With eight tweets and more than 700 followers, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is now Tweeting about court decisions and other news.

The Associated Press covered the story, as well as the Philadelphia Inquirer-Daily News in this article, “Pa. Supreme Court to go on Twitter” by John P. Martin.

You can find the Supreme Court’s Twitter feed here: @SupremeCtofPA.

Photo of the mural on the wall of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s chambers by Ruhrfisch on Wikipedia.

The San Jose City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, October 18 to change the city’s campaign finance laws. Changes approved include the elimination of the city’s blackout periods which prohibit campaign contributions within 17 days of a regular election and within seven days of a special election.

Per the new law, the voluntary candidate campaign expenditure limits will increase from $1.00 per resident per election to $1.25. The rate for mayoral elections will remain the same at $0.75 per resident per election.

Further changes implemented by the new law eliminate an increase in the voluntary expenditure cap triggered by the fundraising efforts of other candidates and independent committees who do not choose to accept the limit.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, is attending the Council of State Governments 2011 National Conference & North American Summit in Bellevue, Washington.

This year’s National Conference is being held from October 19-23 and for the first time will include representatives from Canada and Mexico.

Elizabeth Bartz was recently appointed to CSG’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee for 2011/2012 term.

Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate issued a restraining order against an independent political group running political ads against Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on Monday, October 17. The order prohibits the attack ads paid for by the group Restoring America from running on television and radio stations.

In his order, Judge Wingate called the ads “an illegal attempt” to influence the outcome of Kentucky’s 2011 gubernatorial election due to a failure by Restoring America to properly report the source of contributions funding the ads as required under Kentucky law. Restoring America had reported a solitary contribution from Restoring America, Inc. of more than $1.3 million to run the ads, but the judge ruled the use of the additional entity was simply masking the identities of individual donors.

Judge Wingate’s order, thought to be the first such order to halt political advertising by a third party in the state, was quickly met with opposition by First Amendment rights activists who have argued it is no more than a state-level assault on the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case.

Restoring America did file an initial appeal on Tuesday, October 18, but that appeal was rejected due to a technical deficiency. Another appeal is expected.

Watch How New York City Government Is (and Isn’t) Using Social Media on PBS. See more from Metrofocus.

Govloop blogger Scott Burns was on a panel discussing the use of social media by New York City government. He gives us a glimpse into that discussion with his blog post: “How New York City Government Is (and Isn’t) Using Social Media” from October 17.

The panel included New York City’s Chief Digital Officer, people from the MTA and the New York City Council, as well as representatives from Microsoft and GovDelivery. If you are interested in social media strategy, measurement, as well as its limitations, this video offers a wealth of information straight from the city’s agencies. You can also find New York Public Media’s Metro Focus coverage of the event here.

Dave Levinthal just published the article “K Street suffers from Twitter jitters” in Politico, where he talks about how lobbyists face a world increasingly using social media.

Members of Congress and their staff are communicating more and more via Facebook and Twitter. So too, many of the companies and organizations that hire lobbyists are employing social media platforms in their communications strategies.

Levinthal’s article explains how lobbyists prefer face-to-face meetings over video conferences or Facebook updates as a way of getting their message across to lawmakers. He also stresses that lobbyists are eager to keep their clients’ information from being broadcast in all directions over social networks.

The article quotes Patton Boggs Chairperson Nick Allard in order to highlight the dilemma: “I’m sure when lawyers or lobbyists used the telegraph for the first time, they faced this kind of issue …  But you cannot be a Luddite and a lobbyist. Luddite lobbyists go out of business.”

What communications will lobbyists embrace in the face of social media? Don’t miss Politico’s analysis.

Photo of the K Street street sign by Ben Shumin on Wikipedia.

The purpose of the special session was to approve a congressional redistricting plan.

Photo of the Maryland Statehouse by Irteagle102704 on Wikipedia.

The Torrance City Council will consider recommendations to revise its ethics laws at the October 18, 2011 city council meeting.

The recommendations to be considered include amending the code of ethics to extend to candidates for elective office and adopting guidelines which include a voluntary ethics course and ethics pledge for elected officials, appointed officials, and candidates for elective office.

A proposed federal regulation would require mandatory privacy training for certain contractors.

Under a new rule put forward by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and NASA, contractors would be required to identify employees designing, operating or having access to government systems of records, or handling personally identifiable information.

This training would be required upon the award of a contract and at least annually thereafter. Vendors would be required to maintain records of employee training for request by the government.

This rule does not apply to commercial items. The Regulatory Secretariat is accepting comments until December 13.

Government Technology featured “The Top 10 Government Facebook Pages” on October 14. Govtech’s lists the top Facebook fan pages based on number of people who “liked” them. The top spot surprised me.

Mashable’s Aliza Sherman wrote “4 U.S. Government Agencies Getting Social on YouTube” on October 13. This article reveals how four government agencies are using YouTube.

Code for America lists the cities they will be helping in 2012 in their blog post, “Meet Code for America 2012” by Jennifer Pahlka from October 13. Eight cities are listed, but none from Ohio. Maybe next year…

According to the CSG website: “The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee is the primary policy body for CSG and the primary body setting the federal-state relations agenda for CSG. It is particularly concerned about federalism issues and other issues impacting states’ rights … The mission of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee is to serve as CSG’s monitoring and advisory arm on major federal issues before Congress and the Administration.”

Congratulations to you, Elizabeth!

A campaign finance law passed decades ago has recently come under fire in light of a possible gubernatorial recall. The law effectively allows public officials subject to a recall to collect unlimited contributions during the period when petitioners are collecting signatures to force a recall.

The law has recently been criticized because it would allow Governor Scott Walker to raise millions of dollars in unlimited contributions, but his eventual opponent would not have the same opportunity.

Democratic Rep. Kelda Helen Roys of Madison introduced Assembly Bill 296 last week to repeal the law and institute campaign contribution limits on a public official subject to a recall.

The Rhode Island General Assembly is scheduled to meet tomorrow, October 18. Tomorrow’s legislative purpose concerns changes to the public pension system.

Because the Legislature has technically only been in recess, the meeting is not a special session. The Legislature will meet intermittently throughout this fall.

Photo of the Rhode Island State Capitol by Garrett A. Wollman on Wikipedia.

Federal:

Company Shops for Campaign Cash

Former Lobbyist Sent to Jail for a Few Hours for Taking Hill Aides to 2003 World Series Game

‘Scarlet L’ for K Street Returns as Obama Sharpens 2012 Rhetoric on Lobbyists

‘Super PAC’ American Crossroads Seeks Permission to Feature Candidates in Ads

The Outsized Returns from Lobbying

From the States and Municipalities:

California

California OKs Donations via Text

California

L.A. Ethics Commission Slaps Developer with Maximum Campaign Fine

California

Proposed California Regulations Spell Out Gift-Reporting Requirements for Elected Officials

Massachusetts

DiMasi Friend Admits Breaking Massachusetts Lobbying Law

New Mexico

GOP Files Lawsuit against Newly Imposed Campaign Contribution Limits in New Mexico

Tennessee

Tennessee Lawmaker Arrested on DUI, Gun Charges

Vermont

Judge: Republican Governors Association violated Vermont campaign finance laws

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.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.