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.

A bill prohibiting public officials from lobbying the Nevada Legislature immediately upon leaving office has been introduced into the assembly. Currently, the state has no revolving door prohibitions and public officials may lobby as soon as they leave office.

Assembly Bill 184 requires a two year cooling off period before a former state legislator, governor, or other specified executive branch official may serve as a paid lobbyist. The bill allows for exceptions such as representing a local agency where the former official is currently employed and making formal appearances before the Legislature.

Photo of the Nevada State Legislature building by Dave Parker on Wikipedia.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett has released contribution limits for the 2011-2012 election cycle.  Under the new limits individuals and noncertified political committees cannot contribute more than $872 to a statewide candidate, $430 to a non-statewide local candidate, and $424 to a non-statewide legislative candidate.

Certified committees or “Super PACs” are now limited to contributions of $4,352 to a statewide candidate, $2,170 to a non-statewide local candidate, and $1,736 to a non-statewide legislative candidate.   Individuals are now limited to contributions totaling $6,100 in a calendar year to political committees or candidates.

The Secretary of State biennially adjusts campaign contribution limits based upon the consumer price index.

Effective April 1, 2011, lobbyists will be required to register with the city treasurer-clerk prior to engaging in any lobbying. Lobbyists will be required to pay a fee of $25 for each principal represented. Additionally, each lobbying firm may register in the name of the firm, corporation, or legal entity, provided the registration lists the names of all persons who engage in lobbying for the firm.

Further, each lobbying firm will be required to file a quarterly compensation report during each calendar quarter during any portion of which the lobbyist or lobbying firm was registered to represent a principal. A provision was also included in the ordinance stating the annual period of registration will be the calendar year, ending December 31, and noted the first period of registration will begin on the ordinance’s effective date of April 1, 2011, and all registrations during the 2011 year after such time will end on December 31, 2011.

Delegate Dan Morhaim has introduced a bill with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of Maryland’s procurement process. House Bill 628 would create a commission to study streamlining and increasing the efficiency of the state’s contracting procedures.

Among the goals of the commission would be a more uniform application of the procurement law and an increased centralization of the procurement system. The membership of the commission would include individuals from private sector industries such as technology, construction, commodities, and other professional services.

The commission’s one year term would end with a report of its findings and recommendations to both the Governor and the General Assembly.

Mashups have become all the rage on blogs and websites. A mashup is the craft of taking existing material (data, text, art), mixing it up, and turning it into a new derivative work. Some can be just fun, like taking two songs that were recorded decades apart and making a new song out of it. Some can be helpful, like combining information from weather websites, adding the power of Google Maps, and a dash of poignant Twitter conversations, and voilà – you have great detailed coverage of a storm during an emergency.

Some mashups can be very powerful. Today’s Highlighted Site of the Week is Data.gov. With its May 2009 release of government data sets by Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, Data.gov allowed very clever people to put out mashups that could change our lives. Data.gov has two goals – “democratizing public sector data and driving innovation.”

The amount of information is staggering: elections, federal government finances and employment, state and local government finances and employment, banking, demographics, and much more. On the site, the data sets can be searched by category, by government agency, or both.

Here is where the artistry comes into play. Groups and individuals have mashed the data sets to come up with something quite revealing. One group, DataMasher.org, allows visitors to the site to combine data from Data.gov. Some of the results are interactive maps that show federal spending per U.S. Representative, total per capita contributions to political candidates, and federal spending per political contribution by state.

Another example is Tetoncode.com, which put together an API that shows federal contracts per state. And there is so much useful information being revealed about health care, FDA inspections, unemployment statistics, job prospects, and housing foreclosures.

I think we can expect to see mashups on blogs and across social media platforms as a standard in the near future. Who knows – they could become game changers in campaigns and elections.

What mashup would you like to create?

Images courtesy of Data.gov and Datamasher.org.

Lights, camera … action! According to a piece in the New York Times, former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has been hired as top lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America.

The articles notes that according to the law Dodd cannot directly lobby on Capitol Hill until 2013, but can offer plenty of strategy. “I have no intention of violating either the letter or spirit of that law, which is one I support strongly,” said the former senator.

For the full story, be sure to read “Motion Picture Industry Group Names Ex-Senator Dodd as Its New Chief” by Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply in the March 1 edition of the New York Times.

A bill requiring lobbyists to report activity even when the Legislature is not in session has been introduced by Senator Sheila Leslie. Currently, a lobbyist need only report activity occurring while the legislative body is actually in session.

Nevada’s Legislature generally meets in the first half of odd-numbered years. Senate Bill 0206‘s additional reporting requirements necessitate lobbyists report all lobbying activities after the end of the third and fourth calendar quarter of each odd-numbered year and each calendar quarter of each even numbered year, whether or not any expenditures were made.

The bill also extends the definition of lobbyist to include one who lobbies where an interim committee holds meetings.

Q: Now that Illinois has semi-monthly reporting, are there any changes to the contents of the report?

A: As of January 1, 2011, Illinois requires disclosure reports to be submitted on the fifth and 20th of each month.  This new schedule began on January 20, 2011.  The Secretary of State’s Office issued a 2011 Expenditure Report Filing Guide concerning how to disclose reportable activity on the Activity Detail Report.  This guide contains some changes for client or lobbying entity reporting.

Individual expenditures made on behalf of covered officials must be itemized with expanded information.  Lobbying entity reports must itemize for each individual expenditure or transaction:

• The name of the official for whose benefit each expenditure was made;
• The name of the client on whose behalf the expenditure was made;
• Whether the expenditure was made on behalf of a client;
• The total amount of the expenditure;
• A description of the expenditure;
• The vendor or purveyor to whom the expenditure was made;
• The address and location of the expenditure if the expenditure was for an intangible item such as lodging;
• The date on which the expenditure occurred; and
• The subject matter of the lobbying activity, if any.

As in previous years, the expenditure reports must also include reporting of lobbying activity that is unrelated to an itemized expenditure.  This requirement is satisfied by identifying:

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Republican Senator Jake Knotts and Democratic Senator Vincent Sheheen have announced they are submitting a bill banning leadership PACs in the Senate. Leadership PACs normally may accept contributions from lobbyists and have different contribution amounts than other campaign accounts.

Senator Sheheen said, “I want to help restore voter’s trust in government. This bill is one step to make sure elected officials answer to the voters, not wealthy contributors.”

Currently there is no member of the Senate who has a Leadership PAC.

A special election has been scheduled for May 3, 2011 to fill three seats left vacant in the Wisconsin State Assembly by legislators who accepted positions in the Walker Administration. In an executive order, Governor Walker ordered the special election for Assembly Districts 60, 83 and 94.

If primaries are necessary in any of the districts, they will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, concurrent with the spring election.

Photo of the Wisconsin State Capitol by Jeff dean on Wikipedia.

While attending the 35^th Annual Public Affairs Council PAC Conference in Miami last week, there were many questions about the impact of Citizens United in the states.

Last year, State and Federal Communications prepared a report, and we continue to update it, for our clients to understand how it has been applied.

Follow this link for the report. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to send an email to our Research Manager John Cozine.

Representative Keith Grover has introduced a bill allowing for some campaign contributions to be made during legislative sessions. HB 395 allows for accepting a campaign contribution when the Legislature is in session for an official who is a candidate for federal elective office. The contribution must be placed in a separate account specifically designated for the candidate’s campaign account for federal office.

Currently, no contributions may be made when the Legislature is convened in an annual general session, veto override session, or a special session convened before July 1st of a general election year.

Photo of Rep. Keith Grover courtesy of the Utah House of Representatives website.