The Connecticut House and Senate passed House Bill 5556 on May 8, 2012. The bill makes changes to Connecticut’s campaign finance disclosure law, requiring corporate board authorization for campaign-related expenditures exceeding $4,000 and disclosure of donor identities for donations aggregating $1,000 or more.

The bill now awaits action by Governor Dannel P. Malloy, although the governor’s general counsel has indicated that there are constitutional concerns with the bill, raising the possibility of a veto.

North Carolina citizens voted in the 2012 primary last night, but some races did not yield a true winner. According to state law, if no candidate receives 40% of the vote in a primary, a second primary (or runoff) election is needed.

Over 10 races, including republican races for Lieutenant Governor and three U.S. House seats, will be headed to a runoff election.

Thanks to a new law passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last year, the primary will be held 10 weeks following the first primary, rather than the usual seven weeks. The new law took effect, because at least one of the races headed to a runoff was a U.S. Congress seat.

The runoff election will take place on July 17, 2012.

Alaska:  “High court to hear redistricting petition” by The Associated Press in The Anchorage Daily News.

Kansas: “GOP redistricting fight could mean courts make final decision” by John Hanna (Associated Press) in the Lawrence Journal World.

North Carolina: “Redistricting sets stage for fall elections” by Emery Dalesio (Associated Press) in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Washington:  “Supreme Court upholds state redistricting plan” by Warren Kagarise in the Issaquah Press.

“Obama campaign curating songs for Spotify playlist” by Natalie Jennings in the Washington Post.

“Twitter playing a big role in 2012 presidential campaign” by The Associated Press on the Times-Picayune.

“The 140-Character-or-Less Campaign” by Charlie Warzel in AdWeek.

This morning State and Federal Communications’ Elizabeth Bartz made a guest appearance on WAKR radio to help News Anchor Lindsay McCoy pick songs for her wedding reception! Opa!

Michael Sullivan, the Director of the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance, has been reappointed for another six-year term to the agency.

According to the Boston Herald, the decision was unanimous to reappoint Sullivan, who has been the director for almost 18 years.

For full news coverage, read:

“Michael Sullivan reappointed as OCPF chief” by Gintautas Dumcius in the Boston Herald.

A thank you goes to Jim Sedor, Editor of News You Can Use, for alerting us to this news.

Governor Martin O’Malley has ordered the General Assembly to convene a special session on May 14th.

Lawmakers are expected to pass legislation regarding state revenues and income-tax increases.

The special session became necessary after a stalemate during the regular session between the House and Senate.

The photo of the Chamber of the Maryland House of Delegates courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is speaking today in Washington, D.C. at the American League of Lobbyists State Lobbying Educational Seminar. The event is part of the group’s Lobbying Certificate Program.

According to the event details on the American League of Lobbyists website, this is the aim of the session:

“For many in D.C., lobbying starts with what goes on in the Beltway. But it doesn’t end there. No organization or corporation seeking to fulfill their entire legislative agenda can rely solely on federal lobbying. State-level lobbying, however, comes with an entirely new set of regulations and compliance landmines than federal lobbying. Did you know that ‘lobbying activities’ has a different definition depending where you are and to correctly filing disclosure forms takes a whole new process? Plus, even if you simply want to monitor what’s going on at the state level, you’ve got to coordinate effectively with different in-house or entirely new outside government relations teams.”

“How House Oversight Conquered YouTube and What It Means”by Joseph Marks in Nextgov.

“Is Procurement Killing Innovation?” by Steve Towns in Government Technology.

“Twitter #Hashtags a #DoubleEdgedSword for #Obama, #Romney Campaigns” by Ray Suarez on PBS NewsHour.

“No Credible Proof that Twitter Can Predict Elections, Researcher Finds” by Nick Judd in TechPresident.

“Tired of ‘Tainted’ Image, Lobbyists Try Makeover” by Eric Lichtblau in The New York Times.

“State lobbyists spend record amounts: report” by Nannette Miranda on KABC-TV Los Angeles.

“Del. Senate Approves Bill on Lobbyist Disclosures” by The Associated Press on WBOC.com.

New Jersey Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean, Jr. is introducing legislation applying the state’s pay-to-play laws to labor unions.

According to the Senator’s press release, his bill applies the same restrictions on campaign contributions and activities to labor unions under contract with state, county, and municipal governmental entities as are currently applied to government service providers.

“Pay to play reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work. That law missed one of the biggest recipients of public dollars and thus, must be fixed in the interest of fairness and honesty,” argues Senator Kean.

Photo of New Jersey Senator Tom Kean, Jr. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Arizona: The Arizona Legislature adjourned its session sine die on May 3. Governor Jan Brewer has 10 days to sign or veto legislation transmitted to her, or the legislation becomes law automatically.

Hawaii: The Hawaii Legislature adjourned sine die yesterday, May 3, 2012.

Mississippi: The Mississippi Legislature adjourned ahead of schedule on May 3, 2012.

Thank you to Research Associates George Ticoras, Shamus Williams, and Jen Zona for providing us with this legislative session information.

National:

Crowd-Sourcing Site Aims to Give Voters Lobbying Power

Federal:

Conservative Group Seeks FEC Approval to Keep Donors Secret

Obama Campaign Puts Bo on the Trail

From the States and Municipalities:

California

Lawmakers Mix Work with Fundraising in Sacramento

Illinois

Mayor’s Ethics Panel Offers Tweaks, Plans to Take Bigger Steps

Kentucky

Audit: Richie Farmer abused system

Maine

Lawmakers Decry Corruption Claim

Maryland

Legislation Would Give State Voters More Political Gift Information

Montana

Groups Ask That Montana Judge Toss Ban Restricting Campaign Donations

North Carolina

Second Tillis Staffer Admits to Inappropriate Relationship with a Lobbyist

Oklahoma

Oklahoma Ethics Panel Reprimands OU Doctor for Accepting Excessive Speaking Fees

Texas

Austin Approves New Campaign Finance Rules

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

As the general presidential election begins, swing states will start to receive more attention from the candidates and national media. This week, our highlighted site focuses on the latest polling data of three major swing states from Quinnipiac University.

Quinnipiac conducted a survey from April 25 – May 1 of registered voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. These three states were targeted as no candidate since 1960 has won the White House without winning at least two of them.

When asked: “Turning to this year’s general election for president, if the election for President were being held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama the Democrat and Mitt Romney the Republican, for whom would you vote?”

• Florida: Mitt Romney 44% – Barack Obama 43% (1,169 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Ohio: Barack Obama 44% – Mitt Romney 42% (1,130 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)
• Pennsylvania: Barack Obama 47% – Mitt Romney 39% (1,168 voters, margin of error +/- 2.9%)

Clearly the race is just beginning to heat up as both Florida and Ohio are within the statistical margin of error. Look for the candidates to start spending significant time and money in both of these states as well as a number of other swing states.

Check out the site for complete polling data including favorability ratings, voter opinions on the economy and which candidate for Vice President voters would most like to see Mitt Romney choose. You can also download crosstabs and demographic summaries for each poll and parse the data as deeply as you would like.

Have a great weekend!