate for over 10 years.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will set a special election at a date to be determined.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Alloway’s term until 2020.

Rep. Tom Marino announced his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives on January 17.

Marino said he has accepted a job in the private sector, and his last day in Congress will be January 23.

Gov. Tom Wolf will have 10 days to set a date for a special election to fill the vacancy in the 12th Congressional District.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a special election to fill the vacancy in the 1st Senate District.

The seat was vacated by Ted Gaines, who was sworn in as a member of the California State Board of Equalization.

The special primary election will be held on March 26, and, if necessary, a special runoff election will be on June 4.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced her campaign finance policy priorities in front of the Colorado House State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee at the January 17 committee hearing.

Shedding light on secret political spending, Griswold’s policy agenda calls for stronger disclosure by expanding the “paid for by” disclosure requirements on political advertisements and exercising the Secretary of State’s audit and enforcement power to act on campaign finance, ballot access and lobbyist violations.

Griswold’s agenda also seeks to prevent potential candidates from raising unchecked and uncapped contributions into “independent” committees and ensure that independent expenditure and other committees can be held accountable for campaign finance violations.

Additionally, Griswold seeks to end the influence of powerful interest groups and lobbyists over candidates and elected officials through contributions to political entities.