Rhode Island lawmakers introduced a bill amending the Lobbying Reform Act to apply registration and reporting requirements to individuals who lobby at the local level.

Senate Bill 2512 expands the definition of lobbying to cover individuals who lobby municipal government executives and legislative bodies as well as local fire districts.

If passed, the new law will take effect immediately.

New York Gov. Hochul announced a special election for Assembly District 20 to be held on April 7.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Melissa Miller resigned to join the Hempstead Town Board.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term set to expire on January 1, 2023.

A malicious cyberattack targeted the New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) last week, resulting in an outage of the Lobbying Application, the online filing portal for lobbyists.

The online system will remain down until JCOPE is confident it can be restored safely.

Extensions will automatically be granted for any filings that were due and could not be submitted due to the outage.

The Boston City Council announced a special election for the District 1 seat to be held on May 3 with a preliminary election to be held on April 5.

The seat is vacant after Lydia Edwards was elected to the state Senate in a special election last month.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term set to expire at the end of 2023.

U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn died at age 59 after a battle with cancer.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is expected to call a special election for District 1 on August 9, the date of the statewide primary elections.

Secretary of State Steve Simon said the filing period must end by March 15 and will be open for at least two weeks.

A special primary will be held May 24.

The special election will take place within the current district boundaries, not those established in the new state maps announced this week, and the winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Hagedorn’s term.

The November race for the seat will run on the standard election-year timetable within the newly redistricted boundaries for the term beginning January 2023.

The Honolulu Ethics Commission is proposing to lower the permissible value of gifts to city employees from $200 to $25.

Commissioners chose not to pursue a recommendation to require gift disclosure forms.

The debate comes amid increased scrutiny over ethics rules after two former Hawaii legislators pleaded guilty to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes. Federal prosecutors brought charges of honest services wire fraud after ex-Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and ex-Rep. Ty Cullen failed to list the bribes on mandatory annual gift disclosures filed with the state.

The ethics commission plans to introduce its proposed legislation at the Honolulu City Council, giving council members the opportunity to review and possibly amend it.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board voted unanimously to issue an advisory opinion classifying political donations in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as in-kind contributions.

Candidates may accept payments but must report the cash value and the donor’s name, and they must report when a cryptocurrency is sold and to whom.

The opinion notes campaigns cannot spend cryptocurrency directly because all campaign expenditures must come from money deposited into an Iowa financial institution.

The Cincinnati City Council voted unanimously to approve the first-ever code of conduct for council members and their staff.

All council members and their staff must sign a copy of the code of conduct and file it with the clerk.

Future council members and staff must sign the document within 45 days of taking office or starting the job.

Mayor Aftab Pureval was also required to create and sign a code of conduct, which he signed and released after the council vote.

It is nearly identical to the council version except the provisions regarding the city’s economic development.

The Office of City Solicitor chose Chris Liu, Chief Hearing Examiner, to be the city’s first head of the new Ethics and Good Government Division.

Two staff members have also been hired for the division, which is working to implement a new hotline for reporting ethics and fraud violations and to expand online resources for viewing campaign contributions.

New Mexico’s 30-day legislative session adjourned sine die at noon February 17.

During the session, a bill that would require post-session lobbying reports was introduced.

Senate Bill 61 provides prior to the adjournment of a legislative session, a lobbyist or lobbyist’s employer that is required to file an expenditure report or registration statement must file a report with the secretary of state disclosing the lobbyist’s or lobbyist’s employer’s lobbying activity on legislation and identifying the specific legislation lobbied, the support, opposition or other position taken on the legislation by the lobbyist or lobbyist’s employer and the name of the lobbyist’s employer that lobbied on the legislation, either directly or by the registered lobbyist.

The bill is currently in the Senate Rules and Health and Public Affairs Committees.

If passed, it would become effective May 18.

Gov. Tony Evers signed Executive Order 156 calling for a special session of the Wisconsin Legislature to begin Tuesday, March 8.

Evers wants lawmakers to consider his plan to use a portion of the state’s $3.8 billion projected surplus to provide a $150 surplus refund to every Wisconsin resident, provide targeted relief for childcare and caregiver costs, and invest in education.

Gov. Greg Gianforte and Republican lawmakers announced they are looking into holding a special session to redraw Montana’s Public Service Commission districts.

Gianforte asserted he will only call a special session if it is limited to the solitary topic of redrawing, but a few Republicans wish to expand the special session.

Rep. Derek Skees wishes to address “election integrity,” requesting $250,000 to create a committee to examine election security.

The schism over the scope of the special session might take the issue out of the Legislature’s hands entirely.

A lawsuit is already pending in federal court over the population imbalance within districts.

If a special session is not called to amend the deficiency, the task will be turned over to a panel of three federal judges.

If Skees can garner a majority of lawmakers for his cause, the special session can be called without the governor’s approval.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission will hold a special remote meeting Friday, February 25, at 10 a.m. to discuss proposed amendments to the city’s gift and ethics laws.

The meeting will focus on amendments to expand the definition of who is a restricted source and whether the giver of an unlawful gift should be subject to penalties.

The proposed amendments clarify and remove exemptions to the gift prohibition.

If the Ethics Commission passes an ordinance by a four-fifths vote before the next general election, the commission may place the ordinance on the ballot.

The Tallahassee City Commission is holding an ethics workshop to discuss and consider several proposed changes to the city’s ethics ordinances.

The proposals by the city’s Independent Ethics Board include clarifying the definition of lobbyist and expanding disclosure requirements.

Other proposals include broadening the board’s jurisdiction and the city’s whistleblower protections.

A new city ordinance proposed by Louisville Councilmember Bill Hollander would create registration and disclosure requirements for lobbying.

The measure defines a lobbyist as any person engaged to influence executive agency decisions or to promote, advocate, or oppose the passage, modification, defeat, or executive approval or veto of any legislation by direct communication with any metro officer or any member of the staff of a metro officer.

This includes individuals employed or engaged by associations, coalitions, or public interest entities to spend a portion of their time influencing the decisions of metro officers.

Lobbyists and employers would be required to register with the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Ethics Commission within seven days of engagement.

In addition to the initial registration statement, each lobbyist and employer would have to file an updated quarterly registration statement with the Ethics Commission on the 15th day of April, July, October, and January of each year.

The required disclosures include expenditures on lobbying, as well as any financial transactions with or for the benefit of any metro officer or any member of the staff of any metro officer.

The measure also prohibits metro officers and other officials from serving as lobbyists for at least two years after leaving their position.