As a part of our unrivaled commitment to government relations compliance expertise, we are attending the Practising Law Institute’s seminar, Corporate Political Activities 2014: Complying With Campaign Finance, Lobbying and Ethics Laws.

The full schedule includes coverage of issues such as federal and state lobbying laws, gift laws, and corporate political contributions. PLI has gathered first-rate presenters such as Lee Goodman and Ann Ravel of the Federal Election Commission, as well as many others from state ethics agencies and corporate compliance.

Why are we taking the time to attend PLI’s Corporate Political Activities 2014?

As their website states: “Lobbying, campaign finance and ethics rules in Washington, and in every state, are changing, and new court cases are affecting lobbyists, corporations, associations, and unions. Compliance with federal, state and local laws is more complex than ever.”

Compliance is more complex than ever – and we are making sure we have it covered.

Lobbying

“Under Contract” in The Hill.

Illinois: “Lobbyists banned from doing business at county board meetings” by Brian Slodysko in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Campaign Finance

“Campaign-Finance Amendment Drives Wedge Between ACLU, Public Citizen” by Daniel Fisher in Forbes.

“Campaign Money Debate Won’t Help Hill’s Reputation” by David Hawkins in Roll Call.

“Too strong for McConnell to resist” by Robert Weissman in The Hill.

“State of political consulting: Rapid growth, long hours, new approaches” by Tarini Parti in Politico.

“How campaigns are losing the mobile war” by Daniel Lippman and Darren Samuelsohn in Politico.

“Former Connecticut governor secretly paid to advise congressional campaign, staff testify” by Richard Weizel in Reuters.

New Jersey: “NJEA Spent Nearly $60M on Campaigns and Lobbying in Past 15 Years” in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

South Carolina: “S.C. House Speaker Indicted on Campaign Finance Violations” by Valerie Bauerlein in The Wall Street Journal.

Ethics

Arkansas: “Why Some Say Arkansas’ Ethics Reform Is a Trojan Horse” by J.B. Wogan in Governing.

Elections

Massachusetts: “Baker, Coakley to square off for control of Corner Office” by Matt Stout in the Boston Herald.

New Hampshire: “Tech-Funded Mayday PAC’s Candidate Loses Big in New Hampshire” by Amy Schatz in Re/code.

New York: “Cuomo survives revolt” by Matthew Hamilton in the Times Union.

Ohio: “Early voting hours should be set by counties, Democrats say” by Jackie Borchardt in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

State Legislatures

Nevada: “Tesla-related bills argued in Nevada Legislature” by Charles Fleming in the Los Angeles Times.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners passed a new ordinance banning registered lobbyists from attempting to communicate with commissioners, for purposes of discussing any matter of county business, while the commissioners are present on the floor during public meetings.

The ordinance does not affect lobbying outside of county chambers or lobbying in the boardroom after a meeting is brought to a close.

Moreover, the new rule applies only to registered lobbyists, and makes no mention of those engaged in lobbying activity who are not yet registered with the county.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell has been suspended following an indictment on criminal charges of misconduct in office, using campaign funds for personal use, and falsifying candidate campaign disclosures. The nine-count indictment claims Harrell used hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds for personal expenses and falsified his private plane’s logbook to seek payment for travel that did not occur.

The complaint was filed by the director of the nonpartisan South Carolina Policy Council and follows a fight between Harrell and Attorney General Alan Wilson, who ordered an investigation of the speaker’s conduct last year.

A new web tool is available to follow the money in November’s mayoral election race. The Open Disclosure project is the product of a partnership between the Public Ethics Commission and OpenOakland, a civic innovation organization.

The project displays campaign finance data for the 15 mayoral candidates in a user friendly way, allowing the public to quickly see who is contributing, where they are contributing from, and in what amounts.  Developers hope to expand the contribution information to all elected races in Oakland.

The information is available here.

Missouri state lawmakers returned to Jefferson City today to start the veto session.

During the regular session, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed 33 regular bills and made line-item vetoes to hundreds of items in the state operating budget.

Lawmakers were expected to prepare for a three-day session due to the historical number of vetoes to consider.

Photo of the Missouri Capitol by Nickbigd on Wikimedia Commons.

Gov. Brian Sandoval ordered the Nevada Legislature into special session beginning Wednesday, September 10, 2014.

The purpose of the special session is to consider tax breaks offered to Tesla Motors in exchange for locating a battery plant in Nevada.

Photo of the Nevada Legislature courtesy of Dave Parker on Wikimedia Commons.

Lobbying

“Lobbying World” in The Hill.

“Inside NFL’s lobbyist draft drama” by Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan in Politico.

“Jim Nussle lands credit union job” by Megan R. Wilson in The Hill.

“These 2 Billionaires Spend More on Lobbying for Their Pet Issues Than Most Industries” by Tess VandenDolder in InTheCapital.

“Former Sen. John Breaux says he and Trent Lott are not lobbying for Russian bank” by Bruce Alpert in the Times-Picayune.

“Lobbyists ‘who know what’s good for them’ lose ball game to lawmakers” by Crystal Hill in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

Arizona: “Clean Elections chief: Horne broke campaign law” by Bob Christie (Associated Press) in the Arizona Daily Sun.

Maryland: “Maryland Democratic Party targets use of campaign bus by GOP’s Hogan” by John Wagner in The Washington Post.

Wisconsin: “Wisconsin prosecutors seek ruling to restart campaign finance probe” by Brendan O’Brien and Mary Wisniewski in Reuters.

Ethics

Ohio: “Senate ethics allegations stir prosecutor’s interest” by Jeremy Pelzer in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Virginia: “Va. voters agree with McDonnells’ guilty verdict, want stronger ethics laws, poll finds” by Jenna Portnoy in The Washington Post.

Virginia: “Top Virginia lawmakers back stiffer ethics law after ex-governor’s conviction” by Gary Robertson in Reuters.

Elections

“2014 Election Primary Results” in Politico.

“2014 Governors Races: The Tossups” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

“2014 Governors Races: Where Republicans Are Likely to Win” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

“2014 Governors Races: Where Democrats Are Likely to Win” by Louis Jacobson in Governing.

“Scott Brown cruises in NH Senate primary” by Alexandra Jaffe in The Hill.

Legislative Sessions

Missouri: “Missouri Veto Session starts today in Jefferson City” by Korey Johnson in the Daily Journal.

Nevada: “Sandoval issues proclamation, calls special session for Tesla deal” by Laura Myers in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Tech and Social Media

“Breaking Government’s Cloud Procurement Gridlock” by Brian Heaton in Government Technology.

Governor Earl Ray Tomblin will not call a special legislative session to make changes to a new law regulating above-ground storage tanks. The law, created in response to the chemical contamination of drinking water for 300,000 people, sets a January 1 deadline for the implementation of tank inspections.

Lawmakers urged the governor to call a special session, believing that the deadline is unattainable and overly burdensome. Gov. Tomblin instead plans to use administrative means to adjust the law, placing greater focus on high risk areas and hazardous materials.

Q. I provided a state legislator with a permissible gift.  I will be sure to include it on my next report.  Is there anything else I need to know regarding proper disclosure of this expenditure.

A. There are sometimes additional disclosure requirements related to an expenditure on a covered state official or employee.  You should be sure to consider two possibilities: a notification to the official or a supplemental report in addition to your routine lobbying report.

A number of states have a notification requirement if you are going to list the name of a covered public official on your lobbying report.  For example, Illinois actually requires two notifications.  You must provide the official with a contemporaneous notification at the time of the expenditure, and a post- notification is required within 30 days after the report has been filed.  In other jurisdictions, the notification is related to whether you must itemize the expenditure or list the official’s name on your report.  In Arkansas, you must list the state official’s name if payment for food (including beverages), lodging, or travel is in excess of $40.  Once the official is named on your report, you must provide him or her with a notification of this at least seven working days prior to the filing of your report.  Pennsylvania imposes a yearly aggregate threshold on the listing of an official on the principal’s lobbying report and corresponding required notification.  This threshold is $250 per calendar year for gifts and $650 per calendar year for transportation, lodging, and/or hospitality (which includes food and beverage).  Please keep in mind that notifications are not filed with the state, but sent to the official named on your report.

Some jurisdictions require an additional report to be filed with the state when making certain permissible expenditures.  For example, if you invite all members of a Maryland legislative unit to a meal or reception, you must extend a written invitation to all members of the legislative unit and register the meal or reception with the Maryland Department of Legislative Services at least five days before the date of the meal or reception.  You must then report the details of the meal or reception to the Maryland Ethics Commission within 14 days after the date of the meal or reception.  In Indiana, you must file a report within 15 days if you make a gift or gifts to a legislative person if the value of the gift or gifts equals $50 or more in one day or together totals more than $250 in a reporting year.

Proper disclosure of a permissible expenditure can include additional steps.  Be sure to check with your jurisdiction’s ethics agency to ensure all disclosure requirements are met.

You can directly submit questions for this feature, and we will select those most appropriate and answer them here. Send your questions to: marketing@stateandfed.com.

(We are always available to answer questions from clients that are specific to your needs, and we encourage you to continue to call or e-mail us with questions about your particular company or organization. As always, we will confidentially and directly provide answers or information you need.) Our replies to your questions are not legal advice. Instead, these replies represent our analysis of laws, rules, and regulations.

The state ethics commission is preparing to amend rules regarding campaign finance and lobbyist reporting. The campaign finance changes include allowing the commission to raise or lower campaign contribution limits at the end of four-year election cycles rather than every calendar year. The rules would also clarify only contributions to candidates can trigger the $25,000 annual registration and reporting threshold for individuals or entities making contributions.

Lobbying amendments would require reporting for gifts to family of officials and permit gift splitting by multiple lobbyists so long as a single lobbyist does not exceed the $75 limits.

A public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled for September 30, 2014.

A federal judge entered a preliminary injunction in favor of a conservative group challenging the state’s limits on the amount candidates can collect from political action committees. The group argued the limits infringed upon its First Amendment free speech rights.

The judge agreed and issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Government Accountability Board from enforcing the limit.

Lobbying

“Bottom Line” in The Hill.

“The billionaires who bailed out K Street” by Byron Tau in Politico.

“K Street’s Russian bonanza” by Byron Tau in Politico.

“Wall Street floods feds with proposals to cut red tape” by Ben Goad in The Hill.

Campaign Finance

“Campaign finance debate a partisan flashpoint as it moves to Senate floor” by Matea Gold in The Washington Post.

“Senate advances constitutional amendment” by Burgess Everett in Politico.

“Constitutional Amendment Debate Roils ACLU | Rules of the Game” by Elizabeth Newlin Carney in Roll Call.

Wisconsin: “Judge orders state not to enforce PAC limits law” by Scott Bauer (Associated Press) in Bloomberg Businessweek.

Wisconsin: “Mega-donors rush in after campaign-giving cap removed” by Patrick Marley and Kevin Crowe in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Ethics

“Spurned Staffer Sends Email Accusing Top Republican of Ethics Violations” by Matt Fuller in Roll Call.

Congress

“September Congressional Agenda: Must-Pass Bills and Messaging Gambits” by Emma Dumain in Roll Call.

“Lameness of Post-Election Session Could Hinge on Results” by Niels Lesniewski and Bridget Bowman in Roll Call.

State Legislatures

Missouri: “Battle over money anticipated during Missouri veto session” by Alex Stuckey in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Nebraska: “Women will remain minority in Nebraska Legislature” by The Associated Press in the Omaha World-Herald.

Elections

“The Final Primary Elections: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island and New York Vote” by Shushannah Walshe on ABC News.

“7 questions for final primary night” by Kyle Cheney, James Hohmann, Elizabeth Titus and Steven Shepard in Politico.

“4 Things to Watch in the Final Primaries of 2014” by Emily Cahn in Politico.

Tech and Social Media

“Livestream: Nextgov Prime 2014” on Nextgov.

“Why Can’t Government Websites Be More Like Amazon?” by Rebecca Carroll in Nextgov.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval may call the Legislature into a special session as soon as Wednesday to approve a plan for the $5 billion Tesla plant in the state.

According the Los Angeles Times, the electric car company and the state have reached an agreement to have Tesla manufacture batteries in Nevada. The Office of the Governor predicts the proposed lithium-ion battery plant would create 6,500 factory jobs and 16,000 other jobs, including 3,000 in construction.

The Los Angeles Times reports the Legislature is required to enact parts of the agreement in order for the deal to go through. This includes allowing Tesla to “receive up to a 100% tax abatement for the next 20 years for all sales tax, and up to a 100% tax abatement for the next 10 years for all real property tax, personal property tax and modified business tax,” according the Los Angeles Times.