LobbyComply Blog

Pennsylvania State Rep. Margo Davidson resigned from her seat in House District 164 on July 22.

This comes after she was charged with theft, solicitation to hinder apprehension, and election code violations related to her improper use of state funds and improper campaign finance reporting.

House Speaker Bryan Cutler is expected to announce a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term ending November 30, 2022.

Lobbyists in Pennsylvania will soon be required to disclose any equity held in a client they represent. House Bill 336, a state budget and operations bill that became law on July 9 without the signature of Gov. Tom Wolf, includes a provision requiring annual equity disclosures from lobbyists and lobbying firms. The disclosures must list each equity a lobbying firm or lobbyist holds in an entity for which they are lobbying.

The first equity report will be due with the Department of State on October 7, which is 30 days after this provision of law takes effect. Subsequent equity reports will be due by July 30 starting in 2022.

The Department of State will be permitted to request additional information from lobbyists, if needed.

The Pennsylvania Speaker of the House announced a special election for House District 113 on November 2, the same day as the general election.

The district seat became vacant former Rep. Marty Flynn won a special election to join the state Senate.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Flynn’s term until the end of 2022.

The Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives announced a special election for House District 60 will be held on May 18 during the upcoming primary election.

The seat is vacant after Jeff Pyle announced his retirement due to health issues from battling cancer and recovering from a stroke in 2020.

Candidates for the office will be selected by a process designated by their respective political parties.

The winner of the special election will serve for the remainder of Pyle’s term until the end of 2022.

Pennsylvania election officials have scheduled a special election for Senate District 22 on May 18.

The seat became vacant after John Blake resigned on March 8 to work for U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright.

There are no primaries, and candidates will be nominated directly by political parties.

The election falls on the same day as the municipal primary.

The winner of the election will serve the remainder of Blake’s term until the end of 2022.

Following the death of Pennsylvania State Sen. Dave Arnold Jr., a special election will be called in Senate District 48.

The date of the election will be determined by Senate President, Lt. Governor John Fetterman.

In response to the unexpected death of Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Reese in early January, Speaker Bryan Cutler has announced a special election.

This election will be held during the May 18 primary in Pennsylvania’s 59^th House District to fill the vacant seat.

The Philadelphia Board of Ethics announced the 2020 lobbying training schedule.

The virtual training will cover ethics rules, registering, and filing expense reports with the Board of Ethics.

At this time, it is not mandatory to attend one of the 2020 lobbying trainings.

However, attendance at a training will be credited when the mandatory training provision takes effect for registered entities.

Registration for the lobbying training can be accomplished at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEqd-6srj0tHdGweXo4WfNtm4z9H7yiRooO.

Questions regarding the schedule or training may be directed to the Board of Ethics at Lobbying@phila.gov or BOE.Training@phila.gov

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit permanently enjoined the Commonwealth’s prohibition on political contributions from gaming-license applicants, licensees, and principals of licensees.

Judge Richard Nygaard upheld the lower court’s conclusion and granted summary judgment in favor of appellees Deon and Hardy.

Judge Nygaard found Section 1513 of the Gaming Act furthers a substantially important state interest in preventing quid pro quo corruption.

However, the restriction imposed on political contributions is unconstitutional because the Commonwealth did not closely draw the scheme to address the issue.

Gov. Tom Wolf granted the Department of State’s request to extend the deadline for filing lobbying reports and temporarily waive the notarization requirement for campaign finance reports.

The governor granted the request in response to COVID-19 and to minimize delays in required reporting.

The lobbying disclosure report deadline for the first quarter is extended until July 30.

The reports are required on the same date as the second quarterly report but must be filed separately.

The governor also granted a temporary waiver of the notarization requirement for campaign finance reports and campaign finance statements filed by political committees and candidates for public office.

The waiver allows the required documents to be filed online until the COVID-19 health emergency subsides.

Filers must sign, either physically or typed, and date their report or statement cover sheet.

For filers who file on paper, the department will accept emailed campaign finance reports for the duration of the emergency.

Filers must email the campaign finance reports to: RA-stcampaignfinance@pa.gov.

On March 25, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 422 to move the state general and presidential primary election from April 28 to June 2.

Lawmakers passed the postponement due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns.

Additionally, Gov. Tom Wolf has indicated his support for rescheduling the election and is expected to sign the bill into law.

On February 3, State Representative Melissa Shusterman introduced a bill amending the revolving door provision.

The bill requires public officials to wait one year after their term of office before lobbying.

House Bill 2263 establishes a lifetime ban for public officials from lobbying the governmental body they were associated with.

The bill also increases the waiting period for former public employees from one to two years.

If passed, this act takes effect in 60 days after enactment.

House Speaker Mike Turzai scheduled special elections for March 17 to replace three lawmakers that won higher office in last November’s election.

Rep. Tedd Nesbit of Grove City and Rep. Justin Walsh of Rostraver, Republicans who represented the 8th and 58th House Districts, respectively, were both elected to county judgeships.

18th District Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, a Bensalem Republican, won a seat on the Bucks County Board of Commissioners.

House Speaker Mike Turzai announced a special election for House District 190.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell, a Philadelphia Democrat, resigned.

Johnson-Harrell was indicted for allegedly embezzling over a half million dollars from her charity, Motivations Education and Consultation Associates (MECA).

The special election will be held on February 25.