Councilman Mike O’Brien has introduced a bill to the city council in hopes of limiting the advantages incumbents currently have in city elections. The bill, which has been placed into committee, would limit the election cycle, limit the time frame a person can raise money for a campaign, and limit the amount of money a candidate may keep at the end of the election cycle.

The new election cycle would start on January 1st of the year that office is up for election and end on April 30th following the general election. Also, a candidate would be forced to get rid of the money in his or her war chest following the end of the election cycle. Councilman O’Brien believes this will limit the advantage an incumbent has over challengers and encourage more people to run for city office.

The bill would take effect 30 days after the mayor signs it, however any money received by a candidate prior to the effective date may be retained until the next election for that office.

Concord, New Hampshire Mayor Jim Bouley is calling for a review of the city’s ethics ordinance enacted just last year.

According to the Concorde Monitor, the mayor has requested the city council ask the Board of Ethics to assess the ordinance to “ensure a fair and efficient review of ethics complaints.” Two complaints filed against the mayor were recently dismissed by the board.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for tonight.

House Speaker David Ralston will propose a full ban on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers when the legislature convenes next year. Last month, voters overwhelmingly supported the idea of capping lobbyist gifts in nonbinding referendums held during the July 31st primaries.

However, Ralston believes capping the value of lobbyist gifts would do little to stem the influence of special interests.

The speaker intends to form a group of House members to study how other states have implemented gift bans with hopes of passing a bill early in the legislative session beginning in January.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office has advised the Secretary of State against restricting contributions to political committees that only make independent expenditures.

While New Hampshire’s statute R.S.A. §664:4 sets contribution limits for political committees, the law does not distinguish between political committees in general and committees making only independent expenditures.

The Attorney General made this recommendation, and reviewed the current status of law concerning independent expenditures, in a letter to the Secretary of State on August 1, 2012. The Attorney General also stated in the letter that enforcement of “contributions to any political committee is a fact-specific determination that can only be made on a case-by-case basis.”

Governor Mark Dayton and the leaders of the state legislature have tentatively agreed on August 24 for a special session date. The legislature will convene in order to appropriate monies to disaster relief for counties that were ravaged by flooding earlier this year.

The date is still tentative as the final damage numbers are still being totaled. The federal government will supply 75% of the funding if the state picks up the last 25% of the cost.

Once the final numbers are set, Governor Dayton will have to officially call the legislature back to work.

Governor Robert Bentley has set the special election timeline for the House District 30 seat. The seat was vacated by Representative Blaine Galliher, who resigned to become the governor’s legislative director.

The primary will be held October 23, 2012, and the special general election held December 11, 2012 if no runoff is needed. If a runoff election is required, it will be held December 11, 2012, and the special general election held January 29, 2013.

The governor said in a statement that the timeline will allow the new lawmaker to be in place for the legislative session beginning February 5, 2013.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill he hopes will help ease the financial burdens facing some local governments within the state. Senate Bill 5525, which was passed by the state legislature in late June, allows all New York cities and counties to piggyback contacts from other cities and counties.

If a public contract already exists, a city or county may choose to use the contract already in existence, instead of having to solicit the work itself. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the original contract must have followed all state and local laws involving the procurement of government contracts, including competitive bidding requirements.

The law takes effect immediately.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Ohio’s ban on political contributions from doctors who treat Medicaid patients to candidates for state attorney general or county prosecutor is unconstitutional.

The provision was designed to prevent fraud by banning contributions to those officials who prosecute Medicaid fraud, but the court held that the prohibition was a violation of doctors’ free speech rights.

The secretary of state’s office announced it was reviewing the decision and had no further comment on the case.

The state supreme court has held Nebraska’s Campaign Finance Limitation Act (CFLA) unconstitutional. The CFLA allowed candidates participating in the public financing program to receive additional public funds if their privately-funded opponents exceeded certain spending limits.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission issued a statement in August 2011 that it would not enforce the CFLA for the 2012 elections after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a similar Arizona law. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning then filed an action asking the state supreme court to rule on the CFLA’s constitutionality.

The supreme court also determined that the public financing portion of the CFLA was not severable from the other provisions of the law, including those providing for aggregate contribution limits and rules governing acceptance of contributions from independent groups, and declared the entire law unconstitutional.

Republicans and Democrats voted overwhelming to limit gifts from lobbyists to lawmakers. The issue was among several nonbinding questions appearing on Republican and Democratic primary ballots.

The vote will not change state law, but it may put political pressure on lawmakers to enact gift limits. Unofficial results show 87 percent of Republicans voted to cap gifts at $100, while 71 percent of Democrats voted in support of setting some kind of limit on what lobbyists can spend.

The New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to approve draft regulations and guidelines for implementing the public disclosure requirement for lobbyists and their clients. The commission’s interpretation of the state’s new lobbying act states that starting July 1 certain lobbyists and lobbying employers must disclose individual funding behind their lobbying campaigns. The law would apply to donors of more than $5,000.

There will be two filed reports each year, with the first being due January 15, 2013.

Good government advocates were hoping that the law would be applied starting June 1, when the disclosure provisions were to go into effect. However, the commission said that a “fair and reasonable” reading of the law required the disclosure to begin in July.

These proposed regulations now have to be submitted through the formal rule promulgating process under state law. This means a public comment period and publication in the state register will have to occur before the rule officially goes into effect.

Governor Martin O’Malley has announced a special session of the general assembly. The session, scheduled to begin August 9, 2012, is for the purpose of considering a new casino in Prince George’s County and table games at the state’s five other slots locations.

If approved by the Legislature, the gambling expansion would also need voter approval. Proponents hope to pass legislation in time for the issue to appear on this November’s ballot.

Photo of Governor Martin O’Malley by Jay Baker in Wikipedia.

Hollywood’s new lobbyist ordinance takes effect August 1, 2012. Lobbyist registrations now expire yearly, and will be effective from August 1 to July 31 of the following year. All current lobbyist registrations will expire July 31, 2012, and a new registration statement must be filed.

There will also be an annual registration fee of $50 for each principal or client identified on the registration statement, except for those principals or clients that do not compensate the lobbyist for lobbying. Lobbyists who do not receive compensation are now required to register.

The city clerk will also offer electronic filing of lobbyist registrations beginning August 1.

Attorney General William Sorrell has issued a statement that his office will not enforce the $2,000 contribution limit on PACs that only make independent expenditures. The statement comes after a request for clarification from Secretary of State Jim Condos regarding the federal court decision in Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC) v. Sorrell.

While the opinion in VRLC v. Sorrell upheld the contribution limit as applied to VRLC’s independent expenditure committee, the ruling was based on the lack of safeguards to ensure that unlimited contributions to VRLC’s independent expenditure committee did not flow into VRLC’s candidate contribution funds.

Attorney General Sorrell stressed that if investigation reveals a PAC’s activities are not conducted entirely independently of candidates, as in VRLC v. Sorrell, it will continue to be subject to the contribution limits.

Photo of Attorney General William Sorrell by Overton2002 on Wikipedia.