Governor Deal signed House Bill 232 on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The law, which is effective retroactively to January 10, 2011, redefines the term “lobbyist” to require a person to be compensated specifically for lobbying activities before being required to register and report as a lobbyist. Also, a person is now only deemed a “lobbyist” if more than 10 percent of his or her working hours are spent engaged in lobbying activities.

A “lookback” period is included for each calendar month, requiring lobbyist registration and an initial disclosure report within five days if at the end of any month a person has met the 10 percent test. Further, the expenditure triggers for lobbyist registration have been increased from $250 to $1,000.

Additionally, lobbyists are granted a grace period of three business days in filing all disclosure reports. Finally, persons who are employed as bona fide salespersons are exempt from regulation as vendor lobbyists.

Photo of the dome of the Georgia State Capitol by Connor.carey on Wikipedia.

The complaint filed by the American Education Association seeks to have the law overturned on grounds of violating free speech and equal protection.

Even though the law prohibits the use of payroll deductions from all public employees for such activities, the teachers’ group says the law, passed and supported by Republicans, is discriminatory and specifically aimed at them because the A.E.A. has traditionally been a strong supporter of Democratic candidates.

The statute in question has been a source of controversy since it was passed in December during a special legislative session which saw an overhaul of several aspects of the Alabama ethics laws.



On March 14, Politico published an  interview of political consultant Joe Trippi.  He speaks about what should be clear to everyone after the 2008 presidential election – social media has changed the rules of engagement in political campaigning.

What will startle many people is his set of predictions: By 2012 or 2016, Trippi sees an end to the two-party domination of presidential elections (thanks to social media) and a level of fund raising that will eclipse what we saw with the Obama campaign. He also sees such funding going to a third-party candidate who is smart enough to use social media in an innovative way. The result could be a great political upset for Democrats and Republicans.

Whatever unfolds in the coming year, the missing piece from the discussion is consideration of the ramifications for campaign finance regulation. In the scenario  Trippi depicts, how will the new issues of advertising on social networks be handled? How will the source of funding be disclosed for a Facebook or Twitter message that is primarily a political advertisement and could social media efforts fall under the category of in-kind contributions?

The developments could complicate state elections, too. We have Maryland’s State Board of Elections and California’s Fair Political Practices Commission as examples of the first efforts at the regulation of political campaigning on the internet. I wonder how many oversight agencies will get out ahead of the issue by the next election?

For the Politico interview, read “Joe Trippi: Social media will kill two-party system” by Mike Zapler.

The House has included a provision in their appropriations bill which would double lobbyists’ registration fees. House Bill 3700 increases lobbyist and lobbyist’s principal registration fees to $200. The State Ethics Commission would retain fifty percent of the increased fee and the remaining fifty percent would go to the state’s general fund.

Also included in the bill is a provision precluding the State Ethics Commission staff from making any public comment which in any way reflects a personal opinion on any matter which is before the commission.

Effective March 17, 2011, the amount triggering detailed reporting for food, beverages, transportation, lodging, and entertainment will drop to $90.

The trigger is set by statute at 60% of the amount of the legislative per diem.

Due to the legislative per diem decreasing from $168 for the 2009 session to $150 for the 2011 session, the trigger has decreased from $100.80 to $90.

We have seen many examples of social media being used as a tool to promote a political campaign, now here it is being used as a tool to remove an official from office. Rhode Island’s Governor Lincoln Chafee is the target of a recall effort, and one group is using Facebook to gather support for the effort.

Take a look at the Facebook page with its 123 friends.

For the full story you can read the Providence Journal article “Governor unfazed by Facebook recall move” by Philip Marcelo and Katherine Gregg on March 14.

Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 206(4)-5, regarding political contributions to government entities from investment advisors, takes effect today. Rule 206(4)-5(a)(1) makes it unlawful for advisors of hedge funds, private equity funds, and certain other investments, to provide investment advisory services for compensation to a government entity within two years after a contribution to an official of the government entity is made by the investment adviser, a covered associate, or its PAC.

On September 13, addition rules take effect, including prohibiting third parties from soliciting government business, and regulating what investment pool advisers may do.

The Hartford city council is debating a proposal to ban campaign contributions from contractors who have business deals with the city. Proposed more than two years ago, the measure is now moving forward after receiving word from the city’s corporation counsel assuring the legality of such a measure.

There are still details to be determined concerning the measure, including who will be expected to enforce the measure. A vote is expected by the end of March.

Aerial photo of downtown Hartford by Sage Ross on Wikipedia.

This week our Highlighted Site of the Week is the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank’s Harvest for Hunger Campaign. The Foodbank is a distribution center that supplies food to 430 community outreach organizations, which in turn help nearly 180,000 people in need in eight counties of Northeast Ohio. It is a Herculean effort.

I have seen the operation first-hand: The place is huge (85,000 square feet), super-organized, and amazingly clean. The people who work there are my heroes. They work hard, they are friendly to the many guests who arrive in need, and they love to share with the community about the work of the Foodbank.

Each year the Foodbank has a drive called Harvest for Hunger. As their website says, Harvest for Hunger is “one of the largest food and funds drive campaigns” in the nation and is a model for other communities. But with the pressures of a very difficult economy, the Foodbank has found that the level of need has greatly increased. They need our help.

(more…)

We keep an ever-watchful eye on any developments in the area of government use of social media. Here are two interesting lists to explore:

A thank you goes out to OhMyGov! for highlighting a new resource by DCI Digital Group called the Digital America Map. This interactive map measures the use of Facebook and Twitter by officials in each state. How did your state do? If you don’t like your state’s ranking, or feel the information needs to be updated because your governor just started a Twitter account and is tweeting up a storm, then send DCI a message on their Twitter account!

Along those lines, Men’s Health Magazine (of all things) published an article a few days ago called “Twitter Towns, USA” ranking “the most socially networked cities” in America. This list is not about government use, but it is still interesting. Washington, D.C. rose to the top position; Atlanta, Georgia came in second place; and Denver, CO was in third. It pains me to tell you Cleveland did not make the top ten. I had to keep scrolling down the page to find out we placed at 51st out of 100.

Eric Brown’s Political Activity Law blog pointed me in the direction of a Philadelphia Inquirer-Daily News article that said lobbyist spending in New Jersey has increased 14% since Gov. Chris Christie took office. The grand total of spending was $66 million.

For the full story, read today’s article: “Christie’s tenure brings jump in lobbying” by Cynthia Burton.

Map of New Jersey by JimIrwin on Wikipedia.

Voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the city charter placing serious restrictions on the ability of those doing business or seeking to do business with the city to make campaign contributions.

The pay-to-play rule, which passed with a vote of 75 percent in favor, will prohibit anyone bidding on a contract with Los Angeles worth $100,000 or more from donating to or fundraising for city officials with the authority to approve the contract on which he or she is bidding.

Photo of Los Angeles City Hall by Brion VIBBER on Wikipedia.

A bill prohibiting unions from making paycheck deductions for political activities has passed the Kansas house and is now in the state senate. The bill would also ban public employee unions from endorsing candidates.

Opponents of the bill claim the legislation is an attack on the ability of workers to organize and participate as a group in the political process, while those in favor of it say this is simply an effort to help workers who do not support their union’s political activity.

A similar law passed in Alabama during a December special session outlawed payroll deduction contributions to PACs by public employees. That law, passed by Republicans, was harshly criticized as “partisan politics” because the PACs traditionally supported by public employee payroll deductions leaned overwhelmingly Democrat.

Photo of the Kansas State Capitol by Nikopoley on Wikipedia.

The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission has released Advisory Opinion No. 2011-1, providing for an interpretation of the lobbyist registration statute in regards to individuals who are officers or employees of a business entity. The Commission has determined these individuals must register as lobbyists if they meet with public officials and express opinions on potential or actual legislation that may impact the business entity.

Stacey Kalberman, Executive Secretary of the Commission, prepared the opinion, noting “the General Assembly drafted a broad provision which can only be interpreted to mean that any individual compensated by another, whether as a consultant or an employee, is acting as a lobbyist if such person attempts to influence legislation by the General Assembly.”

This opinion does not affect employees who may be conducting lobbying activities as an uncompensated volunteer, so long as they do not exceed $250 in expenditures.