The San Jose City Council has approved changes to the city’s ethics rules.

Officials have lowered the city’s revolving door prohibition for former employees from two years down to one, removed fees for late lobbying disclosures, and uncapped reimbursement amounts for personal loans candidates made to their campaigns.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 678 into law on September 1.

Senate Bill 678 requires a person paid by a committee to post content online supporting or opposing a candidate or a ballot measure to include a disclaimer stating they were paid to make the post.

This bill targets “influencers” and follows California’s recent trend on curtailing social media’s influence on elections.

The bill will become effective January 1, 2024.

The San Francisco Ethics Commission has drafted regulations, overhauling the city’s gift law.

While the regulation does not change the gift limit, the regulation heavily alters what is considered not a gift, adding more exclusions, and better defining existing exclusions.

The new regulations will only become operative if they are approved by the voters on the March 5, 2024 ballot.

The Oakland Ethics Commission passed a Master Fee Schedule including a newly added annual lobbyist registration fee of $500 and a late filing fee of $10 per day for registrations and reports.

The City Council approved the inclusion of the additional fees in the annual Master Fee Schedule yearly update.

Currently, the Ethics Commission is seeking to alter the new fee structure.

The commission is seeking to waive fees for 501(c)(3) organizations with less than $750,000 in annual revenue; a reduction of fees with less than $200,000 in annual revenue; and a reduced fee for third and fourth quarter registrants.

The new proposal has been sent to the City Council for their approval.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that California’s Government Code §3205, which bars employees of local governmental entities from soliciting political contributions from coworkers but places no such restriction on state employees, is unconstitutional.

U.S. Circuit Judge Marsha S. Berzon held the statute’s discrimination against local employees is not justified under any arguably applicable standard.

Berzon specified that the case, Progressive Democrats for Social Justice v. Bonta, was decided on First Amendment principles, not equal protection concerns.

The Fair Political Practices Commission has passed multiple regulations clarifying Senate Bill 1439 and Political Advertising.

The regulations dealing with Senate Bill 1439 focus on who is disqualified and how an officer would know a donor has a financial interest in a proceeding before the officer.

Regulations revising political advertising add additional disclosures and adds regulations to less-used methods of communication.

A coalition of business groups have filed a lawsuit against the Fair Political Practices Commission, seeking to stop enforcement of new pay-to-play restrictions in Senate Bill 1439.

The new law removed the exception for locally elected officials and extended the restricted period from three to 12 months.

The lawsuit seeks to throw out the new law, claiming the bill is unconstitutional, both in the manner it altered the Political Reform Act and in practice.

Plaintiffs allege Senate Bill 1439 does not further the original purpose of the Political Reform Act, but directly conflicts with the original provisions regulating certain financial conflicts of interest of public officials.

Additionally, the plaintiffs claim the bill is unconstitutional on freedom of speech grounds, stating the bill significantly restricts the making and receiving of campaign contributions to local elected officials throughout the state.

No trial date has been set at this time.

The Orange County Council has voted to raise the campaign contribution limit from $2,200 to $2,500 per election cycle.

The Orange County Campaign Reform Ordinance requires the board to adjust the campaign contribution limitation in February of every odd year.

The Orange County Council adjusts the contribution limit according to changes in the Consumer Price Index and rounds to the nearest $100.

The city of Anaheim raised campaign contribution limits to $2,500 per election cycle.

Anaheim reevaluates contribution limits at the start of every odd-numbered year and alters them based on the consumer price index (CPI) of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region.

The area’s CPI increased by 11.8% and the contribution limit was changed, rounded to the nearest $100, to reflect this change from the previous limit of $2,200.

The Los Angeles’ Ad hoc committee on governance reform has recommended the approval of an ethics commission report that would change the rules on persons and organizations lobbying the city.

The commission, whose origins revolves around a controversial leaked audio tape from two former members of the city council, have been tasked on overhauling the city’s ethics laws.

The commission recommended setting a compensation threshold of $5,000 per year that would require a person to register as a lobbyist.

The recommendation also included a requirement for lobbyists to identify their positions on matters about which they are lobbying and lowering the threshold which triggers disclosures when lobbyists distribute political fundraiser solicitations to 15 or more people, down from a threshold of 50 people.

The next step is for the City Council to vote on the commission’s recommendations at their next meeting.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) held its November meeting, approving many changes for 2023.

The FPPC raised the annual gift limit to $590 and clarified the phrase “arrange for the making of a gift.”

The FPPC also expanded and further explained how a lobbyist or lobbying firm “places an official under personal obligation.”

The contribution limits have been adjusted to match increases in the cost of living, raising the limit for Senate or Assembly to $10,900 and $36,400 for governor.

The new limits take effect January 1, 2023.

Voters have approved Proposition H.

Proposition H changes city elections to even-numbered years.

The Mayor, Sheriff, District Attorney, City Attorney, and Treasurer will have their terms end on January 8, 2025, rather than in 2024 to accommodate for the new even-numbered year elections.

City Council approved a special election to fill the empty District 6 seat on April 4, 2023, with a runoff taking place June 27 if necessary.

The election follows Nury Martinez’s resignation after a leaked conversation about redistricting was made public.

In the recording, Martinez with fellow council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin De Leon were heard using racist and demeaning language when discussing how to manipulate the city’s redistricting process.

After pressure for all three to resign, only Martinez has stepped down.

Anaheim City Council has voted to modify the city’s Sunshine Ordinance in response to the Angels Stadium corruption case.

The change mandates city employees must retain emails on their server for at least two years.

The new ordinance makes certain violations of the lobbying code misdemeanors and requires all reports filed by the lobbyists be done so under penalty of perjury.

The new ordinance also changes the due dates for quarterly reports from the last day of the month to 30 days from the end of the quarter.