Washington lawmakers have reintroduced a bill to impose a two year cooling off period to slow a revolving door of state officials and employees becoming lobbyists when they leave state employment.

House Bill 1067 is intended to reduce the perception of lobbyist impropriety.

The House Committee on State Government and Tribal Relations passed the bill out of committee.

The bill needs to pass the Rules Committee before getting a vote of the full House.

The State Government and Tribal Relations Committee passed the legislation during the last session, but the bill stalled.

The legislation would apply to state officers and employees who are employed by the state on or after July 1, 2021.

A companion bill, Senate Bill 5033, is moving through the Senate and passed to the Rules Committee.

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed two bills banning most political spending by foreign-influenced corporations and clamping down on political advertising.

These bills are part of the Clean Campaigns Act, a three-bill package introduced in August of last year.

The first bill prevents corporations with a single foreign national investor holding at least 1% ownership, or two or more holding at least 5% ownership from contributing directly to Seattle candidates, political races, or through PACs.

Companies that have a non-U.S. investor making decisions on its U.S. political activities will also be prevented from political spending.

The measure closes a loophole because foreign individuals and foreign-based entities already are barred from making contributions in U.S. elections.

The second bill adds transparency to the political advertising realm.

It requires any paid advertisement regarding a political matter of local importance to follow stricter reporting guidelines and to retain and provide records about these advertisements.

The third bill, which would place a cap on Super PAC contributions, remains in the Select Committee on Campaign Finance Reform for further discussions.

At a joint meeting of the councils from Whatcom, Skagit, and San Juan counties, Alex Ramel was selected to replace Rep. Jeff Morris in the 40th Legislative District.

Rep. Morris resigned from the Washington legislature to take a position with Schneider Electric.

Ramel was sworn in on the same day Rep. Morris officially resigned.

The Seattle City Council is considering legislation limiting the ability of Super PACs to spend unlimited amounts of money in Seattle elections.

Council Member Lorena González introduced the Clean Campaigns Act to reduce the amount of money Super PACs funnel into elections.

The proposed legislation would limit Super PACs from receiving more than $5,000 per year from any single individual or corporation.

The act would also block multinational corporations, defined as companies with more than one percent ownership from a single foreign national or more than five percent ownership from multiple foreign nationals, from spending money on local elections.

Another proposed change would require all political advertising outside of election years to follow similar reporting requirements to current rules for election advertisements.

The Clean Campaigns Act is currently being considered in council chambers and could see a full council vote as early as next week.

State Rep. Kristine Reeves, a Federal Way Democrat, resigned from the Legislature Monday.

Reeves, who represented the 30th Legislative District, implied she may run for the U.S. Congress next year.

There will not be a special election to fill the vacancy. Instead, the state Democrat party will call a meeting of the 30th District Precinct Committee officers to choose three candidates.

King and Pierce county council members will then host a joint meeting to choose Reeves’ successor.

On May 21, 2019, Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5861.

The bill extends respectful workplace code of conduct provisions to all members of the legislative community.

Effective July 28, 2019, Senate Bill 5861 requires The Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate to develop a training course based on the legislative code of conduct and any policies adopted by either chamber.

Lobbyists will be required to attest to reading and completing the training course when filing a lobbyist registration statement with the Public Disclosure Commission.

Lobbyists currently registered are required to update registration materials to include the attestation by December 31, 2019.

More ethics and campaign finance changes happening at the state level. Check out which states are making moves in today’s NYCU Video Digest!

The Washington Legislature adjourned sine die April 28.

During the 105-day legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1195 amending the definitions of commercial advertiser and independent expenditure.

House Bill 1195 requires independent expenditures to be reported electronically with the Public Disclosure Commission if the aggregate value of similar expenditures from the same source exceeds $1,000.

The Legislature also passed House Bill 1379 raising the threshold for identifying and disclosing the top five contributors of a political advertisement sponsored by a political committee from $700 to $1,000.

House Bill 1379 requires political advertisements to disclose the sponsor’s top five contributors and if any are political committees the sponsor must also disclose the top three donors to those contributors.

The bills have been delivered to the Gov. Jay Inslee to sign, veto part of it, or veto all of it.

Gov. Jay Inslee partially vetoed and signed into law a bill addressing campaign finance reporting and enforcement requirements.

The governor vetoed provisions in House Bill 2938 relating to independent expenditure reporting and special reporting requirements for large contributors.

Signed into law are provisions in the bill limiting the attorney general’s enforcement jurisdiction to matters referred from the Public Disclosure Commission, as well as provisions amending filing procedures for citizen’s enforcement actions.

The law takes effect June 7, 2018.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the DISCLOSE Act, a law requiring certain nonprofit organizations to file organizational statements and periodic disclosure statements with the Public Disclosure Commission.

Under the new law, these organizations will be required to disclose the top 10 donors whose contributions aggregate to $10,000 or more in the calendar year if the nonprofit expects to make contributions or expenditures that aggregate to at least $25,000 in any calendar year in Washington state election campaigns, including ballot initiatives.

The DISCLOSE Act goes into effect on January 1, 2019.

The Washington State Legislature adjourned sine die on March 8.

House Bill 2938, which increases penalties for campaign finance violations, and Senate Bill 5991, which requires nonprofit organizations that participate in political campaigns to file organizational statements and periodic disclosure statements, have passed both chambers are on the governor’s desk.

Gov. Jay Inslee has 20 days from the days he received these bills to sign or veto the bills.

The Seattle Ethics and Election Commission accused Facebook of not complying with a city political advertisement disclosure law.

The law requires companies selling political ads to disclose information about advertisement buys, including information on the exact nature and extent of such advertisements and names and addresses of purchasers.

Facebook provided records at the request of the Ethics and Election Commission, but those records were inadequate, according to the Ethics and Election Commission.

Facebook could be liable for up to $5,000 per violation.

With a 6-1 vote, Spokane, Washington City Council overrode Mayor David Condon’s veto of a campaign finance reform ordinance.

The new ordinance will cut in half the maximum allowable donation to candidates, from $1,000 to $500.

Additional changes include a pay-to-play provision to prohibit contributions from contractors, a restriction on when contributions may be received, and a requirement to disclose a committee’s top donors.

Spokane, Washington Mayor David Condon announced he is vetoing a campaign finance law passed by City Council on December 18.

The Mayor issued a statement expressing concerns the law would not stand up to constitutional challenges, leaving the city vulnerable to expensive litigation.

Moreover, he argued campaign finance reform is better managed at the state level through the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission to avoid redundant oversight.

City Council could override the veto with five votes.