Massachusetts lobbyists using a LinkedIn online discussion group are not prohibited from soliciting contributions for candidates from the group.

The Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) issued an opinion, AO-12-03, on November 20, detailing when a lobbyist can solicit contributions on LinkedIn without being considered a regulated intermediary or conduit bundling contributions. The OCPF considers the use of social media, such as LinkedIn, as a “personal service” that is generally exempt from campaign finance limitations or disclosure requirements.

Asking members of a lobbyist’s LinkedIn group “to contribute directly to candidates does not involve ‘arranging’ for the making of contributions” requiring application the law,” the opinion holds. However, a lobbyist could be regulated if contributions are either “‘delivered, whether in person or by mail [by the regulated intermediary], to a particular candidate or such candidate’s authorized committee or agent’ or made ‘in a manner that identifies in writing the person who arranged the making of the contributions.’” For example, in the instance of direct contributions to a candidate, if a lobbyists “actually instructs the contributors to identity, with a note on their contribution checks, the legislative or executive agent as the person responsible for arranging the contribution, the legislative or executive agent would be subject” to regulation.

The restrictions for bundling apply only if at least one of the bundled contributions is more than $156. The OCPF also opined that persons who are not lobbyists may use LinkedIn or similar sites to solicit contributions for candidates, with certain restrictions for public employees.

Outgoing senate president Tom Niehaus has introduced a bill to overhaul the state’s ethics law. Senate Bill 391, if passed, will:

• Increase the lobbyist registration fee to $35 (will take effect 12/1/14 if passed);
• Change the registration period for executive and retirement system lobbyists to two years, expiring on December 31 of even-numbered years (will take effect 12/1/14 if passed);
• Codify the percentage of time a lobbyist must spend on lobbying before being required to register;
• Increase the itemizing threshold for lobbyist expenditure reporting to $100;
• Exclude maintenance of office facilities and compensation paid to legislative agents from the definition of expenditure; and
• Increase the limit on gifts to public officials to $250, aggregated per calendar year.

The bill also provides additional requirements for financial disclosures from public officials.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is continuing to overhaul the city’s ethics code by introducing another ordinance based on his ethics task force’s recommendations. While this proposed ordinance deals mostly with governmental employees and elected officials, it would also bring some changes to lobbyist registration and reporting.

The ordinance, if approved, will change the definition of a lobbyist. Currently, volunteers, employees, officers, and directors of a not-for-profit entity are exempted from registering as a lobbyist. However, the proposed ordinance will eliminate that exemption and require those members of a not-for-profit entity who seek to influence legislative or administrative action to register as a lobbyist. The proposal does allow the ethics board to create objective criteria allowing for a reduction or a waiver of the registration fees for not-for-profits lobbyists.

Finally, under the proposal, lobbyists would be required to disclose the actual amount of compensation received from employers. Currently, the compensation needs only to be rounded to the nearest $1,000.

Photo of the Daley Plaza and Chicago City Hall by JeremyA on Wikipedia.

The Tallahassee city commission has approved the volunteers appointed to the newly-created ethics advisory panel.

The panel will spend six months reviewing the city’s policies on ethics, financial disclosure, and transparency to determine whether to keep the current policies or adopt new ones.

The meetings will be publicly noticed, and the panel has already invited several outside experts to give feedback.

On November 20, 2012, lawmakers met for Organization Day, the first official day of the 118th General Assembly.

Lawmakers will reconvene on January 7 for the start of the legislative session, which must be adjourned by April 29, 2013.

Organization Day is largely procedural, including the ceremonial swearing in of new and reelected members.

Photo of the Indiana State House by Jasont82 in Wikipedia Creative Commons.

The Board of Commissioners of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has issued an order for lobbyists with unpaid fines, fees, and unfiled reports.

The commission will deny lobbyist renewal for 2013 to individuals registered with outstanding fees for previous registrations, supplemental registrations, or identification cards.

The commission will also deny lobbyist renewal to individuals with unpaid fines or unfiled reports previously due.

The order goes into effect on December 16, 2012.

A new executive director for the Oklahoma Ethics Commission may be selected next week.

According to The Oklahoman, commissioners intend to interview the final four applicants, all from Oklahoma, for the position on November 27.

Outgoing executive director Marilyn Hughes, who has held the position for nearly 25 years, is leaving the job on November 30.

Also retiring on November 30 are the Ethics Commission’s general counsel, Rebecca Adams, and its investigator, Darey Roberts. Ms. Adams was general counsel for the last 21 years and Mr. Roberts its investigator for 17 years.

An old lawsuit has been resurrected that could leave Washington’s public disclosure law involving grassroots lobbying in jeopardy. Two groups, Conservative Enthusiasts and Many Cultures, One Message, sued the Washington Public Disclosure Commission in 2010 claiming their free speech rights were violated by the law requiring grassroots campaigns to register and report with the state.

The case was dismissed by a magistrate for lack of standing. However, last week, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court heard the appeal on the dismissal and will soon be making a decision on the law in question.

At issue in the case will be whether the law is unconstitutionally vague. The law defines lobbying, among other things, as attempting to influence the passage of legislation. Included in the definition of legislation is “any other matter that may be the subject of action” by the legislature. It is this language that is the nature of the lawsuit. The two groups claim that the language is overly vague and includes “an endless possibility of matters.”

Now, it is up to the appellate court to decide whether the case will go back to the trial court for a hearing on the merits and whether the dismissal will be upheld.

A special election will be held to fill the House District 17 seat, left vacant by Tom Corbin following the November 6, 2012 election. Corbin, elected to both the House and Senate, resigned as a state representative November 12th to become a state senator.

Filing for the open seat begins November 30th and closes December 10, 2012. Primaries will be January 22nd followed by possible runoffs on February 5, 2013. The special election will be held on March 12, 2013.

The New York State Board of Elections has approved and adopted rules concerning independent expenditures, but many feel the rules won’t do a thing to slow down the campaign money train. According to the rules, people making independent expenditures will have to register and report as if they were a political committee.

Independent expenditures are defined by the state as expenditures that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate that the candidate did not authorize in any way. Expressly advocated is defined as containing express words calling for the election or defeat of a candidate. Therefore, committees can run advertisements that avoid using certain words and can escape registration and reporting requirements.

Bill Mahoney, a research coordinator for a New York good government group said the new rules “will make it even easier for independent expenditure committees, Super PACs, to hide who’s paying for them, and because of that it will lead to language that is much more harsh than what we’ve heard before.”

The Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform is holding town hall meetings throughout the state to encourage citizen feedback on comprehensive ethics reform to be introduced in the 2013 legislative session. Senator Josh McKoon plans to pre-file ethics legislation in four separate bills by mid-December.

The legislation will include a comprehensive bill, a $100 gift limit bill, and two constitutional amendments to regulate funding for the ethics commission and to authorize a statewide grand jury to investigate corruption.

The next stop on the town hall tour will be in Columbus on November 27th.

The Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform includes Common Cause Georgia, Georgia Conservatives in Action, Georgia Tea Party Patriots, League of Women Voters in Georgia, and Georgia Watch.

Mayor Joshua J. Cohen has introduced legislation to revise the city’s ethics code, based upon recommendations prepared by the City Ethics Commission. Ordinance 41-12 will grant the commission additional power to impose penalties for ethics violations and will prohibit city officials from accepting tickets to sporting events.

The proposed legislation was reviewed and approved by the State Ethics Commission in late October. Annapolis is required by a 2011 state law to revise certain provisions of its ethics code.

The clerk of the legislature’s office is implementing voluntary electronic filing for lobbyist registration and reporting for the 2013 legislative session.

Paper filings will be accepted through 2014, and mandatory electronic filing will be implemented January 1, 2015.

Governor Steve Beshear has set December 18, 2012 as the date of a special election to fill the 16th district senate seat.

The seat was held by senate president David Williams, who resigned upon his appointment to circuit judge.

The timing of the election will allow the seat to be filled before the start of the 2013 legislative session.