The new limits, which will be in effect through February 24, 2013, feature very modest increases in each category. For instance, an individual may now donate $11,543.70 to a PAC, a statewide candidate, or state-level legislative candidate; the previous amount was $11,395.56. Maximum individual contributions to statewide parties increased from $34,186.68 to $34,631.11.

Contribution limits for judicial candidates will remain at current levels.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Human Life of Washington challenging Washington’s campaign finance disclosure law.  The Supreme Court let stand without comment a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the state’s disclosure requirements for political committees, independent expenditures and political advertising.

Human Life of Washington challenged the requirements as a violation of its free-speech rights, as it sought to keep donors in a 2008 campaign opposing an assisted-suicide ballot measure confidential.   The group argued that it was not required to register as a political-action committee and disclose donors because its advertisements did not specifically reference the ballot measure.

Photo of the U.S. Supreme Court by UpstateNYer on Wikipedia.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy has proposed reducing the number of budgeted state agencies from 87 to 57 in a move intended to increase efficiency and save the state money. Included in the reduction plan is a proposal to combine the Office of State Ethics, Elections Enforcement Commission, Contracting Standards Board, Freedom of Information Commission, and Judicial Review Council into a new agency to be named the Office of Governmental Accountability.

While not detailing how these agencies would be capable of functioning as one, or where any cost savings would be seen, Malloy did question in a press release why all these agencies are presently separate, stating “…why are all of the government accountability functions…separate entities when so many of their issue areas and jurisdiction overlap? It just didn’t make sense.”

Quickly voicing their concern against this proposal was the non-profit group Common Cause, noting how each of these “watchdog” agencies presently must keep watch over the other. A statement released by Common Cause noted “If a citizen files a complaint that the Elections Enforcement Commission or the Office of State Ethics has violated the FOI Act, the watchdog agency would be both the respondent and judge. It is unlikely that the new commission would bring ethics charges against itself, and this watchdog agency would undermine the public’s confidence and become a national joke.”

Photo of the state capitol by Ragesoss on Wikipedia.

Here are a few scenes from the Public Affairs National PAC Conference 2011 in Florida.  We have here the Monday reception and the Tuesday breakfast.

Starting July 1, those in Orange County, California who are seeking to influence county government will be required to register with the Board of Supervisors. Under the new law, county lobbyists must register within 10 days of commencing lobbying activity and renew these registrations annually.

The registration fee will be $75 for an initial registration and $50 for each annual renewal thereafter. Orange County is the largest municipality in the state without a system for monitoring and disclosing lobbying activity. The regulation does not apply to those lobbying on behalf of nonprofit organizations.

The State Ethics Commission has created a ‘Debtors’ page on its web site, posting the names of lobbyists, lobbyists’ principals, public officials and others who have failed to pay late filing penalties and enforcement fines. The commission hopes to use this publicly available consolidated listing to help ensure compliance with the registration and disclosure requirements under the campaign finance and lobbying laws of the state.

The penalties owed range from $732,400 all the way down to $10. The page includes contact information for anyone appearing in the list to arrange for payment.

U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby has held that Maine’s campaign finance reporting law is constitutional.  The law requiring groups that raise more than $5,000 to influence elections to register with the state and disclose donors who make contributions of $100 or more was challenged by the National Organization for Marriage on the basis that the law was vague and overly broad.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices investigated the organizations activity, alleging that they had violated Maine campaign finance law by raising and spending more than $5,000 to help overturn the Maine law allowing same-sex marriage but not following the reporting requirements. A lawsuit continues in state court that challenges the state’s ability to investigate violations of the campaign finance law.

The Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) has chosen Paul Dauphinais as its new executive director. Mr. Dauphinais has served as the president of Garrett College in Maryland, the director for the University of Alaska in Palmer and the executive director for the Homer Chamber of Commerce. He also has a PhD in History and an MS in Information Systems and is a retired commander of the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Dauphinais starts February 22, replacing Holly Hill who held the position since 2008.

You can read the full press release here.

Map of Alaska by Skew-t on Wikipedia.

Currently, corporations are prohibited from any campaign activity other than those contributions allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court in its “Citizens United” decision.

Corporations would still be forbidden from contributing to a candidate committee or political party committee.

South Dakota seal from an image of the state flag by Denelson83 on Wikipedia.

Senator Michael G. Waddoups introduced a bill mandating training for all registered lobbyists. SB 251 requires the lieutenant governor to develop and maintain a training course for lobbyists and make the training available on the internet to both lobbyists and the public. The bill also includes a component to help lobbyists understand state campaign finance requirements.

Lobbyists would be required to complete the training course once a year. A lobbyist who does not complete the training required could face a $1,000 fine and suspension of their lobbying license.

Photo of Senator Waddoups courtesy of the Utah Senate Web site.

State and Federal Communications will be attending the Public Affairs Council National PAC Conference in Miami Beach, Florida from February 21-24.

Just as it always is with the Public Affairs Council conferences, the agenda looks rewarding. We are excited to be going – to see old friends and to meet new ones.

If you are planning to be there too, please come and say hello! If you’re not planning on attending the conference, fear not – you can follow the conversations on Twitter: @PACouncil #PAC11 and keep up on Facebook. These are definitely worth “following and friending”.

Maybe we’ll see you there!

Transparency International (TI) has this motto: Corruption hurts everyone. Based in Berlin, Germany, TI is a  non-governmental and non-partisan organization with a coalition of more than 90 local chapters throughout the world.

Founded in 1993, Transparency International monitors and reports on international political and corporate corruption. They look at how corruption affects political parties and the election process, lobbying, international trade, defense issues, and government procurement. TI’s work has directed the world’s attention to the problem of corruption and how it affects people, especially the poor. Among its accomplishments, the organization has played a big role in establishing the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

From TI’s website you can learn many things about the organization and global corruption. My favorite feature is the 2010 Corruption Perception Index. It has an interactive map reporting the perception of government and corporate corruption for people in most nations of the world. Looking at their scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), I held my breath before I saw the score for the United States. I was happy to find out we earned a 7.1 – pretty clean. I was disturbed to see how many places all over the world fell into the corrupt categories.

In addition to giving us a terrific web design, the people at Transparency International are savvy with social media. TI has put a great deal of engaging information on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and their blog. You can even find a podcast and a free iPhone app.

For anyone who cares about the worldwide issues of good government, Transparency International deserves your close attention.

The House Ethics Committee voted 5-3 against HB 0164, a bill imposing campaign contributions limits. Representative Rebecca Chaves-Houch had formerly introduced the legislation only four days earlier.

Utah presently has no limits to the amounts one can contribute to candidates for state offices. The bill caps contributions to $5,000 for legislative candidates, $10,000 for gubernatorial candidates, and $10,000 to state PACs.

Representative Chaves-Houch intends on reintroducing some version of the bill, possibly next year.

This post follows up a previous article by George Ticoras called “Putting Limits on Utah Contributions” from February 8, 2011.

Photo by Scott Catron on Wikipedia.