On August 3, Gov. Rick Snyder called for a special election to fill the House District 75 seat, vacated by State Rep. Brando Dillon on the same day. The special election will be held on March 8, 2016, with the primary election to be held on November 3, 2015.

On August 6, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued an opinion finding 65 bills from the 2015 legislative session were vetoed by Gov. Paul LePage too late to prevent the legislation from taking effect.

Last month, the governor had returned the 65 bills to the Legislature on July 16, the last day of the session. However, the bills were returned beyond the 10 days, excluding Sundays, a governor has to veto legislation once he or she receives the bills.The court found the bills were beyond the ten days provided for gubernatorial objection and became law effective ninety days after the adjournment sine die of the Legislature, except where enacted as emergency legislation.

The opinion was made at the request of the governor.

Voters will decide whether to increase the city’s minimum wage on November 3.

If passed, the initiative would increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020.

Opponents of the measure say such a change could cause businesses to leave the city. There is currently a group working to put a veto referendum on the November ballot.

Photo of the JC Nichols Fountain in Kansas City by Henri-Léon Gréber on Wikimedia Commons.

A special election will be announced to fill the vacant District 43 seat in the state senate. Sen. Ronald Ramsey is leaving the post after being appointed judge of the new DeKalb County traffic court.

The date of the special election has not yet been determined, but must be called for within 10 days of the seat being vacated. The election must then be between 30 and 60 days later.

Legislation banning paid lobbyists from serving on boards, commissions, or committees was introduced in Common Council on July 7.

Currently, legislative committees are comprised of alders and appointed city residents. As appointed members are chosen based on expertise, lobbyists who are appointed often have potential conflicts of interest between their committee duties and their activities for paying clients.

By banning paid lobbyists, the sponsors hope to remove possible undue influence and ensure good government practices.

On July 29, City Council passed ordinance O2015-4685, amending the city ethics code.

The amendment requires the Office of the Legislative Inspector General (OLIG) to deliver all evidence collected during an investigation to the Board of Ethics before the board decides if city ethics rules have been violated. This would include the names and addresses of complainants and confidential testimony.

As the board will provide collected evidence to the accused, there is concern the change will have a chilling effect on potential whistleblowers, leave witnesses open to possible retaliation, and weaken the OLIG’s ability to enforce the ethics ordinance.

On July 27, city of Austin, Texas Councilman Don Zimmerman filed suit seeking a preliminary injunction against city campaign finance provisions relating to blackout periods. The current law only allows officeholders, candidates, and their respective committees to accept campaign contributions during the last 180 days before an election or recall election. Zimmerman asserts the blackout period banning contributions in the city violates his First Amendment rights of free speech. On February 2, 2015, in Gordon v. City of Houston, a federal district court declared a similar ordinance in the city of Houston as facially unconstitutional and permanently enjoined the city from enforcing the ordinance.

Zimmerman v. City of Austin, Texas, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, also claims the law’s imposition of aggregate limits of the total contributions a candidate can accept from sources other than natural persons eligible to vote in a postal zip code completely or partially within the Austin city limits is unconstitutional, creates a burden on campaigns, and does not relate to any threat of corruption. The lawsuit also challenges a 90 day requirement for campaign account terminations. “Political speech is the very core of the First Amendment, but Austin’s campaign finance system seeks to control debate by controlling fundraising and spending,” stated Zimmerman’s attorney, Jerad Najvar, in a press release.

Photo of the Austin, Texas skyline by Erik A. Ellison on Wikimedia Commons.

Gov. Scott Walker has set a special election date for the 99^th Assembly District seat. Rep. Chris Kapenga vacated the seat after his election to the state Senate in July.

The special election will be held September 29. If a primary is required, it will be held September 1.

A third special session of the year has been called in Florida so lawmakers can redraw potentially unconstitutional Senate district lines. The session will take place from October 19 to November 6, 2015.

The Florida Supreme Court has already ruled the House district map unconstitutional, prompting a special session in August to redraw the lines. The court has yet to instruct the Legislature on the Senate map, but changes will be made preemptively based on the ruling.

A trial was set to begin in September following a lawsuit filed by The League of Women Voters and Common Cause claiming the Senate map violates the Fair District amendment of the Florida Constitution.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of Rep. Chaka Fattah on several charges including bribery; conspiracy to commit wire, honest services, bank, and mail fraud; and money laundering. The Philadelphia congressman is accused of misappropriating federal grant money, arranging a federal grant in lieu of a payment to a political consultant, and other acts such as using the money to pay off his son’s student loans.

The indictment also includes four members of Rep. Fattah’s campaign and congressional staffs.

The congressman has served 11 terms and is the ranking member on the Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee.

Mainers for Accountable Elections, an activist group advocating for stricter campaign finance law, has developed a ballot measure to be considered by voters in the November 2015 election. The measure proposes to establish gubernatorial transition committees to help finance a governor-elect’s inauguration; increase penalties for late filings and certain other campaign finance violations; and require independent expenditure communications to include a conspicuous statement listing the top three funders of the communication.

The measure also proposes several amendments to the Maine Clean Election Act related to public funding for candidates. The most ambitious section of the measure proposes to require lawmakers to eliminate $6 million in corporate tax breaks in order to fund the expansion of the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.

The measure will appear as “Question 1” on the November 2015 ballot.

Gov. Jay Nixon has set the special election date for three vacant seats in the General Assembly. The 29th District, 36th District, and the 89th District special elections will be held on November 3, 2015.

Rep. Noel Torpey resigned from his 29th District seat to take a job as a lobbyist. Rep. Kevin McManus resigned from his 36th District seat following his election to the City Council of Kansas City. Rep. John Diehl Jr. resigned from his 89th District seat after admitting to inappropriate texts with an intern.

On July 27, 2015, a jury found state Rep. Steve Kraus guilty of fifth-degree felony theft. Under Ohio law, Kraus was automatically removed from his seat in the Ohio House upon his conviction.

Kraus, who also works as an auctioneer and real estate agent, was accused of removing items from the home of an elderly woman. He asserted he had been granted permission to enter the home and it was his fiduciary duty to remove the items.

However, the woman’s real estate agent stated Kraus was only given permission to enter the garage to photograph an antique car.

Kraus faces up to 12 months in prison. The sentencing will be held on August 21.

Photo of Steve Kraus courtesy of the Ohio House of Representatives website.

A voter initiative is being developed in Orange County, California, to create a county ethics commission. The commission would enforce campaign finance limits for countywide offices as well as public ethics, including gifts and conflicts of interest.

The commission would also have a hotline where citizens could provide tips regarding ethics issues and would have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.

If the initiative qualifies, it would appear on the November 2016 ballot. A version of the proposed initiative is available here.