Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds ruled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker must call special elections to fill legislative vacancies.

Two seats were left vacant in December when Republican lawmakers resigned to work in Walker’s administration.

Reynolds, whom Walker appointed in 2014, found he has a duty to call the elections; failure to do so would infringe on the voting rights of the districts’ residents.

He must issue an order by March 29 calling elections within the next 11 weeks.

North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger approved the format of a petition to amend the state constitution to include an independent ethics commission.

If voters approve, the ethics commission would be responsible for adopting rules related to elections, lobbying, and for reporting and investigating alleged violations of those rules and related state laws.

Additionally, the measure prohibits gifts from lobbyists, prohibits the delivery of campaign contributions by lobbyists, restricts lobbying from former public officials, and restricts the use of campaign contributions, among other provisions.

Supporters of the petition have until July 9 to gather nearly 27,000 signatures to place the constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Gov. Phil Bryant has appointed Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith to the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by Thad Cochran.

Cochran is stepping down due to health problems on April 1.

Hyde-Smith will be sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence in April and will run for the remainder of Cochran’s term in the November 6 special election.

Campaign Finance

National: “Federal Election Officials Failed to Enforce Campaign Finance Requirements on Outside Group in 2010, Judge Rules” by Michelle Ye Hee Lee for Washington Post

National: “Controversy Swirls as Lawmakers Eye Campaign Finance Changes” by Kate Ackley for Roll Call

Washington: “Wash. Gov Signs Universal Voter Registration Law” by Reid Wilson for The Hill

Elections

Illinois: “Denounced by His Party as a Nazi, Arthur Jones Wins Illinois G.O.P. Congressional Primary” by Liam Stack for New York Times

Mississippi: “Mississippi Governor Defies White House with His G.O.P. Appointee to Senate” by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns for New York Times

Ethics

National: “Judge Rules Defamation Case Against Trump May Proceed” by Mark Berman and Frances Stead Sellers for Washington Post

National: “White House Job Requirement: Signing a nondisclosure agreement” by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Maggie Haberman, Michael Shear, and Katie Rogers for New York Times

Hawaii: “Former Hawaii House Speaker Forced Out Over Sexual Harassment” by Anita Hofschneider for Honolulu Civil Beat

Lobbying

New Mexico: “Avenue for Lobbyist Harassment Complaints Unclear” by Marie Baca and Dan Boyd for Albuquerque Journal

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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.

On March 14, the second regular session of the 120^th Indiana General Assembly adjourned with several bills pending on the floor.

As a result, Gov. Eric Holcomb plans to call a special session for May. On top of the Holcomb’s list is a school safety spending bill and a bill needed to harmonize state tax code with federal tax code.

Holcomb plans to set an agenda with Republican legislators before he officially calls a special session.

Gov. Gary Herbert signed House Bill 320 this week, putting it into effect immediately.

The bill expands the existing prohibition on contributions to legislators during a legislative session to also cover contributions to the lieutenant governor, attorney general, state auditor, and state treasurer.

The prohibition extends to contributions to the personal campaign committees and political action committees (PACs) of the covered candidates. Previously, only contributions to legislators were banned during sessions.

Parties prohibited from contributing during session include persons, lobbyists, principals, and political committees.

On March 20, a federal court found the Federal Election Commission (FEC) failed to interpret campaign finance laws correctly as applied to an outside group’s political activity during the 2010 federal elections.

In 2012, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had brought a complaint to the FEC alleging American Action Network (AAN), an outside nonprofit entity that ran nearly $18 million in television advertisements just before the 2010 federal midterm elections, was a “political committee” and subject to federal disclosure requirements.

A majority of the commissioners did not find “reason to believe” that AAN violated any law and the complaint was dismissed. Crew appealed the FEC decision to the United States District Court for The District of Columbia.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper found the FEC’s analysis used to determine whether AAN was a political committee “was inconsistent with the governing statutes,” granted summary judgment in favor of CREW, and remanded the matter back to FEC to address CREW’s initial complaint again.

The Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC) is one step closer to placing an ethics proposal on the November ballot.

Proposal 39, creating an extended waiting period for state and local officials seeking to lobby after leaving office, was approved as amended.

The proposal prohibits state and local officials from lobbying their former departments, agencies, or governing bodies for six years after leaving office. Such persons would also be prohibited from lobbying any federal agency or any state or local body or agency during their respective terms of office.

Upon approval, the measure advanced, along with seven other proposals, to the Style and Drafting Committee. The committee has the authority to revise and combine proposals prior to a final vote by the full commission.

To be placed on the November 6 ballot, the proposal will need support from at least 22 commission members.

Campaign Finance

California: “Californians Appointed to State Posts Could Soon Be Barred from Writing Checks to Lawmakers Who Vote on Their Nomination” by Patrick McGreevy for Los Angeles Times

Nevada: “Lack of Transparency Questioned in Campaign Theft by DA’s Aide” by Jeff German and David Ferrara for Las Vegas Review-Journal

Ohio: “Ohio’s Campaign-Finance Laws for Judges Debated at Sixth Circuit” by Kevin Koeninger for Courthouse News Service

Elections

National: “There’s Never Been a Native American Congresswoman. That Could Change in 2018.” by Julie Turkewitz for New York Times

Kansas: “Kansas Voting Trial Over. One More Court Day, a Contempt Hearing, Ahead for Kobach” by Bryan Lowry for Kansas City Star

Ethics

Florida: “Voters Could Get Say on Government Ethics” by News Service of Florida for Orlando Sentinel

Maryland: “Md. House Approves Overhaul of Anti-Harassment Policy; Fate in Senate Unclear” by Ovetta Wiggins and Rachel Carson for Washington Post

Redistricting

Pennsylvania: “Supreme Court Refuses to Stop New Congressional Maps in Pennsylvania” by Robert Barnes for Washington Post

The Maryland House of Delegates unanimously voted on Monday to strengthen the General Assembly’s sexual harassment policies to cover lobbyists.

The bill authorizes a person to file a complaint with the State Ethics Commission against a regulated lobbyist who has sexually harassed a member or employee of the General Assembly, and it also allows a lobbyist to file a complaint against a member of the General Assembly for sexual harassment.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

Campaign Finance

Illinois: “15 Got Promotions from Court Clerk Dorothy Brown Within 6 Months of Donations” by Robert Herguth and Tanveer Ali for Chicago Sun-Times

New York: “JCOPE Continues Long-Running Probe of de Blasio Donors” by Chris Bragg for Albany Times Union

South Dakota: “‘Pay to Play’ Questions Emerge in South Dakota Governor’s Race” by John Hult for Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Elections

National: “Facebook’s Role in Data Misuse Sets Off Storms on Two Continents” by Matthew Rosenberg and Sheera Frenkel for New York Times

Ethics

North Carolina: “Cooper Names 8 to North Carolina Elections and Ethics Board” by Gary Robertson (Associated Press) for Durham Herald-Sun

Lobbying

National: “Bye-Bye Box Seats? Tax Law May Curb Corporate Cash at Games” by Marcy Gordon (Associated Press) for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Arkansas: “Former Arkansas Legislator’s Name Surfaces in Graft Case” by Doug Thompson for Arkansas Online

Procurement

Florida: “In Miami, MCM Thrives on Big County Contracts. Now It Faces the FIU Bridge Catastrophe” by Douglas Hanks for Miami Herald

An ad-hoc committee led by members of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is starting a series of invitation-only meetings to discuss campaign finance reforms aimed at establishing contribution limits or a spending cap for all county elected officials.

The goal of the meetings is to produce a recommendation for the full Board of Supervisors by the end of June and adopt limits in time for them to take effect January 1, 2019.