Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 678 into law on September 1.

Senate Bill 678 requires a person paid by a committee to post content online supporting or opposing a candidate or a ballot measure to include a disclaimer stating they were paid to make the post.

This bill targets “influencers” and follows California’s recent trend on curtailing social media’s influence on elections.

The bill will become effective January 1, 2024.

Gov. Glen Younkin has called the General Assembly to reconvene for a special session.

The session will address the state budget and will take up issues such as tax relief and investments for local families and businesses.

The special session will begin on September 6.

The Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices published legislative summaries and updated guides to reflect legislation passed in 2023.

Effective October 25, the window to register as a lobbyist is decreased from 15 to 10 calendar days following triggering activities.

Penalties for lobbyist reporting violations will increase by $50 for each successive violation during a lobbying year.

Effective June 22, the ban on direct corporate contributions was reversed and now limited to $1,950 in any election for a gubernatorial candidate; $475 for a legislative candidate; $575 for a candidate for municipal office; and $975 in any election for any other candidate. 

State Rep. Ryan Martinez announced he will resign on September 1.

This announcement comes after Martinez pleaded guilty to two felony DUI charges from nearly a year ago.

Martinez would have been subjected to suspension and potentially expulsion from the House if convicted.

Martinez has represented House District 39 since 2016.

Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to call a special election to fill the vacancy.

A special election has been called for Senate District 19 following the death of Sen. John Scott on August 13.

The primary will be on October 24 with a primary runoff occurring on November 7, if necessary.

The special general election will be held on January 2, 2024, just a week before the legislative session is set to begin.

The Oregon Elections Division announced a new multi-year initiative to promote the state’s campaign finance laws.

The compliance program has been named CLEAR and will be implemented in three phases.

Oregon is currently working on a website overhaul of Oregonvotes.com to make it easier for the public to locate campaign finance information and gain access to the online filing system ORESTAR.

The Election Division is working on publishing an online database of campaign finance violations and penalties expected to launch in late August.

New training videos and compliance documentation will be available to assist campaigns in staying complaint with the law.

The Oakland Ethics Commission passed a Master Fee Schedule including a newly added annual lobbyist registration fee of $500 and a late filing fee of $10 per day for registrations and reports.

The City Council approved the inclusion of the additional fees in the annual Master Fee Schedule yearly update.

Currently, the Ethics Commission is seeking to alter the new fee structure.

The commission is seeking to waive fees for 501(c)(3) organizations with less than $750,000 in annual revenue; a reduction of fees with less than $200,000 in annual revenue; and a reduced fee for third and fourth quarter registrants.

The new proposal has been sent to the City Council for their approval.

A special election will be held to fill the vacant seat in Senate District 32 that was held by John Michael Montgomery.

Montgomery resigned from his seat in the Oklahoma Senate to take a position as the President and CEO of the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.

The special primary election will be held on Tuesday, October 10.

If a special primary election is not necessary, the special general election will be held on Tuesday, December 12.

Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver died unexpectedly after a brief hospitalization on Tuesday, August 1.

At the time, Oliver was acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy was out of the country.

In the absence of both Murphy and Oliver, the duties of acting governor went to Senate President Nicholas Scutari.

Oliver’s three-decade political career includes becoming the first Black woman to hold a New Jersey statewide elected office.

Under the state Constitution, Murphy now has 45 days to select a successor for Oliver’s elected position.

Gov. Tony Evers signed Executive Order 208 calling for a special session of the Legislature to begin Wednesday, September 20.

The session will consider and act upon two proposals to enact a comprehensive workforce development package.

The proposals would use some of the state’s projected $4 billion surplus in this biennium to:

• Support child care providers,
• Support a paid family and medical leave program for private employers,
• And create new investment in higher education.

Voters rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution with 57% voting no and just under 43% voting yes.

Issue 1 would have required a 60% vote to approve any constitutional amendment rather than the current simple majority.

The measure would have also changed the signature requirement for initiative petitions to require 5% signatures from each county of the state and it would have eliminated the cure period to obtain more signatures.

Gov. Jim Justice called a special legislative session convening on Sunday, August 6.

The proclamation issued for this special session lists 44 items for consideration including the creation of a new state park and several bills regarding the state correctional officer shortage.

This special session is expected to last through at least Tuesday, August 8.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 3903, prohibiting vendors that offer or provide equipment or services for automated traffic law enforcement, automated speed enforcement, or automated railroad grade crossing enforcement systems to municipalities or counties from making campaign contributions to any political committee established to promote the candidacy of a candidate or public official.

Effective immediately, the bill also prohibits political action committees created by the vendor and vendor-affiliated persons from making campaign contributions.

Vendor-affiliated person is defined as any person with an ownership interest or distributive share in excess of 7.5% in a vendor, any executive employees of the vendor and any spouse, minor child, or other immediate family member living in the residence of any of them.

The bill also prohibits members of the General Assembly and officers or employees of a municipality or county from accepting employment or receiving compensation or fees for services from a vendor that provides automated traffic law enforcement system equipment or services or automated speed enforcement system equipment or services to municipalities or counties.

Former members, officers and employees must wait two years before accepting employment from such a vendor.

Q: I’ve had a few discussions with legislators in Washington. Do I need to register?

A: Unlike some states that require registration before you begin lobbying, Washington is not a “first toe in the water state.” As a result, there are some activities that you can engage in before or without the need to register as a lobbyist.

Washington requires you to register as a lobbyist once you have either conducted lobbying activities for more than four days, or parts of four days, in a three-month period, or made total expenditures exceeding $35 in a three-month period for or on behalf of public officials. So, if your lobbying activity is extremely sporadic and limited, you may not need to register.

But Washington also has a relatively narrow definition of what constitutes lobbying. Lobbying is defined as an attempt to influence the passage or defeat of any legislation or the adoption or rejection of any rule, standard, rate, or other legislative enactment of any state agency. This definition excludes acts of goodwill lobbying, like small-talk with lawmakers or general relationship-building with public officials. But, be mindful of your activities, because if your small-talk conversation turns to shoptalk about a specific issue or piece of legislation, then that conversation will put you closer to crossing the lobbying registration threshold.

Similarly, the state’s lobbying law carves out several activities that it does not consider lobbying. If you limit your activities to appearing before public sessions of committees of the legislature or public hearings of state agencies, then you will not need to register. Similarly, activities by persons whose participation was solicited by an agency under a negotiated rulemaking or pilot rulemaking agency will not, by themselves, require you to register as a lobbyist.

More information about registration requirements can easily be found on our website in the Registration section of the Lobbying Compliance Guidebook.