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.

Lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals can no longer register, reregister, or continue to be registered in South Carolina if they have outstanding late filing penalties.

House Bill 3183, which Governor Nikki Haley recently signed into law, prohibits the State Ethics Commission from allowing delinquent lobbyists and lobbyist’s principals to participate in lobbying until the fines and filing have been remedied.

The bill also delineates what the fines and penalties are for late filing. Persons filing late are first fined $100 if a report is not filed within 10 days of the due date. After receiving notice by certified or registered mail that a required report has not been filed, there is a $10 a day fine for the first 10 days after receiving the notice. The fine increases to $100 a day for each additional day the required report is not filed, capping at $5,000.

If the report is still not filed, the offender faces an additional misdemeanor conviction with imprisonment or fines.

Flag of South Carolina courtesy of mapsof.net.

A bill which establishes a cap of $5,000 per calendar month on civil penalties for failure to file statements or include required information has passed the Oregon House Committee on Rules.

Senate Bill 270 removes “unfulfilled pledge, subscription, agreement or promise to make contribution” from the definition of contribution.

Additionally, the bill, which passed the Senate in March, also changes the period for assessing civil penalties for violations of campaign finance reporting requirements.

The bill leaves the committee for a full house vote.

Pursuant to the city of San Diego’s Election Campaign Control Ordinance, the San Diego Ethics Commission has released the final version of the 2012 Committee Manual.

The manual addresses the recent changes to San Diego’s campaign finance laws and how they will impact each type of committee required to make a report in the 2012 election year.

Colorado Common Cause and Colorado Ethics Watch have filed a complaint against Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler alleging Gessler illegally “exceeded his authority to administer and enforce campaign finance laws by dramatically increasing the constitutional threshold for regulation of issue committees.”

At issue is Gessler’s recent adoption of Campaign and Political Finance Rule 4.27, which increased from $200 to $5,000 the threshold at which an issue committee must register and report. The $200 threshold, set by the Colorado Constitution, was found to be too burdensome in the recent Colorado case of Sampson v. Buescher. However, the issue of whether the court determined the $200 threshold to be unconstitutional, as Gessler contended to be the case in a statement released concerning the increased threshold, is central to this action.

“The Secretary is under the mistaken impression that he has authority to rewrite campaign finance laws, not merely make rules to enforce those laws,” said Luis Toro, Executive Director of Colorado Ethics Watch. “Disclosure thresholds are clearly not within the authority of the Secretary of State to change.”

The Alabama Legislature adjourned on June 9, 2011.

Before adjourning, the legislature passed House Bill 0058 which requires public officials, spouses of public officials, candidates for public office, and spouses of candidates for public office to disclose employment or contracts with the state and federal government.

The bill has been sent to the governor for signature.

Photo of the Alabama State Capitol by Jim Bowen on Wikipedia.