Mayor Corey A. Booker has signed a new pay-to-play ordinance into law, specifically aimed at city redevelopers. The new ordinance bars redevelopers from contracting with the city if a contribution, or pledge of a contribution, over $300 has been made one year prior to the contract.

Redeveloper is defined to mean any person or entity entering into a contract with the city, or with another redeveloper, for the rehabilitation of any area in the city. The definition includes those with a 10-percent or greater ownership in the entity, partners, officers, subsidiaries, and spouses and adult children living at home.

Any group of individuals from the contracting entity cannot contribute in the aggregate in excess of $3,000. Contribution and disclosure requirements will also be required from lobbyists, professionals, and consultants working for a redeveloper if his or her work relates to the subject contract. A redeveloper who violates the ordinance is barred from future redevelopment agreements for four calendar years.

The ordinance takes effect June 2nd.

Photo of Newark at night by Jamaalcobbs at en.wikipedia.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley has signed a bill that guarantees future funding for the Alabama Ethics Commission.

The new law appropriates one tenth of one percent of the state’s general fund budget to the ethics commission. Under the current proposed budget, this appropriation represents approximately $1.8 million dollars.

The appropriation provision in the new law can only be modified by a two-thirds vote of the Alabama House and Senate.

The regular session of the Minnesota Legislature adjourned the evening of May 23, 2011.

A special session will be necessary to avoid a state government shutdown at the end of June, as no budget compromise was reached during the regular session.

The Governor has until June 6, 2011 to act on bills passed by the Legislature.

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol dome by Mulad on Wikipedia.

A bill concerning campaign communication disclosures has been vetoed by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal. Citing to potential vagueness associated with the bill’s provisions and First Amendment concerns, Deal vetoed Senate Bill 163.

The General Assembly will now have to muster the support to override the veto if the measure is to become law.

Senate Bill 163 would require a clear statement on all campaign communications concerning the source of payment financing the item or items used in the communication, as well as requiring specific disclosures depending on the person or persons financing the communication.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez has signed two executive orders that seek to improve the procurement process in New Mexico.

Executive Order 2011-030 authorizes the suspension or debarment of businesses for conviction of fraud, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification, destruction of records, receiving stolen property, antitrust violations, willful failure to perform in accordance with contracts, and any other cause occurring within the preceding three years of a procurement which the state purchasing agent or a central purchasing office determines to be so serious and compelling as to affect responsibility as a contractor.

Executive Order 2011-031 created the Governor’s Task Force on Procurement Reform to review and update the current statutory and regulatory Procurement Code and to increase transparency and efficiency in the procurement process.

Governor Martin O’Malley signed into law a bill which requires corporations to disclose to shareholders the dates and amounts of political independent expenditures and the candidate or ballot issue to which the expenses related, or post a link to this information from its homepage.

All entities making an aggregate independent expenditure of $10,000 or more in an election cycle will be required to file reports detailing information such as the identities of those making, or those exercising direction or control over those making, the independent expenditures. Included in the report must be the identity of each person who made cumulative donations in excess of $51 to the entity making the independent expenditure. Entities include corporations, partnerships, committees, associations, and labor organizations.

The law redefines independent expenditure to mean expressly advocating the success or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or ballot issue. Separate and distinct from the definition of independent expenditure, the law also defines electioneering communications to cover expenditures for broadcasts made within 60 days of an election. Based on the amount of money spent and the size of the audience of the broadcast, separate and additional disclosure reports may be required for electioneering communications.

The new law takes effect December 1.

The adjournment was the earliest date in 18 years.

The 107^th General Assembly will reconvene on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.

Photo of the Tennessee House Chamber by Ichabod on Wikipedia.

Members of the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission will have 39 applicants to choose from when replacing current Executive Director Robert Meyers, who is resigning his position after 12 years with the commission.

Included in the 39 applicants, among other professions, are two retired former Miami-Dade prosecutors, a former assistant attorney general, an assistant public defender, and a former daytime television judge.

The commission is expected to narrow the list of candidates at their upcoming meeting on May 26, 2011. After narrowing the list, interviews of the finalists will take place and a new executive director is expected to be named during the summer.

Governor Lincoln Chafee has sent letters to the directors of Rhode Island’s 17 quasi-public agencies requesting, among other things, they terminate non-critical contracts with lobbyists. He is also requesting any procurement activities by these agencies be open and transparent, instructing the agencies to post all procurement rules and regulations applicable to each agency’s contract practices on a public website.

Governor Chafee indicates the purpose of the letters is to help find cost reductions that are available through increased efficiency and productivity, stating, “Under my appointment authority I take very seriously the responsibility of placing highly qualified individuals who strive to ensure value in the services provided by our quasi-public agencies.”

Some of the quasi-public agencies include the Rhode Island Industrial-Recreational Building Authority, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, and the Rhode Island Health and Educational Building Corporation.

The three reissued executive orders include a ban on political contributions to the mayor from the owners of companies that do business with the city, an order requiring city employees to comply with hiring oversight rules, and an order reaffirming that it is the duty of every city employee to report wrongdoing to the inspector general.

The first new executive order prohibits new appointees from lobbying city government for two years after leaving the administration, bars lower level employees from lobbying the departments or agencies in which they work, and bars appointees to boards and commissions from lobbying the board or commission on which they sit.

The second new executive order protects city employees from being pressured to give gifts or make political contributions to their superiors.

The third new executive order prohibits city lobbyists from making political contributions to the mayor.

Following a report by the Colorado Springs Gazette noting mayoral runoff candidate Steve Bach had failed to include the occupation and employer of his contributors, which is required by state law, Young informed the newspaper Bach would have to file the missing information.

Young reversed her decision the next day, however, by calling the disclosure of the information “optional” due to the fact Colorado Springs election law trumps state election law and there is no specific requirement for reporting the information on the reporting forms.

This is not the first time confusion has entered into the campaign finance requirements concerning the mayoral election. In February, candidates received conflicting information about the legality of direct corporate contributions. The Colorado Springs City Council eventually adopted a resolution permitting the contributions in order to clarify the issue.

Photo of the Colorado Springs City Hall by David Shankbone on Wikipedia.

The 8^th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision of the District Court which upheld a new Minnesota law that revealed political donations from several corporations. The law was enacted in May of 2010 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United freed businesses to spend corporate money on elections, overturning restrictions on corporate political spending in about half the states, including Minnesota. Minnesota lawmakers responded by enacting disclosure requirements to publicize corporate campaign spending.

In affirming the decision, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with claims that Minnesota’s disclosure requirements effectively prohibit corporate independent expenditures and impose burdensome regulations that inhibit free speech.  The Court continued that Minnesota’s regulations are similar to laws upheld by the Supreme Court and the regulations on corporate independent expenditures are less burdensome than federal regulations on PACs.

The first regular session of Missouri’s 96th General Assembly adjourned the evening of May 13, 2011.

The General Assembly will reconvene for a technical session at 8:00 a.m., May 26, 2011 to last until May 30, 2011 in accordance with the constitution.

Governor Jay Nixon may sign or veto bills until July 14, 2011, and the veto session of the General Assembly is scheduled to convene on September 14, 2011.

Photo of the Missouri Capitol Building by RebelAt on Wikipedia.

The West Virginia Ethics Commission has concluded it cannot prevent an employee of the Legislature from avoiding the state’s newly passed “revolving door” ban if he changes his status from an employee to an independent contractor before the law takes effect on July 1, 2011.

Under the pending law, elected officials and certain high-ranking unelected employees will be forbidden from acting as lobbyists for one year after leaving public employment. The commission decided this law does not include independent contractors.

This decision comes after a request for an opinion by legislative counsel Donnie Adkins. The commission said it “is troubled” by the proposed maneuver but would be unable to bring him within the revolving door ban as an independent contractor.

The West Virginia Ethics Commission offers the opinion on their website.

Here is the Charleston Gazette’s coverage in the story, “Ethics loophole a cause of concern” by Phil Kabler.