Despite highly publicized criticism of a Washington law allowing legislators to accept meals from lobbyists on “infrequent occasions”, the Washington State Legislature failed to pass any bills addressing the ambiguity before its adjournment in March. Senate Bill 6414 contained a provision requiring the Legislative Ethics Board to define “infrequent occasions” and further required the development of an electronic reporting system enabling lobbyist reports to be searched electronically by the public.

This bill and others did not make it out of committee before the legislature adjourned and will not carryover to the next session. As a result of the legislature’s failure to pass any pertinent legislation, the Legislative Ethics Board has independently taken on the task of defining “infrequent occasions”.

The Board will hold a public meeting Tuesday, April 15 at 12 p.m. in Hearing Room 3 of the John A. Cherberg Building, 298 15th Avenue SW, Olympia, Washington. Board Chair Kristine Hoover set the meeting to listen and gather information from the public and to get public feedback on what the word “infrequent” should mean.

Senate Bill 6414, introduced this week by a group of Washington senators led by Senator Joe Fain, requires all reports to be filed electronically. The bill contains several other strictures, including requiring the Public Disclosure Commission to make all filings available on its website, mandating each lobbyist or lobbyist’s employer sharing in an expenditure greater than $25 to report the specific dollar amount of his or her share, and requiring all lobbyist filings to include an itemized list of all payments made to a state official, regardless of dollar amount.

Another section of the bill implores the Ethics Board to define the limits of “infrequent occasions” in the context of the acceptance of gifts of food and beverages by public officials from lobbyists. This section of the bill comes after a widely-read report showing the state’s 50 most active lobbyists pampered legislators with meals totaling more than $65,000 over a four-month period.

A final section of the bill allows lobbyists to avoid reporting expenses for a legislator’s food at a meeting with the lobbyist if such expenses were paid by the legislator.

Photo of the interior of the Washington State Capitol courtesy of Eric Hunt on Wikimedia Commons.

Senate Bill 5988, introduced January 13, 2014, would prohibit state officials from soliciting or accepting political contributions in odd-numbered years when the legislature is out of session but has not adopted or submitted to the governor a biennial operating appropriations act.

The bill would further prohibit the governor or any person employed by the governor from soliciting or accepting contributions during the period provided for the consideration of bills under the Washington constitution.

Photo of the Washington State Senate Chamber courtesy of Lincolnite on Wikimedia Commons.

The Legislative Ethics Board in Washington dismissed a complaint related to Washington state lawmakers accepting free meals from lobbyists. Washington law prohibits public officials from accepting free meals on more than “infrequent occasions.” However, there is no enforceable standard for “infrequent occasions.”

The complaint was prompted by a reported $65,000 being spent on free meals by the state’s most active lobbyists in the first four months of 2013.

The Ethics Board is turning to the Legislature for an enforceable standard for the ethics law. If the Legislature fails to do so in the upcoming session beginning in January, the board plans to establish its own rules.

The board also noted in its decision the lack of an enforceable standard affects the consistency of lobbyist reports in terms of what is being reported.

Photo of the Washington State Capitol by Nikopoley on Wikimedia Commons.

Although Initiative 522 was ultimately defeated in an election several weeks ago, State Attorney General Bob Ferguson is moving forward with a lawsuit against the Grocery Manufacturers Association, alleging the group broke state campaign finance laws in its effort to defeat Initiative 522.

Under Washington campaign finance law, an outside group like the GMA must form a political committee, register it in the state of Washington, and file disclosure forms listing the sources of its funding.

Ferguson alleges GMA failed to timely do so and as a result, robbed Washington voters of “transparency and openness in elections”.

The case will not go to trial until early next year.

The special session of the Washington Legislature adjourned Saturday, November 9, marking the third special legislative session this year.

The purpose of the special session was to consider legislation containing tax incentives for Boeing and the aerospace industry in exchange for retaining manufacturing operations in the state.

Photo of the Washington State Capitol by Bluedisk in Wikimedia Commons.

Governor Jay Inslee has called a special session of the Washington Legislature in the hopes of passing legislation to entice Boeing to bring the construction of its new airliner, the 777X, to Washington.

The special session will convene Thursday.

Photo of the Washington State Capitol courtesy of Bluedisk at Wikimedia Commons.

Opponents of Initiative 522, a ballot measure requiring food producers to label food items containing genetically engineered ingredients, have broken a Washington fundraising record.

The No on 522 campaign has raised more than $21 million, the most money ever raised by a statewide initiative campaign.

The overall fundraising for Initiative 522, on both sides of the issue, totals $27.7 million, which is the second highest total in state history.

Initiative 522, which would require labeling on genetically modified foods in Washington state, has drawn negative attention from many of the nation’s largest and most recognizable food manufacturers, including Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Nestle.

Pepsi is the biggest contributor to the effort to oppose the initiative, with its contributions accounting for $1.6 million of the $7.2 million total contributions collected to date.

Voters will decide the issue on November 5, with the election marking one of the most expensive initiative battles in the history of Washington state.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill Monday further extending the state’s contribution limits to other elected offices. Senate Bill 5748 now sets contribution limits on candidates running for a seat on a public hospital district board of commissioners in a district with a population over 150,000.

No person, other than a bona fide political party or a caucus political committee, will be allowed to contribute more than $900 per election for those candidates. Each primary, general, and special election are considered a separate election for purposes of the contribution limits, so a person would be allowed to contribute $900 during the primary and another $900 during the general election.

Senator Pam Roach was the bill’s main sponsor and she said, “This is a victory for citizens who reside in public hospital districts…Recent commission races have seen large contributions from single sources that have over powered the campaigns. All elected positions in state, county, and local government have campaign finance limitations except for public hospital commissioners. There is no reason that candidates for public hospital district board of commissioners should not live under the same rules as other elected officials. This bill corrects that problem.”

The bill will take effect on July 28, 2013.

Photo of Gov. Jay Inslee courtesy of Thomas Sørenes on Wikipedia.

Governor Jay Inslee has signed a bill into law increasing disclosure in political advertising. Senate Bill 5258 was passed by the Washington State Legislature and delivered to the governor on April 23.

The bill requires a series of political advertisements supporting or opposing ballot measures sponsored by the same political committee, each of which is under $1,000, to include information on the advertisement’s top five contributors once the cumulative value of the advertisements reaches $1,000. Under the current law, information on the top five contributors is only required for individual advertisements in excess of $1,000.

This law will take effect on July 28, 2013, but with the first state elections not due to take place until 2014, we will probably not see how big of an impact this new disclosure requirement will have.

The Washington State Legislature adjourned Sunday night, but state lawmakers are not done meeting this year. For the fourth consecutive year, the Legislature has been unable to complete the state budget and will have to go into special session.

The Legislature was statutorily mandated to adjourn on Sunday, but it is allowed a 30-day special session to come to an agreement on the budget. Governor Jay Inslee said budget negotiators will remain in Olympia to continue work on the budget, while all other legislators will report back on May 13 for the special session.

While in special session, the Legislature may take up other issues and Governor Inslee would like the lawmakers to handle issues involving abortion, gun control, and immigration. However, with the budget being the major issue, these secondary issues may not be discussed.

In regards to the budget, Governor Inslee said, “The parties are not miles apart at the moment, they are light-years apart.”

Photo of the Interior of the Legislative Building by Cacophony on Wikipedia.

Washington’s grassroots lobbying disclosure law is still safe after a federal appellate court dismissed a challenger’s case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the claim by Many Cultures, One Voice and Conservative Enthusiasts challenging the state’s disclosure laws for grassroots lobbying. The law requires groups to disclose contributions and spending once it has spent $500 in one month or $1,000 over a three-month period for grassroots lobbying.

The court ruled the two groups did not have standing to sue, because they never actually met the threshold for having to disclose its activities. Initially, the two groups argued the disclosure requirements thwarted free speech, but the trail court ruled against the groups saying the law did not violate the First Amendment.

The groups are now planning their next course of action. They may petition the appellate court to vacate the trial court’s ruling. If this were to happen, it would free up other groups to challenge the law without the benefit of a prior ruling in favor of the state.

A bill has been pre-filed for the upcoming 2013 legislative session that will affect lobbyists and PACs. The bill will require that all reports filed by lobbyists be done electronically by January 1, 2014. Currently, electronic filing of reports is voluntary.

Also, a new yearly fee of $200 will be required of all PACs and lobbyists and lobbyist employers whose compensation received or expenses paid is more than $10,000 in the previous calendar year.

The Washington legislature will not convene its new legislative session until January 14, 2013.