Gov. Larry Hogan introduced several legislative acts to state lawmakers on January 19, 2017, including the Public Integrity Act, the Liquor Board Reform Act, and the Legislative Transparency Act. The bills are seen as a reaction to conspiracy and bribery scandals lawmakers were involved with in 2016.

If approved, the Public Integrity Act would keep lawmakers from using legislation to help their own businesses, and also prohibit legislators, appointees, and other staff from working as a lobbyist within a year of exiting their posts. The Liquor Board Reform Act would require state senators to make the committee nominations. And, under the Legislative Transparency Act, the House and Senate would have to stream their sessions live via video. Currently, the sessions are live, but just in audio format.

The Denver City Council was expected to accept ethics changes on January 17, but postponed the vote until February 21.

New gift rules proposed by Councilman Kevin Flynn will impose a $300 limit per year on what officials and employees may accept. Councilmembers voiced concerns about what gifts qualify.

To eliminate the confusion, officials are going to address their questions face-to-face before the official vote a month from now.

A bill introduced in the Rhode Island House earlier this month would prohibit lobbyists from making any political contribution to any member of the General Assembly in any year during the period from January 1 through July 1, unless the Legislature has adjourned its business for the year prior to July 1 of the session year.

House Bill 5036, introduced by Representatives John Lombardi and Raymond A. Hull, amends Rhode Island Revised Statute §22-10, a part of the lobbying law repealed and replaced on January 1, 2017, with the Rhode Island Lobbying Reform Act. The Act repealed the lobbying laws in Title 22 and Title 42 of the state’s statutes and enacted a new consolidated code section covering both the legislative and executive branches of government.

The bill is currently in the House Judiciary committee and would take effect upon its passage.

Ethics reform legislation passed the Missouri House Tuesday afternoon with wide bipartisan support.

House Bill 60 would prohibit lobbyists and lobbyist principals from making expenditures for state public officials or for their staff, spouses, or dependent children.

An exception would remain for event expenditures if all members of the Legislature or all statewide officials are invited in writing. For clarity, the bill would subsequently remove any unnecessary lobbyist reporting requirements.

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

According to a memorandum from the Alabama House Bill Clerk, lobbyists and state agency representatives will be issued identification badges.

After registering with the Ethics Commission, a lobbyist or state agency representative must sign up with the Alabama House to receive the new badges.

Badges may be acquired by calling House Bill Clerk Dildred Bass at (334) 242-7616, or in-person at Bass’s office located in the Alabama State House, Office of the Clerk, Room 504-B.

The Senate Committee on Legislative Procedure decided to table consideration of a proposed new rule to ban lobbyists from the chamber and adjacent hallways during working hours.

The measure came up for a vote yesterday and the committee voted unanimously to let the lobbyists stay. Lawmakers could decide to reconsider adoption of the proposal any time during the legislative session.

Five City Council members recently asked the Los Angeles Ethics Commission to address the issue of real estate developers making political contributions.

Developers can appear to be benefiting when elected officials they’ve supported grant them land-use perks such as zoning exemptions.

This campaign finance reform initiative focuses on restricting donations specifically from developers, contractors, and subcontractors whose projects are being reviewed by the city.

Del. Eric Luedtke is sponsoring a bill to allow the State Board of Elections to borrow dollars from the general fund for the Fair Campaign Financing Fund if money runs short before a gubernatorial election.

House Bill 72 provides for the borrowed money to be returned via online contributions, voluntary tax form checkoffs, and penalties. Del. Jimmy Tarlau is expected to introduce an additional bill to incentivize candidates to avoid large donations of $250 or more from a single contributor.

A special election will be held February 28, 2017, to fill General Assembly vacancies.

Seats for Senate Districts 2 and 32 as well as House District 115 were vacated when the legislators resigned to take other positions within state government.

Sen. Eric Coleman resigned to seek a state judgeship, Sen. Rob Kane hopes to be appointed state auditor, and Rep. Steven Dargan will serve on the Board of Pardons and Paroles. All three lawmakers won re-election in November.

Corpus Christi, Texas City Council will meet Tuesday to discuss new recommendations to the ethics code to further tighten rules for City Council members. The Council unanimously approved the new code during a first vote last week.

If approved on the second vote, it will be formally adopted by City Council. If adopted, the modified code would ban council members from appointing people to city committees and boards if the appointee contributed more than $2,700 to the council member’s campaign in the previous election. This would not ban the contributor from appointment, but would require a council member who did not receive contributions meeting the threshold to appoint the person.

Additionally, the prospective code broadens who falls within what is called the circle of influence and indicates a conflict of interest if a person with a specific relationship to a council member would profit from a council member’s vote. The current circle of influence includes direct family members but could be expanded to cover employers of family members and household members if the new code is adopted.

Legislators will attempt to pass a major ethics reform for the second time after their effort during the 2015 legislative session failed. The plan gained wide spread support in 2015 but was ultimately defeated in the House due to a provision increasing donor disclosure requirements for dark money groups.

The new reform package, Senate Bill 14, has four main provisions to:

• Prohibit politicians convicted of felony corruption charges from collecting state pensions
• Require disclosure if companies a lobbyist is tied to have received government contracts or served as bond counsel to a governmental entity
• Decrease the amount of money lobbyists can spend on food and drinks for legislators without triggering disclosure
• Ban registered lobbyists from running for elected office

Sen. Van Taylor who is sponsoring Senate Bill 14 has said reform is needed beyond the provisions of the reform package and will continue to file additional ethics bills. While Senate Bill 14 has not yet been filed, Taylor has filed Senate Bill 137 aiming to prohibit state agencies from using state funds to employ a person who is registered as a lobbyist or who engages in lobbying activities.

Gov. Greg Abbott supports the passage of an ethics package.

Photo of the Texas State Capitol By LoneStarMike via Wikimedia Commons

New Mexico lawmakers have recently introduced several ethics bills.

House Bill 119 would make it unlawful for a state legislator or legislative candidate to solicit or accept a contribution, even absent any political purpose.

House Bill 73 seeks to create a two-year revolving door provision prohibiting former statewide elected officials, public regulation commissioners, legislators, and cabinet secretaries from accepting compensation as lobbyists for a period of two years after terminating their service. The bill would also prohibit a lobbyist employer from compensating any of the aforementioned persons during the two-year period.

State Sen. Daniel A. Ivey-Soto introduced Senate Bill 72, also known as the Public Accountability Act (PAA). If passed, the PAA would create the Public Accountability Board (PAB) with enforcement powers over the compliance provisions of various public acts including, but not limited to, those related to campaign finance reporting, lobbying, public accountability, ethics, and procurement.

The PAB would serve as an adjunct agency with the secretary of state, members of the board of commissioners of the state bar, the governor, and the chief justice of the supreme court each appointing three members, respectively. Among its provisions, the act amends the definition of lobbyist and prohibits lobbyists and government contractors from serving on the PAB. If passed, several of the sections would be effective as soon as July 1, 2017, while the PAB would not gain enforcement powers over many of the listed acts until July 1, 2019.

A proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution seeks to slow the revolving door between public officials and lobbyists.

Currently, members of the legislature, statewide officials, and appointed officials must wait two years before lobbying on behalf of a principal.

The amendment, PCB 17-01, would extend the cooling-off period to six years. The change, proponents say, would prevent officials from ingratiating themselves to lobbyists in hopes of landing a high paying position after leaving office.

The amendment is being considered by the House Public Integrity and Ethics Committee and will be voted on at the Committee’s next meeting.

Lawmakers in Washington have introduced two bills to enhance campaign finance disclosure and ethics laws.

Senate Bill 5108 aims to increase transparency of “gray money” by limiting political action committees from receiving 70 percent or more of their contributions from other political committees.

Another proposal, House Bill 1159, seeks to establish revolving door provisions requiring former state officials to take a yearlong “cooling-off” period before they can become lobbyists.