The Washington Legislature adjourned a one-day special session after passing a new drug possession law. The new bill makes it a gross misdemeanor to use drugs in public or possess small amounts of drugs and adds alternative sentencing for minor drug offenses. The original bill failed on the last day of the regular session, with both progressive Democrats and Republicans voting down the bill. The new law is a compromise between the parties, with both sides getting inclusions into the law.

Gov. Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1317 and Senate Bill 5152, updating campaign and lobbying rules in response to current technologies and practices involving online activity and social media. House Bill 1317 was designed to shed light on special interest “astroturfing” in grassroots lobbying. The new law expedites registration of sponsors of grassroots lobbying campaigns and increases the disclosures that must be made in the registration and any advertisements made by the lobbying campaign.

Senate Bill 5152 seeks to combat the advent of “synthetic media” political ads. These ads are created when, via artificial intelligence or other such programs, media is manipulated to cause a person (in this case a politician) to say or act in a way that did not happen. Senate Bill 5152 gives a target of synthetic media a course of action to force a sponsor or media platform to terminate the synthetic media campaign. The bill also gives the sponsor the ability to add a disclosure to the synthetic ad stating the ad or image is a synthetic media post. Both bills become effective July 23.

The Washington Legislature adjourned sin die on April 23.

Lawmakers passed over 450 bills during the session, including a $69 billion dollar budget bill that raises pay for state employees and public-school teachers.

Additionally, Senate Bill 5170 was signed into law, allowing the solicitation of gifts, grants, or donations to support conferences of national or regional legislative organizations held outside the state by certain legislators and staff.

The Public Disclosure Commission certified increases in reporting and contribution limits in response to inflation.

The inflationary adjustments touch almost every threshold and limit.

Contribution limits increase from $1,000 to $1,200 for state and county legislative candidates and from $2,000 to $2,400 for other state offices.

Limits for political parties increase from $5,500 to $6,000.

King County, Washington voters have approved Charter Amendment 1.

The amendment moves elections for county executive, county assessor, county director of elections, and county council members to even-numbered years.

For each position currently in an odd-year term, the current term is changed to a three year term to move to an even-numbered schedule.

The Spokane City Council voted Monday to raise the individual donor limit to $1,000 and to clear redundancies in the city’s Fair Elections Code.

The council decided, due to advances in Washington’s campaign finance statutes, that the city’s current campaign finance laws created uncertainty and were redundant.

The council moved to incorporate the State’s definitions and current individual donor limit.

The new limit will take effect October 26, 2022.

King County, WA has approved an amendment to the King County Charter to be sent to the voters during the November 8 election.

The amendment moves elections for county executive, county assessor, county director of elections, and county councilmembers from odd-number years to even-numbered years starting in 2026.

There will be an election held in 2023 for the county assessor, county director, and even-numbered district councilmembers.

The county executive and odd-numbered district councilmembers will be elected in 2025 before moving to even-numbered year elections in 2026.

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has raised the threshold for reporting last-minute contributions from $1,000 to $1,500.

Contributions of or exceeding $1,500 that occur within seven days of a primary election and 21 days before a general election must be reported separately by both the contributors and the campaigns who receive them.

Once the threshold is reached, contributors must file with the PDC a last-minute contribution report within 24 hours of reaching the threshold, while recipients have 48 hours to report the contribution.

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission has raised the limit for contributions given to a candidate for mayor, City Council, or city attorney to $600 per election cycle.

This limit only applies to candidates who are not participating in the Democracy Voucher Program.

Contribution limits are adjusted before each election cycle to account for inflation or deflation using the consumer price index.

The Washington Legislature adjourned sine die March 10 after passing a $64.1 billion state budget and a nearly $17 billion transportation package.

During the session, both houses passed Senate Bill 5196 and Senate Bill 5855.

Senate Bill 5196 allows the Legislature to call a special session through an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of both chambers.

Senate Bill 5855 allows the use of campaign funds to reimburse a candidate for expenses incurred for childcare, care for a person with a disability, or the care for a person with a medical condition that occurred directly because of the candidate’s campaign activities.

Both bills have been sent to Gov. Jay Inslee and await his signature.

I heard the city of Seattle requires reporting and registration for grassroots lobbying? Who is required to register and how do I comply with all reporting requirements?

Yes, any person who spends $1,500 or more within three months or $750 or more within one month to present a program to the public primarily to influence legislation is considered a grassroots lobbying campaign sponsor and must register within 30 days after becoming an indirect lobbyist. The city law is modeled on existing state law requiring similar registration and reporting requirements for state lobbyists.

Every sponsor required to register must also file monthly reports by the 10th day of the month for activity during the preceding month. The report must update the information contained in the registration statement and must report any contributions and expenditures made during the previous month. When the campaign has been terminated, the sponsor must file a notice of termination with the final monthly report.

Registration statements and reports must include the following: (1) information about the sponsor: including name, address, business or occupation, and if the sponsor is not an individual, the names, addresses, and titles of the controlling sponsors; (2) information about the campaign organizers, managers, and anyone hired to assist the campaign: including name, address, business or occupation, and terms of compensation; (3) information about contributors: including the name, address, and the aggregate amount of each person contributing $25 or more; (4) purpose of the campaign: including specific legislation, rates, standards or proposals that are the subject matter of the campaign; and (5) the total expenditures made or incurred to date segregated by category.

While the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) is working on an updated lobbying reporting application that will allow for online reporting of indirect aka grassroots lobbying sponsorships, it is not yet complete. Registrations and reports may be accomplished with the same form template found on our website and can be emailed back to the commission at ethicsandelections@seattle.gov.

Washington’s fast-approaching 2022 legislative session has hit a bit of a snag with the rampant Omicron variant.

The chief clerk of the House has announced that his chamber will hold its floor sessions remotely for the first two weeks of the session.

Only five lawmakers who are vaccinated, boosted, and masked, along with critical staff, will be allowed in the House chamber during the restrictions.

These policies will be reassessed every two weeks.

The Senate is looking into either a hybrid or fully remote sessions, though no final decision has been made.

Republican Washington State Senator Doug Ericksen has passed away.

Ericksen was in El Salvador when he contracted COVID-19 and was flown out to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for treatment.

Whatcom County Council will fill the vacancy in the 42^nd Legislative District from a list of candidates proposed by the local Republican party.

A recall has been declared for Kshama Sawant, a Seattle, Washington District 3 City Councilmember.

Sawant has been accused of misusing city funds for electioneering purposes, disregarding COVID-19 regulations, and misuse of her official position.

Sawant challenged the recall in superior court, but the Washington Supreme Court allowed the recall to continue.

The recall is set to take place on December 7.