Federal:

Colbert Declares Victory at FEC

FEC Limits Lawmakers’ Fundraising for Super PACs

From the States and Municipalities:

Alabama

Gambling Trial Highlights Fees Paid to Legislators

Arizona

Justices Strike Down Arizona Campaign Finance Law

Florida

Judge Strikes Down Florida Campaign Finance Matching Law

Illinois

Jury Finds Blagojevich Guilty of Corruption

Massachusetts

Ethics Changes Generate Talk as Proposal to Require Lobbyists to Wear ID Badges Is Likened to Nazi Germany

Massachusetts

Special Education Director Said to Siphon $10 Million

Missouri

Missouri Lawmakers Eat for Free

Nevada

Tougher Nevada Campaign Money Laws Come into Play

New York

New Contribution Rule Limits Assignments to Elected Judges

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Ethics Commission Reprimands NRA Lobbyist

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Justices in Altercation

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.

DELAWARE: The 146th Delaware General Assembly concluded its first regular session June 30, 2011.

IOWA: The Iowa General Assembly adjourned sine die.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: The New Hampshire Legislature adjourned June 30, 2011.

OREGON: The 2011 regular session of the Legislature adjourned sine die on June 30, 2011. Governor John Kitzhaber has 30 days, excluding Saturdays and Sundays, to act upon any bill he receives within the last five days of the session, or the legislation becomes law without his signature.

RHODE ISLAND: The Legislature’s 2011 regular session recessed today. Any bills submitted to Governor Lincoln Chafee must be signed or vetoed by July 10. There is no pocket veto.

ALASKA: The Legislature’s second special session ended with the Senate adjourning sine die on June 27 and the House adjourning sine die on June 28.

MAINE: The Maine Legislature adjourned sine die June 29, 2011.

TEXAS: The Texas Legislature adjourned their special session on Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Barring another special session, the Legislature will not meet again until January, 2013.

Providence, Rhode Island will not have its online portal set up for lobbyist registrations by July 1, the date the new city local lobbying ordinance takes effect. However, the City Clerk will accept e-mail registrations containing the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and lobbyist’s employer’s identification.

No registration fee will be due or accepted until the online portal becomes available. After the online portal becomes available, the City Clerk will contact individuals to complete the registration process.

The registration information can be e-mailed to astetson@providenceri.com.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy has issued a Call of Special Session for Thursday, June 30, 2011.

Governor Malloy issued the call after ratification of a deal struck in May with union leadership for the state’s public employees came into doubt.

Ratification of the deal, essential to the balancing of the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, would save the positions of the up to 7,500 state workers Malloy insists may have to be laid off in order to achieve a balanced budget.

Photo of the Connecticut State Capitol dome derived from a photo by jglazer75 on Wikipedia.

A special session of the Alaska legislature has been called in Juneau to address the state’s Alaska Coastal Management Program, which expires on June 30.

The session is expected to finish this week.

The Citizens Clean Elections Act, passed by voters in a 1998 ballot initiative, gave candidates extra money if they face well funded opponents that opted out of the state election financing system.

Candidates also could qualify for greater public financing based on political spending by independent political groups that ran advertisements opposing their candidacy or supporting other candidates.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote “laws like Arizona’s matching funds provision that inhibit robust and wide-open political debate without sufficient justification cannot stand.”

Legislators concluded the 2011 regular session Friday evening after reaching agreement on a number of bills.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has 10 days upon transmittal of a bill to sign or veto legislation that reaches his desk.

Photo of the New York Assembly Chamber by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

The 2011 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature adjourned sine die on June 23, 2011.

Upon transmittal of a bill, Governor Bobby Jindal will have 20 days to sign or veto the legislation.

Photo of the Louisiana House of Representatives Chamber by Jeffrey Schwartz on Wikipedia.

Centorino has served as chief of the Public Corruption Division of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office since 1995 and was a prosecutor within the organization an additional nine years. Centorino will succeed Robert Meyers, who has held the post since the Ethics Commission was established.

Meyers announced his resignation earlier this year, but will assist in the transition over the next several weeks.

Massachusetts House Republicans have introduced an outline of ethics reform for members which includes some restrictions on lobbyists. The ethics changes, which have not yet been introduced, would require lobbyists to wear badges identifying themselves as such and prohibit lobbyists from entering the House chamber or the members’ lounge, with some exceptions. Additionally, House members and their staff would be forbidden from contacting public entities regarding pending procurement decisions.

The Republican members have stated the proposed code will not be introduced until next week to allow the House Democrats to co-sponsor the new ethics rules.

Photo of the interior of the Massachusetts State House by Daniel Schwen on Wikipedia.

Only lobbying activities that are associated with a reportable expenditure require the completion of the activity detail report.

The Illinois Secretary of State will be modifying the reporting process in the coming weeks to reflect this change. Activity detail reports for activity not associated with an expenditure that were previously filed do not need to be amended to reflect this change.

The reporting of lobbyist activity associated with a reportable expenditure remains unchanged.

Photo of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White courtesy of the Illinois Secretary of State website.

A Louisiana House bill now in the Senate would reduce some public contracts by ten-percent for fiscal year 2011-2012.

As originally introduced, House Bill 15 would require a ten-percent reduction in the total dollar amount for professional, personal, and consulting service contracts. House and Senate amendments, both concerned about the bill negatively affecting some social services, delete references to professional and personal services, limiting the focus to consulting services.

Under the bill, new contracts with the state could not exceed the reduced dollar amount determined by existing contracts. Examinations of these contracts would fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of Contractual Review.

Photo of the Louisiana State Capitol by Richard Rutter on Wikipedia.

All lobbyists, for both the legislative and executive branches will file their reports with the legislative branch. Executive branch lobbyists will not have to register with the legislature as legislative branch lobbyists. They will, however, have to register for the online reporting system used by the legislative branch.

The legislative branch will be sending a letter with directions and passwords for the new system to all registered executive branch lobbyists and their clients. The online system will open to executive branch lobbyists on July 1st, 2011.